Hi,
I know it's a bit late, but since school has started, I'm going to be a bit irregular in my updates. But I'll try and keep a steady pace.
I'm updating two chapters at once. They were originally meant to be one, but I guess it turned out too long, so I'm splitting them.
One thing I'm a bit worried about is Sakura and Syaoran's characterization and the portrayal of their relationship. It's a small scene in fact, but I want to get as close to their original characterization as possible. I don't have the same worries regarding present-day Touya and Yukito because they are in the future after all, and their times are different from that of the original. So as long as I keep their essence intact somewhere inside them, I'm not too worried about adding or removing certain aspects from their characterization. But in the scenes from the past, I want the characterization to be as real as possible. So if you think something's missing, or Sakura-Syaoran relationship isn't good enough, please tell me what I can do to improve.
The song Touya's band is seen composing in this chapter is actually "Passion Colours Everything" by "Poets of the fall"
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. If I did, I'd probably focus a lot more on touyaXyuki…
"Past"
"Present"
Enjoy and review
Sakura sniffed as she shuffled the cards into a deck and placed them in the book. Try a she may, but the tears didn't stop.
"Sakura! What's wrong?" Syaoaran was beside her in a minute, holding her and trying to stop the sobbing.
"It's…..Ni-chan….." she wiped her tears away.
Sakura looked up to see that Syaoran's worried expression had been replaced by one of solemn understanding. That renewed the tears. Syaoran hugged her and she rested her forehead in the crook of his neck.
A few minutes passed before Syaoran started saying, "Did he….is he….?"
She shook her head and sniffed, "Not yet, the day after tomorrow…I…..had a vision…."
At that, Syaoran hugged her even tighter.
"I know I shouldn't be this sad," she said through tears, "Yukito will go with him, he'll be happy….in another time….but…I'll miss oni-chan so much," her voice broke at that.
Though Syaoran wondered how Yukito could "go" with Touya, and if he did, what that would mean for Yue, he didn't ask anything. His only concern was consoling Sakura. It took a whole night of holding her for her tears to subdue. Once the sobs subsided, he let the silence stretch on for a while before saying, "Sakura…..you should pay him a visit."
'A last visit,' he thought, though he never voiced it.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000
Sakura spent the next morning baking an apple pie. Syaoran and Kero helped, Kero being more interested in tasting the batter than actually baking.
"That pie is only for onii-chan and Yukito-san," she warned when Kero was about to dig in.
He protested, of course, saying that Touya had celebrated his birthday only a few days ago, but before he could take a bite, Syaoran took hold of the plush toy by its collar. He fixed a serious gaze on him, "It's very important to Sakura that her big brother eats this."
At that, Kero understood. He flew to her and placed a tiny paw on her face, "It'll be all right."
Her lower lip trembled, but she held back the tears, "Thank you, Kero-chan."
Yue was perched on the roof of a 50-storeyed building, in his miniature form. It was early morning and people were trickling out into the streets, going about with their daily routine. He watched as Touya's bike came to a stop, where a silver-haired teen climbed onto it.
It had been a week since Kobayashi Touya became a Cardcaptor, during which he had captured Shield, Sword and Jump. Yue had explained to him the creation and history of the Cards; the fact that they had been created by Clow Reed—hence initially called Clow Cards—and had later been recaptured and changed by a certain girl, Kinomoto Sakura. Touya was surprised to know that his predecessor had only been a fourth grader while capturing the cards and asked why he had been initiated so late. Yue had himself not expected to find his next master any older than thirteen years and so, instead of giving a relevant answer, her simply muttered, "Magic changes with time."
Even he didn't know what it meant.
"The Echoes" was gathered in the garage adjoining a residential apartment that they rented. The owner even let them have the key so long they paid the rent in time. If they didn't, the owner had warned, he'd change the locks.
It had been remodeled to serve as their rehearsal room, and it was within these four walls that all of their songs had been conceived. They were in the middle of their newest song, which they had temporarily named "Passion."
"I danced in tune with what I fear
To do adrenaline
Completely rapt with what I hear
When passion colours everything…"
It was 10:45 by the time they'd wrapped up. "It's good that the song's finished," Yukito said.
"Yeah, but I'm still not sure if I like 'Passion' or 'Passion Colours Everything' better," Mitsuro remarked as he packed his guitar and headed for the door, "Anyway, gotta get going, I've got cram sessions tomorrow. See you later."
"I think I'll go with 'Passion Colours Everything.' That's what the song says, it isn't passion, but how it's everywhere," Shino said as he tugged at his wrist-band, rotating it so that the scorpion design was aligned with his palm.
"I agree," Yukito concurred. He then remembered something, "What about that show on the radio we were trying for? Are they willing to air us?" the question was mostly directed at Touya, as he was in charge of most of the organization matters.
Touya sighed, "They're still confused about the time slot, so nothing's sure yet."
"Hope they let us." Mitsuro said, waving them goodbye. They were outside and Mitsuro began trotting towards his house—it was at walking distance.
Shino swung his legs over his bike as Touya fumbled with the key to the garage. "Are they postponing because they don't have a slot free or because they don't want to?"
Touya grimaced, "They're….reluctant."
"Shoot," Shino cursed as he revved the engine and sped away. Yukito lingered.
Touya was about the pull down the shutter when he spotted a glowing, oblong shape accompanied by a sudden surge of magical aura. He recognized it instantly and swore. But Yukito's here. How do I—
He couldn't finish the thought as a beam of light shot towards him. He narrowly avoided it, but the beam changed its direction and pursued him.
Yukito was a horror-struck audience to all of this, and Touya internally groaned. He pulled out the key and The Shield Card. He was yet to use any of the Sakura Cards. The ones he had collected were rather easy and didn't require any magical combat. But he felt he desperately needed The Shield now.
"The key that holds the power of the sun and the moon, reveal your true form to me. Release!" A gust of wind swallowed him as the key elongated and transformed into a sun-and-moon staff.
"Shield Card, release!"
The wind threw the beam of light off its track as The Shield Card soared above his head, glowing. Touya felt a barrier as he tried to activate the card. The Shield Card shook and stopped glowing, then dropped to the ground. He frowned, "What—?"
A hand grabbed him by the waist and pulled him into the garage, a bolt of light hitting the ground where Touya had been a moment before.
"What's happening?" Yukito whispered. Touya turned around to see that they were both sprawled on the floor with Yukito's hand trapped beneath him. But he didn't complain about his hand; he was too baffled to register the pain. Touya also noticed that he was trembling slightly, the bizarreness of the situation too much to take in. He wanted to explain, but he realized that they were in a room full of musical instruments and there was a Card out there that was bent on charring him.
"The instruments! We can't let it come inside here."
Despite the bafflement, Yukito was quick to realize the threat that was looming over their priceless instruments. They scrambled to their feet and ran towards the exit, but an elfin creature stopped them. The Shot Card hovered above them, her hair a wild shock of pink with a yellow stripe running through the middle. She squinted at them and prepared another bolt.
"No, not here," Touya dreaded what the outcome would be, "Please don't shoot here," he muttered.