Date Written: August 12, 2007

Summary: Sakura wants to surprise Syaoran. Why? Just because.

A/N: I originally thought of this when watching the Bravo presentation of Cirque du Soleil's Corteo while on the treadmill. Which is odd, because I'm not thinking of Tsubasa when on the treadmill. I'm thinking, "How the hell much longer do I got to go?" Anyway, I realized that Fay would totally fit in with these people, then Sakura got into the picture, and lo and behold! Fluff is born. And Flo is quite proud of it.

WARNINGS! None, but as previously mentioned, warnings could come in later chapters.

ALSO! This isn't really Cirque du Soleil, but it's definitely the same artsy, awesome concept. Reason I say this is because I don't know how they work behind the scenes. All I know is that I want to see a live show so freakin' bad! -growls at sad bank account-

Hope you enjoy!

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"We're leaving!" Syaoran exclaimed as Kurogane and he were walking out the door, Mokona forcing it's way into the group.

"Already?" Sakura said coming in from the kitchen. "It's so early!"

"I know, but we need to find your feather, princess, so we should start as soon as possible. Don't worry, we'll be back for dinner."

"At least let me come with you! That way, when we find it, I can go ahead and take it so somebody doesn't come and steal it while you're coming home!"

"I'm sorry, but we can't chance your safety. We haven't been here long enough to know if this is a dangerous world or not. Please understand."

Sakura looked to Syaoran then to Kurogane in hopes he had a weakness for princesses. By the sudden widening of his eyes and the abrupt break of eye contact, she concluded that he did. Only, he had learned how to avoid it. Curse him. She then looked to Mokona who was peeking out of Kurogane's jacket. It appeared it was about to say something in her favor, but Kurogane covered it's mouth before it could say anything. That resulted in Mokona licking Kurogane's hand and he, in turn, chasing it around the living room. Apparently, things weren't in her favor.

With a sigh, Sakura said, "Okay. Be safe."

"Don't worry," Syaoran said with a sweet smile. With that, the three were out the door as soon as Kurogane calmed down.

Sakura was about to go back to the kitchen to finish up the dishes, when she heard another round of yelling from outside. It was too early for Mokona to get Kurogane riled up after only a few seconds, so it must have been Fay returning from his ridiculously early morning shopping for cinnabun ingredients. He said he wanted to beat the crowds.

After a few moments of laughter and shouting, Fay flew in through the door, his cheeks tinged pink from his utter joy at teasing everybody's favorite ninja. "Hello, Sakura-chan!" he said when he spotted her five feet in front of him. "I got the ingredients! Let's get to it!"

"Uh-huh," Sakura said.

Fay immediately halted in his journey to the kitchen and turned back to the girl. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, um, it's silly, don't worry about me, Fay-san!" She tried to perk up by doing the happy dance Mokona taught her, but it was to no avail.

"Syaoran-kun won't let you play with him and Kuro-puppy and Mokona, will he?"

Sakura dropped her arms to her side and gave in. "You could say that. But I know it's just to protect me, so it's no problem! Let's go make those cinnabuns! Yay!"

"Sakura-chan, you're very cute. But you need to work on your acting skills. I'd be glad to help, but not today. Instead, you and I are going to go get your feather!"

"Huh?"

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

"Hm… Uh-huh… Eh?"

Those were the sounds the lady walking repeatedly around Sakura was making. Fay had introduced her as Miss Ring Leader, making it known that she wasn't a bad person, though Sakura still wasn't sure. It felt like she was being critiqued for something. And the lady herself didn't look terribly friendly. She looked about Kurogane's age (she would say Fay's, but Sakura had suspicions that Fay was over one hundred), maybe younger, and everything about her was pointed and straight. From her hair (which had a surprisingly cute butterfly bobby pin to keep her hair out of her face, and had Sakura trying to sum up the courage to ask where she got it) to her shoes, she was straight and pointy. She reminded Sakura of a doll she had when she was younger. Only, she never thought her doll would bite her head off.

Finally, the lady threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "I can't do anything with her!"

Ouch, Sakura thought.

"Aw, come on, Miss Ring Leader!" Fay whined. "I told you she was cute, and you said that not all of the performers needed to be super flexible!"

"Yes, but I would prefer it if they were. And she is cute. I should just have her stand in the middle of the stage and look pretty."

"Sakura-chan can do that! Sakura-chan, smile and look pretty!"

And she did, despite her thinking that Miss Ring Leader was being sarcastic. Only, it's rather hard to do that on cue, so her smile was more of a confused, lop sided, Fay-esque grin. But she looked pretty!

Miss Ring Leader stared at Sakura for a while before turning back to Fay, appearing about ready to pounce on him. "That's wonderful. Sadly, I can't. For you, however, the offer still stands."

Sakura was getting increasingly confused with every sentence. She tried to give Fay a pleading look, but he was too busy with, what seemed to be, negotiating with Miss Ring Leader. "Sorry," he was saying, "but my days of running away to join the circus are long gone!"

Sakura perked up at this. "Circus?" she said.

"Not so much a circus as it is a performance of great art. Right, Miss Ring Leader?"

"If you want to put it that way, then yeah," she said.

"I've been on a tight rope before!" Sakura offered, now very interested in where this was going.

"Have you?" That got the lady's attention back to her. "Are you good?"

"Well, not great, but I can manage with some practice!"

"I see. Will four days do?"

"Yes!"

"Alright. I suppose it won't be a big deal to rewrite a few things to make you your own act. Maybe like a marionette."

"That's great!" Fay cheered. "Thank you so much, Miss Ring Leader! Oh, um, mind if you and I collaborate a bit on this little idea?"

"Why not? In the meantime, I'll send someone over here to start working with the girl to see if she really can walk the tight rope and to what extent."

And then she was gone in a sea of acrobats, clowns, jump ropers, contortionists, singers, musicians, and many other people in extremely tight outfits. Sakura looked up at Fay, who was beaming at all of the people, and tugged on his sleeve.

"Hm?" Fay said. "What is it, Sakura-chan?"

"Um, what exactly are we here for?" she asked.

"Oh! Right. Well, it all started this morning when I was getting cinnamon for our cinnabuns. I was coming back from the store when I passed by here, see, and curiosity got the better of me and I peeked inside. Then Miss Ring Leader caught me and was about to hang me from the gallows-" Sakura gasped right here "-when she decided that she might be able to use me for the upcoming performance. She said something about my face and body being perfect, but I refused." Sakura glanced around again and had to admit that Fay would fit in quite nicely with these people.

"But what does this have to do with my feather?"

"All in good time. When I was about to leave, I noticed that there was a glass orb hanging from the ceiling. After a closer look, I saw that it had your feather in it so I immediately asked Miss Ring Leader if she would give it to me because it belonged to someone who greatly needed it. She tried to get me to perform in exchange, but again I said no and instead, offered you."

Sakura squeaked at that. "Me?! B-But I bet that Fay-san would be a much better performer than me! Kurogane-san is always saying how good an actor you are!"

"Is that so?" For some reason, Fay didn't look terribly pleased with that. "Never mind, Sakura-chan. The reason why I think you should do it is because I know how much you want to get them back without troubling us. This way you can! And you can also impress Syaoran-kun the night you perform."

As Sakura blushed from that statement and the suggestion behind Fay's wink, she imagined what it would feel like to be walking on the tight rope high above the audience with Syaoran watching her and only her. The idea made her stomach do a somersault.

"But I did kind of spring this one on you. Sorry about that! It's perfectly fine if you don't-"

"I do!"

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

Fay was definitely more suited for such a lifestyle than me, Sakura concluded as she waited back stage. Her nerves were started to get the better of her and she knew it. She just had to remember and practice what Kurogane told her to do. Suck it up and do whatever you're going to do. It's best to get things over with. It was a shame she hadn't had ninja training in her life. At least, from what she remembered. Maybe she should ask Kurogane teach her some skills.

Sakura quickly shook her head to get rid of all of the random thoughts and focus. After all of that practice, I can't back out now! she thought.

The company had been wonderful to Sakura the four days she had to train and practice, and Fay had even been around quite often to help out. And the one day he wasn't, he had sent Kurogane over after informing him of their plans and convincing him that is was for a greater good to keep it secret from Syaoran. Both had been a huge help to have around to make her feel comfortable. Kurogane had also showed her a trick to keep from screaming "bloody hell," as Miss Ring Leader had put it. Bite your tongue.

She had gotten many blisters from the wire, along with bruises, but luckily they weren't visible in her normal clothing so Syaoran wouldn't see them and begin to think she had hemophilia or something. Speaking of which, it had taken a lot of convincing for Syaoran to let Sakura go to the "bathroom" without even Mokona. Of course, that was at the beginning of the show and she had to leave them fairly early to get changed and warm up. She was really cutting it close with the warm up, but her act didn't need a large amount of flips or anything so it was slightly alright. Sakura wondered what Syaoran was thinking with her gone so long (it was nearly the end of the show) and if Kurogane, Fay, and Mokona had to duct tape him to his seat.

I hope he doesn't think I'm in any sort of danger, she thought. Her face flushed red as she imagined what he was imaging about her being in trouble in the bathroom and how embarrassing it would be if it were the truth.

"Hey, don't freak out on me now, Little Marionette," Miss Ring Leader said, suddenly appearing right in front of her. "Your act is next so go on to your station."

"A-Ah," Sakura squeaked out, earning an eyebrow raise from the lady.

Before she knew it, Sakura was being pushed up a ladder from backstage by a bunch of clowns. She was amazed that she was actually able to get up there with such ease. It was when one of the stage hands was putting her in her harness and attaching wires to her arms, legs, and hips that she glanced down and couldn't see anything. At all. It was just a large black void of nothing.

It honestly wasn't that she couldn't see the floor that scared her. It was that she couldn't see Syaoran anywhere. She was told that the audience was too preoccupied with the current act to look up and see her getting ready and that it didn't even matter whether she could see them or not at that time, but she desperately wanted to see Syaoran's face. She was doing this for him, after all, and she wanted to make sure that he was watching her from the very beginning. It would also make things easier for her if she saw him then.

There wasn't any time to really look, though. Slowly, the music began to fade into her song, a music box melody accompanied by the orchestra. Suddenly, she was alone on her platform, an umbrella her only company. She quickly smiled before the spotlight lightened her, Mokona's final advice echoing in her head.

Just take a big breath and jump!

Right, Sakura thought.

Once the light was at its brightest, Sakura took a deep breath and leaped out above the audience, her wires pulling her farther to reach the center of the tight rope. She landed perfectly and quickly let her body double over to give the appearance of limpness while at the same time, keeping stiff to stay balanced. She let her eyes wander just slightly over the crowd since it was slightly lit up around her thanks to a wandering spotlight. She still couldn't make out Syaoran, though.

As the music picked up and got louder, Sakura lifted her arms, making sure her hands were still limp, and let her upper body follow. She lifted up a leg and began to tip toe across the rope, every now and then dropping a part of her body. At one point she even had to fall completely over and lie on the rope letting her arms and legs dangle freely for a time before being raised back up, one limb at a time, and placed standing back up.

The entire time through her performance, she only looked away from the audience when moving her feet on the rope. There was a spot light running through the people, waiting for her to give the signal once it landed on the right person. As the song continued and she continued with the long version of her routine, Sakura grew more and more anxious when it wasn't hitting the correct person.

What if he left to look for me before I came on? Sakura thought, nearly letting her smile slip. No, Fay-san and Kurogane-san said that they'd keep him there no matter what… but when Syaoran-kun puts his mind to something, he'll do it. Wait! Don't think about that, focus!

That was easier said than done, though. The music was coming at it's end, and if she didn't see him soon, then the song and act would be over without her surprise.

However, something caught her eye for a second. The spotlight person was told to move over the people more than once, so Sakura kept her gaze on that spot until it came back and hovered for a while over her special person: Syaoran.

Quickly, Sakura swept her arms together as the signal to stop the light where it was, and discreetly pulled something out of the sleeve of her glove. She then swung her leg back and let the wire pull it strongly forward, her entire body following and soon found herself looking at the ceiling while she fell backwards.

The entire audience gasped at the amazing scene, but Sakura was deaf to the room as she fell downward and her eyes locked with Syaoran's. At first, she could see that he was panicked. He quickly jumped out of his seat at the sight as if wanting to catch her, though seemingly lost his shock when he saw her brightly smiling at him.

Sakura felt the wires tightening the closer she got to Syaoran, until they slowed down, leaving her only an arms reach away from him. As she reached towards him, Syaoran's face lit up in joy and he mimicked her movements. Their fingers intertwined, the feather retrieved from the circus secured between them. Sakura's heart was beating a mile a minute and she could feel Syaoran shaking from surprise, but neither looked away or stopped smiling, even when it started hurt their cheeks. For that brief moment, it was only the two of them in the entire world, connected. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Sakura was sad that when had to end so soon. The wires tugged lightly on her and so she squeezed Syaoran's hand before letting it go, both of them reaching still until the tips of their fingers left one another's. The feather drifted slightly away as it was nearly forgotten. Once that last bit of contact ceased, Sakura went completely limp as the she was lifted away, the music coming back to end the scene and the roar of applause echoing throughout the large room.

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

"Sakura-chan, that was amazing!" Mokona was cheering. They came to greet her backstage after the show, Mokona and Fay nearly tackling Sakura once they saw her while Kurogane merely gave her a nod, indicating his approval.

"Really?" Sakura said, still a bit breathless from all of the excitement. "Because I came close to slipping a few times so I was afraid that it looked horrible."

"Nonsense!" Fay said. "You were wonderful and everybody loved you! I heard the people all around us saying how cute and how great of a tight rope artist you are! Right, Kuro-tan?"

"You were good," Kurogane said. He then looked over his shoulder before jerking his head over at Fay. Fay made a little sound before releasing the girl and running behind him, coming back with a blushing Syaoran with his hands behind his back in tow. He suddenly stumbled forward, making the distance between Sakura and himself become very small. Sakura guessed Fay pushed him. She wasn't complaining, even though she was blushing now, too.

"We're going to get something to eat!" Fay announced, tucking Mokona under his arm and looping his other arm with Kurogane's before vanishing.

The two stood in silence for a while, occasionally glancing at one another, until finally Syaoran spoke up.

"I-I thought that you were remarkable up there, Princess," he sputtered.

"Thank you!" Sakura said, eyes lighting up. "Um, it was a surprise for you, Syaoran-kun. I hope that I didn't worry you when I was gone for so long."

"Well, I tried to go find you, but Kurogane-san slapped me across the head and told me to stay in my seat or else Fay-san would take care of me. I didn't know what he meant by that, but I thought that if they were okay with it, then I didn't have anything to worry about."

"That's good! I was thinking for a while up there that you had left to go look for me."

"I was barely able to stay in my seat, actually! I'm glad I did, though. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen! And, um… t-this is for you."

From behind his back, Syaoran took out a rose with a pink ribbon tied around the tissue paper. Sakura gasped and gazed up at Syaoran as he locked eyes with her and smiled.

Maybe, Sakura thought as they both held the rose and got lost in each other's eyes, the circus life is exactly for me.

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1.) (side note) I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that orchestras for these types of things are able to do repeats or cuts if necessary. Like if a performer is doing a key trick but they mess up the first time, the orchestra could repeat that certain part if the conductor commands. It's not terribly difficult.

A/N: I'm so proud of me! My first total Sakura/Syaoran fic! I hope that it was to people's liking. Admittedly, I was shocked that people liked the first one so much. I mean, of course the IDEA is freakin' adorable, but execution I wasn't sure of. Same with this. Was it executed well? Feedback is WANTED because I want to write more Saku/Syao chapters. They're so cute!

You know what to do!

Please leave a review!

As always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed with little kitties!

Next chapter: Who knows? I sure don't! But it will come to me. Especially since spoilers are this Saturday! Woot!