Disclaimer: Does not own CCS or, as later mentioned, Inuyasha.

Note: This genius had only seen the Japanese version, and only the first 24 eps. I was doing this to the best of my ability, but this was only my 2nd fic. Please forgives for anything wrong or inconsistent with the series!

Snow-Covered Soul

Kyuubi Seitenshi

Sakura glanced at the clock, noting the late hour of the night. She was unable to sleep, for some reason, it seemed. Kero was sleeping like a rock, and snoring like a freight-train. Obviously, he was having no such problem. She ruefully wished that she could sleep as hard as he seemed to, but knew that wishing wasn't enough to get the job done. She had thought about using the SLEEP card, but was unsure if she would wake up at a reasonable time the next morning, and refrained. Slipping onto the cold floor, she padded silently to her closet and changed into a warm, black fleece dress with silver threads glinting across its dark weave, and pulled on the pair of white leather slippers that were made to match it. It was one of the extra costumes that Tomoyo had made after they'd finished capturing the Clow Cards several years before, as she still maintained her love for designing the outrageous clothes.

Grabbing the Key and a few choice cards just in case, she threw a glance at her guardian companion before slipping out the door. Once on the street, she paid no mind to the direction in which she traveled, though she knew her feet were taking her to where her rival had once lived. His building was dark, without even the slightest hint of light from any of the numerous windows. Somehow… that only amplified something she'd been trying to repress lately. Like… a deep longing, or a loneliness that seemed to have no reason from which to stem. It was quite the mystery to her.

A few minutes later, she had perched herself on the steps of her favorite childhood place: the giant penguin in Tomoeda park. A fleeting memory of capturing JUMP gave her a small reason to smile, but it was gone within that fleeting instant. Those innocent memories of so long ago… most from before the cards had brought her so much trouble. Times when her brother and Yukito had played with her on this very slide, of picnics on sunny days with her father and friends. They were beautiful memories, all of them, even though some seemed a little unhappy. They made her who she was, and of that she was proud.

It had been five years since all the cards had been sealed. Five years since Shaoran and Meilin had left for Hong Kong again. Five years of silence from the man in which she had placed so much love and trust. The saying of absence making the heart grow fonder… she knew all too well that it was true. She missed him dearly, especially tonight.

Christmas Eve.

She sighed, leaning her head on her knees. The wind picked up, and the thundery-grey clouds in the dark sky billowed across its blue etheria in great blankets, the threat of snow immanent. She scoffed. Wasn't that so cliché? She was in a bad mood, and the skies would soon cry for her, since the hot tears that stung her eyes refused to fall. Taking refuge beneath the place, as she had done with Tomoyo in their first sight of the THUNDER card, she watched as the snowflakes began to fall; first in ones and twos, and then gradually tens of thousands of the tiny crystallites began to adorn her surroundings in a blinding torrent.

A shiver ran up her legs and down her spine, and her eyes clouded a bit with a cold-induced fog. Her stare blurred the longer she watched the storm, and before her consciousness slipped away on the winds that ripped through the night, she thought she saw a shadow she knew…

Little by little, the sensations of knowing came to her, first of light, then of sound, and then of feeling. Sakura had forgotten… where was she? Death seemed a welcome thought, but it was too warm and wonderful, too familiar a presence for it to be death. This was… no, it couldn't be. This was what she had desired; this was the reason for her snowy slumber. Perhaps this, too, was a dream? The light was soft; no more than a fire by its intensity on her heavy lids. The gentle warmth that embraced her… it was a blanket, smooth and comfortable with a milky cotton. The sounds… was that a flute? She had heard it once before somewhere…

Her pale green eyes drifted open just a bit, hazy from sleep for a moment before sharpening in the deep, scarlet-tainted lighting. Shadows danced in darkened corners, the only lighting being the hearty blaze that swelled in the stone niche a few yards away. As her senses returned to her, sharper than before, the crackling fire seemed a drum playing in tune with the wind instrument that soothed her snow-covered soul. The tune was played lovingly, and it prickled her skin with familiarity.

Affections Touching across Time…?

She had always loved that song, ever since she'd caught it on the radio while listening with her brother. He said it came from a show he'd seen… Inuyasha, was it? Yes, that was what he'd said. She'd never seen it; but the song was something that gave her comfort. The haze that had floated over her senses lifted, and across the room she could see him sitting by the hearth.

Li Shaoran.

Sakura stared for a minute, a smile creeping across her face a little at a time, before she rose from the bed, a wet cloth dropping from her forehead into her lap limply. He didn't stop playing to look up at her, but a smile did quirk the edges of his mouth as he finished the song. He played noticeably softer… noticeably sweeter…

He set the bright-silver instrument aside and looked up at her, his light caramel eyes beholding her with a soft, loving gaze.

Was it even possible that she was getting floatier now than when she had been with Yukito and Miss Mizuki? It must've been; she felt like cloud nine was already a few floors down. The thought made her give him an even brighter smile.

"Thought you'd never wake up. It's nearly six a.m. If your brother knew you were here, he'd hang me from the nearest light-pole and skin me alive," he told her with a chuckle, taking a seat beside her. She laughed, and glanced around her surroundings.

"Where am I, anyway?" the Cardcaptor queried, her jade-tainted eyes sparkling with pleasure and curiosity.

"My room."

He ran a calloused thumb across her cheekbone in a soft caress, a caress which she leaned into with a yearning that had been suppressed for far too long. Was it even possible that this was real? She wanted it to be so badly that she wasn't sure it was. His smile… soft with approval, gentle in its familiarity. It'd been five long years since she'd seen that wonderful smile, the one she'd strived for so hard. It melted away the snow from her heart, seeming to end the proverbial winter of her soul and cast it into spring.

"You've been gone a long time, Shaoran. But I waited for you," she murmured, the warm, cocoa-colored eyes acting like a drug, all her defenses dropping.

"You… still have to wait a little longer, Sakura."

Her eyes widened, and the wonderful scene faded into the dark expanses of her mind.

Sakura slipped back into consciousness quickly, and realized that Kero had been trying to wake her.

"Oi, Sakura, you can be so hard to wake up! Just because it's Winter Break doesn't mean you can be lazy!" the mini-guardian berated her. Again, her foggy mind was wondering what a plushie was doing complaining to her face about her sleeping habits, but that faded away along with her innocent state of slumber. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, glancing at the clock before bouncing it off the head of the creature half-way cross the room.

"Why in two worlds did you wake me up at 6:30 on Christmas morning?!" she screeched, though a second later she was glad she'd redecorated her room and designed it to be almost sound-proof. Her oniichan and otoosan would've been wondering what the heck had gotten into her! The seal-creature smiled at her sheepishly.

"I was hungry and your father was already up."

She steamed and muttered dark thoughts under her breath as she slid from the bed and padded across her deep blue carpet. The closet doors, long since sanded down and stained a deep coffee-bean color with the help of her brother, were pushed back with a stunning force in her anger. Come to think of it, she probably still wouldn't have been in a good mood even if Kero had let her sleep in. That dream… it was like dangling a carrot in front of a starving horse and then taking it away. Just… cruel. She pulled out a simple, red dress with long bell-sleeves and a skirt after the same pattern, the hem just barely sweeping the top of their matching knee-high boots. The faux-suede look was great for it, and the complementary gold jewelry that Sonomi-san had had made worked perfectly. It seemed that both Tomoyo and her mother had extravagant tastes.

She left Kero to nurse his bruised cranium and hopped the railing to the ground floor treading softly into the kitchen. She was surprised to not find her father sitting in his chair, drinking his morning cup of coffee and reading the newspaper, since her plush-toy-like companion had said he was up, but thought he might be in his office already for some reason or other, despite the holiday. She took her time, preparing an extravagant breakfast for her family; she had heard her brother's deep breathing when she listened in passing and did so since she knew he still slept. Sakura sang the lyrics to one of her favorite songs as she worked:

Datte… (datte)

Datte… (datte)

Tsubasa hiroge futari de

Sora wo marathon

Yume wo unison

Shitai…!

It was a sweet song, and she always thought of Shaoran when she sang it. At first, it had been Yukito, but the schoolgirl crush had been disillusioned in so many ways that she had long left her feelings for him behind. The dream had faded to something she wondered what was in the back of her mind, hovering there gently like a specter of sorts. Her bad mood, as normal, had evaporated with the memory, and she was her normal, genki self once again, the song helping to cheer her with its sweet, up-tempo tune. Things seemed better now that she was working, the movements burying all notions beneath the surface until she would stop for a break and they could fill her mind once again. For now, her mind was sufficed with the perfunctory motions to deem her body commit. Though… she still managed to wonder who Kero had heard stirring.

It was sudden and soft, but after about fifteen minutes of work Sakura was sure she'd heard a voice calling her to the den. It was… vague, as was her recognition of it. Her father? No, it was too soft. Her brother? No, it was too warm. Tomoyo? Again, it was impossible; that voice was too deep to be hers. It wasn't Kero, either; the tang of Osaka accent wasn't intermixed with some indefinable, melodic thrum that appeared beneath the surface of the sound. The room was empty as she passed the threshold, but… there was obviously some presence there that she knew. It was… almost imperceptible in its familiarity. Almost.

"Who's there?" she asked calmly, her eyes roving over the room in a wary fashion. She… couldn't quite make out where he was… his aura was… too subtle to her senses…

She whipped around as it suddenly appeared behind her, the subtlety vanishing completely in a single moment. To her great surprise, she felt… warm lips on hers, pressed against hers… and… strong arms wrapping around her shoulders and pulling her closer in a tight, warm embrace. Her eyes immediately closed; there was no use in keeping them open. It was so sudden and so wonderful she'd gone absolutely cross-eyed! She leaned into the sturdy body, the warm, musky scent and aura of magic completely overwhelming her. Sakura shivered with pleasure. What was this sensation…?

At last, the man pulled away, though his lips hovered close to hers, his heavy breaths ghosting her cheek. Dare she… dare she look into his face? She blushed at the thought of what she'd just done. Hesitation, though, was not enough to keep her from looking into the eyes of the one who held her in such a loving, though a bit possessive, embrace. Her thick lashes lifted, her sea-green eyes tainting gold with the bit of sunlight that flashed from the windows.

And they met golden-brown. Li Shaoran.

Sakura wanted to withdraw, fear of a second dream in the midst of the night becoming prominent in her mind, but… she also feared that if she pulled away she wouldn't have enough strength to stand on her own. His eyes were soft, his smile even softer, and his tone was sweet to her ears, though it had a certain quality with which she wasn't familiar.

"I was afraid you wouldn't wait for me. I guess I was wrong."

The Cardcaptor smiled softly as he pressed another kiss to the corner of her eye. Not wait…? That's right… the dream had said that she just have to wait a bit longer. He had sent her that dream…

"You'll always be the one… the one to ease this snow-covered soul."

AN: Read, enjoy, REVIEW.