Chapter Three

Clow Reed watched the sunrise, somewhere else in the world, Eriol was probably doing the same, after all it had been something they had enjoyed together, before the complication of the curse had interrupted their lives. The encroaching light became a foil to his receding pupils and lit up the expanse of cobalt within his irises. The small garden situated in front of him began to come to life, birds joining in to greet the rising of the sun and outside the walls of the estate, the city took a breath, but not the piercing light nor the sounds penetrated through his dark brooding.

Brothers. In blood, in family and in sharing an accursed fate. Time hadn't diminished the memories, in fact they seem to grow stronger the more Clow tried to forget. It was the war, how it dragged on and like quicksand, snarled victims, innocent bystanders and the guilty, alike. He could see the tangle of lives that entwined together like a spiderweb, pulling one thread moved five others and those five affected ten. Clow had tried to reach out to Eriol, his younger brother hadn't understood what being bound by magic to a wolf meant, that there was another creature inside, one that had been wronged just as much as the human side. Eriol had protested giving up being a were-wolf, that there was no harm in having extra abilities. He had been willing to give up blood-lust but not the wolf, in the end, there were only two choices, for or against, and Eriol picked against.

The sounds of Syaoran and Meiling's return in the front of the house pulled him out of the dark path his mind had gone down. Clow knew exactly when they arrived in front of his door and put a gentle smile on his face and adjusted his robes. It seemed they were arguing over an incident.

"If Kero-chan hadn't stopped you, no excuse me, totally kicked your ass, you would have been slobbering all over that girl! Where's your sense of respons--" Meiling ranted on before being cut off by Syaoran's retort, "Her name is Sakura and My sense of responsibility?! Weren't you supposed to be watching my back? If that was kicking my ass, Kero-chan totally whupped yours, bypassing you like that. At least I could say I was distracted by a tasty morsel at the moment." A really juicy, succulent morsel, I wish I had time to--

Clow slide open the door, breaking Syaoran's train of thoughts. "If you two want to argue outside the door and keep the elderly old man waiting on you, please at least lower your decibel levels so my fragile eardrums can survive intact for what I have left of my humble life."

"You haven't aged much at all in a long long long time Clow-san, magic at its best, I'd say Meiling has more wrinkles than you" Syaoran snorted.

Clow watched fascinated as Meiling turn different shades of red, purple and blue and decided to step in before he had to replace his door, again. He glanced at his wooden paper wall and sliding door, noting all the patches and mismatched off-white pieces glued on over huge tears and rents caused by frequent fights breaking out. On second thought, maybe he should just let them destroy the whole thing, a renovation was in order...but not enough time for now.

"Alright you two, break it up and not each other. Kaho-san is not to be kept waiting. Her visions are important, an advantage we need. Let's adjourn to the meeting room." He ushered them ahead of him, watching their backs just in case, no doubt all the important members of the Clan are already there, nothing much escapes the heighten senses of a bunch of were-wolves.

Kaho, as an avatar had strange personality traits, she would often lose track of things but she was hyper-focused and calm when possessed, to the point of having a subtle aura. As the meeting settled in, she ran her gaze over the people in the room, the champagne colour of her eyes flashing as the goddess inside took over.

"A nightmare."

The room silenced at her words.

"My vision was of a gathering of the rogues, our killing of their members have finally caught up with the growth rate of their packs. They are being called together to eradicate the threat we represent against their bloody hunts. We have only been encountering pups, as the older members throw them in to distract us. It's time to gather our Clan too, we must find Eriol." Kaho stated slowly, meeting the eyes of the crowd.

At hearing Eriol's name, Clow's heart leapt unevenly and beat faster. "We must hurry, start the process, this meeting is over. Syaoran, Meiling, and Clow, please stay, I must speak with you three."

The meeting filed out, murmuring among themselves until the last person slide close the door and their footsteps receded. Kaho sat down on a mat, and closed her eyes, waited a beat before announcing, "I had another dream, this one was..." She turned her head from side to side slowly, then tilted it in puzzlement, "distorted as if the person was protected by magic. In it, there was a girl, with a great guardian beast bearing the Sun and a winged-protector wielding the Moon. Around her floated glowing pieces of cards that seem to simmer and block my sight. I feel she is important, but I can't see how..." Kaho trailed off in frustration. "I want Syaoran to watch out for this girl and Meiling, you should travel with Syaoran."

Meiling rolled her eyes.

"We've already met a girl fitting some of the description, except we haven't see the Moon protector. I left a tracking spell on her, she should be easy to locate again" Syaoran reported. Can't wait...Syaoran smirked, it seems Sakura and I are destined to meet, reason enough for me.

Kaho nodded slowly, "Yes...you can both go now...Clow, stay." The two headed out the door and left Clow alone with Kaho.

"Clow...about Eriol..."

Clow sighed, "I know..." The two fell silent.

End of Chapter 3

Author: Ack, I was hoping to get to Sakura, oh well, next chapter. This chapter's kinda meh but I had to introduce some people.

Author: I know I'm inflating Kero-chan's ego about his 'beastliness' but I do feel that in the anime, he didn't get time to show off his big form much.

Author: Same message as the previous two chapters, any mistakes, tell me, I already caught some and eradicated those suckers *evil laugh * Any advice too, please let me know.

Thanks for reading up to here and thanks reviewers, it's greatly appreciated. ^_^