Five years had passed since the night Sakura had been left on his doorstep, and life at his manner couldn't have been happier. Well, maybe, if Sakura had had a mother around, life would have been perfect.
"But life is never perfect. Not for long, anyway." Said Clow to himself, as he watched Sakura, Cereberos, and Yue playing out in the back yard.
Sakura was growing up to be almost an exact replica of her mother, it seemed. Although her attitude and the way she thought were a few traits she had gotten from him.
She was incredibly stubborn, and it was pretty clear to both Clow, and to his two guardians, that Sakura definitely, and without a doubt, most certainly has a mind of her own. She was a risk taker, but still had some sense of caution about things she wasn't sure of. Clow could already tell she was going to develop a good head on her shoulders.
She was going to need one, maybe sooner than she should, but it couldn't be helped. The Kinomoto family was keeping a close watch on him, and the ones that knew who Sakura really was were keeping an even closer watch on him. Why? Clow had no answers in regards to that particular question.
Clow wasn't entirely sure why, but he felt as if whatever they were planning: Was most definitely not in the best interest of his young daughter. He may not know what was taking place behind the seens: But, one thing the Card Master knew for sure: Was the simple fact that his daughter would always have a target on her back for her whole entire life. Well, that would most certainly have been the case, that is: If Clow wasn't keeping such a close and watchful eye on her.
"Daddy!" came the squealing voice of his daughter.
Clow smiled and knelt down in front of her.
'What is it, Sakura?"
"Look what I can do" she said, practickly vibrating with excitement. "Watch this, Daddy!"
With an intense look of concentration that Clow had never seen on a child's face before, Sakura started to glow a bright fiery pink and suddenly the entire room he had been standing in was covered with cherry blossom flowers and petals.
At that moment Yue and Cereberos ran into the room.
"Master Clow, sir we-" was all they said when they saw the room in front of them.
Clow himself was covered in flower petals too.
Sakura was very happy with herself, she was jumping around and flinging petals everywhere, while chanting,
"I did it, I did it! Did you see, Daddy! I did it!" then she seemed to slow down and some of the flowers start to disappear as the magic that made them started to disappear as well.
"I… did… It…" and that was all she said before collapsing, and as she fell, the rest of the flower petals vanished without the young girl's magic to keep them within sight.
"Sakura!" came three worried voices as she fell to the floor. Clow managed to catch her before her head hit the ground.
"Is she alright?!" yelled Cereberos, as he came bounding up next to her.
"Shhh… Cereberos, he is concentrating." Said Yue as he kneeled down next to Clow, who had his hand over Sakura's forehead, and was starting to glow a dark purple.
Clow sighed as he removed his hand from her head. After a few short moments had gone by with no words being spoken: It was Clow, himself, who was the one to speak first. "She will be back to her normal self in a few days. Right now, she is magically exhausted after pushing her magic powers like that." He calmly explained to his two worried guardians.
"But, Master Clow, she has no cards under her power. So, where, exactly, was she placing her magic in to make those flowers appear?" asked Yue, his icy-blue eyes knitting together in a show of utter confusion and bafflement.
Clow nodded his head, frowning thoughtfully to himself as he pondered on how to respond to the question that had just been asked. Another few moments of silance passed before the Card Master finally spoke up again. "Hmm... That is a very good question, Yue." The dark mage softly murmured, his expression becoming more thoughtful as he silently pondered on what the answer to Yue's question could possibly be.
Then, a few seconds later: Clow waved his hand, and one of the Clow Cards floated out of the book, and into his waiting hand.
"Huh? The Flower Card? But, Master Clow, how can she manipulate your cards? The Clow Cards should only be able to listen to you." Said Cereberos, sounding rather puzzled at the sudden turn of events.
Clow concentrated on the card in his hand, as if he were talking to it like the card itself was a physical, living, being of it's very own.
When he finished conversationing with the Flower Card, he turned to face Yue.
"Yue, please put Sakura in her bed, and onxe that is delt with, come meet me and Cereberos in the library." Clow said strongly, before gently deposting Sakura into the silver-haired Moon guardian's waiting arms, right as he was turning to walk out the door.
"Yes, Master Clow." Said Yue softly, nodding his head toward his master. Carefully and gently standing to his feet, the silver-haired angel headed out of the room, and began to make his way toward Sakura's bedroom that was a little further on down the hallway.
Over the years Yue had grown quickly, he was now the physical age of 14 or 15 year old even though in reality he was only 6 years old in human years . Cereberos had grown much in the same way only he looked like a juvenile mountain lion.
Once Yue completed his task and arrived at the library he saw Clow with his staff out waiting for him.
"Take your place Yue, and we will soon have answers" said Clow softly.
Yue took his place beside Cereberos, together they formed a triangle with Clow a the far point of it.
Clow waved his large staff and gently set the end on the floor, making a small tap. In a flash of light, the Clow Cards appeared, circling around all of them as they continued to glow brightly.
Clow closed his eyes and whispered, "Cards of Clow, Please grant me answers to which I seek."
As soon as those words left his lips, his mind was flooding with images of Sakura, but they were specific.