Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Empress of my Heart ❯ Fifteen Days ( Chapter 1 )

Author's notes: K, everything in this story about CCS is different in some way! A S&S and slightly E&T fic! E-mail me please, telling me what you think! ~Tokyo Rabbit

FanficQsandAs@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura or any of their characters, OR The Universe of the Four Gods. But this is my original idea, making me own it and my original characters. Aragato!

Empress of my Heart

Chapter One: Fifteen Days

* * *

Emperor Shaolang, your birthday is fast approaching." An advisor told me, more or less lectured me.

I just sighed; I knew exactly where this was headed. It was just like many other lectures I had gotten over the past year.

"And you know what that means. You must chose one of the princesses recommended for a bride."

I cringed. There was nothing more I despised than the thought of a forced marriage, but many had told me over and over that I had certain obligations. One being who I married, `for the good of the country.'

And in perfect routine, here came a tall girl with jet black hair, shooing the advisors away, "Now, now! Don't you think His Highness knows this? Please, leave him in peace."

Everyone left the girl and I alone in my office.

The young woman smirked as she laid her eyes upon me, sitting behind a huge wooden desk, "You're not going to make a decision, are you?"

She took my silence as a `no.'

"If you don't decide soon, they'll reconsumate our engagement, Syaoran-kun." My cousin smirked, knowing that was not what I wanted either.

When July 13th came, it would mark Emperor Shaolang's eighth year of being ruler of Shaolang, my eight year of being ruler. My country was a small one, but big enough to keep one busy; it was really only a fraction of the size of the nearby Japan. It's Location: South Japan, west of the small Volcano islands and East of the even smaller Ryukyu islands, and most often when asked by people all over, it was considered to be a perfect location spot for vacations.

When my father, Emperor Shaolan died, at the age of three I was thrown into vast numbers of various studies; training to become the next Emperor, out of all of my relatives.

There was Mother, who ruled until I turned thirteen, Yelan my aunt, Meilin my cousin and ex-fiancee, Ning one of my second cousins, and then there were my sisters: the princesses Fuutie, Sheifa, Fahren, Feimei, who were all older than I. When the appointed day of my thirteenth birthday rolled around, I was coronated into being Emperor Shaolang; only my closes friends and members of the family called me Syaoran.

Meilin watched me in silence, "You're thinking. About what?"

"About how I wish I had a choice in all of this." I sighed.

"Hmm...." That gave her an idea, "I'll be back."

And without another word, she walked out of the office, closing the heavy wooden doors behind her.

"What was that about?"

Deciding to put off my duties for a moment or two, I walked out after her. The Shaolang palace was magnificent and vast. A person could get easily lost without an escort.

Not really paying mind to where my feet were taking me, I found himself in the royal gardens. The warm sun shone gently down upon my face as I strolled through the exotic, local flower beds.

I had a strong liking for flowers, mainly blossoms and peonies, but not just any blossoms. When I was young, I had gone with the Empress, my mother, to Japan for a conference between our royal family and theirs. It had been in April, and the huge numbers of Cherry trees were in full bloom. I fell in love with their beauty and the sweet smell that lay thickly about the city.

So, when My mother and I returned, I made sure to it that Cherry trees were planted everywhere. And so the palace was sometimes called the Sakuralang Palace by the locals.

I strolled up to one Cherry tree that I had grown to love the most out off all the hundreds of others, because there was a bed of peonies surrounding it, and sighed, "If I only had a choice...."

"Syaoran! Syaoran-kun!" I heard Meilin's elated voice call as she ran up.

I turned to her, "Yes?"

She stopped and clasped my hands in her own, "I have an early gift for you, cousin."

"What is it?" I wasn't too sure if I wanted to hear this or not.

"My dear Syaoran, July 13 is only a few weeks away. When that day comes, you will be wed and Shaolang will have a new empress," She held her breath and her eyes sparkled, "But you see, there's a catch."

Great. "A catch?"

"Yes, a catch. Today is June 29. You only have fifteen days to find the girl of your choice and propose to her." Meilin smiled as my jaw dropped.

"What?" My breath had left me in surprise and shock.

"I talked to those pencil-necked royal advisors of yours, and they agreed to it. But you only have fifteen days!"

Rarely did I ever smile, and now was a rare moment and time. I knew that Meilin was in love with me and was saddened when she broke off our engagement when she finally realized that I didn't love her in return; yet here she was playing the good guy in my predicament, "Meilin...."

She pulled a hand from mine and put a slender finger to my mouth, "Shh. It's my goal as family to see you happy!" And she walked off back to the palace.

....

That night I had a strange dream that was probably brought on by the new marriage arrangement.

In my minds eye, there was strange mist all around. A small light softly appeared and slowly began to grow into a figure. It was a young woman dressed in a silky gown.

From what the mist could let me see, she had short hair and beautifully placed on top of it was a golden crown. Her skin gave me no details of what she looked like because she was constructed of tiny little stars of all colors and shapes.

The last thing I noticed before I woke for the next morning was that in her starry hands, she was holding a bouquet of Cherry blossoms....

~*~

Our plane was only a fraction of an hour away from the small independent country of Shaolang.

VKL was of course courteous enough to allow Megumi to fly first class while her counterparts flew coach. Only because she's a few years my senior!

Hi, my name is Kinomoto Sakura. I work for a news station that just went national just last year. Yes, I'm a reporter, and only at the age of twenty-one!

It's quite a funny story really, I had been interning there for only a year when my boss found out who I really was and hired me on immediately. And yet Mr. Hiiragazawa, my prettyboy boss from England, couldn't fork up the money to send the rest of us in first class!

Sitting to the left of me on the plane was Daidouji Tomoyo, my childhood friend and camera person and at the time was typing madly away on a laptop. I don't know why she insisted on having a job at all. Her family was very rich and she owned a small company on the side that was about to go platinum. But she claimed that designing clothes was just her hobby.

Then there was a funny little man sitting to the right of me. That was Fukuhara Kusuo, Megumi's cameraman. He was always wearing something that didn't entirely match and no matter what he wore his famous red ball cap, turned to the side. The hat tamed his black hair somewhat, but it still jutted out from underneath.

The woman that I had been bitterly thinking about before was Yamamoto Megumi, one of VKL's top notch reporters. But the truth of the matter was that the only way she had become so famous and popular was because of her low-cut tops and her competition on the really good stories seemed to drop back from the spotlight for some mysterious reason.

Tomoyo had joked around that Megumi had done Mr. Hiiragazawa a few `favors' to get so high up there. In short, no one really liked her, except poor Kusuo who was madly in love with her. But to her, he was only the pig-man behind the lens. I felt sorry for him.

Megumi was my rival in every aspect it seemed. Our boss sent us on almost every story together, and of course she stopped me in some way from getting the story. One time she had slashed the tires of my news van. Then there was the time were she snuck into my hotel room and stole my blouse, high heels, AND skirt! She would stop at nothing to get her story....

Only in that aspect did I respect her, but otherwise, if given half the chance, I would use my Windy Card to keep her captive in her room until I got the whole story done and over with.

The Windy Card? Oh, hehe, didn't tell you who I `really' was? Let's see, where to start.... When I was in the fourth grade I stumbled across a book in my father's study, and upon opening it, I released fifty-three magical cards all around Tomoeda, my home town. Kero-chan, one of my guardians, helped me gather them back under my seal and transform them all into my very own Sakura Cards.

Fun huh? Then of course there was Yue, my other guardian, and Eriol Hiiragazawa was only half of the reincarnation of Clow, the magician who created the Clow Cards in the first place. When he figured out who I was, Eriol-kun hired me right away. He thought it best.

With all of these thoughts slowly playing out in my head, I slowly drifted into a light nap.... I can't wait until we get there; a vacation within work....

....

Shaolang was so beautiful! All throughout the country were rural towns on the beautiful country side, cities with varies sights to see and hotel resorts, and just about everything in-between.

Tomoyoko and I decided that it would be wise for us to take a nap at our hotel before we set out on the capital, Xiao. Of course Kero-chan was furious when we had to leave him behind in the hotel room, but I was smart enough now to pack along my gaming system for him, that and promise him something for when we returned.

Our mission was to get a documentary interview with His Highness Emperor Shaolang. Which our meeting time was really a few days away, but Eriol-kun decided that it would be best if we came early. You never know when fate would decide to show it's ugly head and mess things up at the last moment; best be prepared.

"Xiao reminds me of Tomoeda almost," Tomoyo said, enchanted.

"Yeah! It seems like Tomoeda as if it were a subtropics island!" I totally had to agree.

Being the shoppers that we were, we began to hit the shops one by one, and there were a LOT! Oh well, nothing we couldn't handle.

~*~

Meilin had insisted that I start looking for my bride right away, so she sent me sight seeing around my own capital. Unfortunately my body guards seemed to want to go too.

"Oh! He must be someone important...." I heard a near by girl whisper.

"I wonder who? Perhaps he's just rich?" Her friend gossiped back.

Ah, this was annoying. Most of my subjects didn't know what I looked like because I rarely stopped for interviews or anything of the sort. They only saw me when I made speeches and such. In which case, I was usually up high on a balcony. I just didn't like the attention.

If I could just ditch these muscle necks, then no one would pay mind to me. I would look just like a normal person walking around and shopping, and picking up girls, but... yeah....

"Listen guys, I'm going to go get a soda, would you like one?" I thought of something random as we walked in front of soda shop.

When I began to walk in, they began to walk in after me! I put my hand up, "No, no guys, let me get this, I'll be out in two seconds."

They looked at each other, not quite sure if they should leave me or not, "Don't worry! Coca Cola? I'll be back."

Without giving them time to think about it, I rushed inside and walked up to the bar, "Phew."

"Wha'da ya have?" The man behind the counter asked.

He looked quite funny with that huge mustache of his.

"Uh, well actually, I was wondering if you had a back door to this place?" I asked.

The man gave me a puzzled look but pointed to a door way with swinging doors next to the counter, "Go through there and take a left."

I thanked him and made a dash for it, "Ahh!"

Foiled! Carelessly, I bumped into a customer who was walking from the bar. Root beer float went flying in the air. We both watched the glass in shock as it flew up and began to descend back to the earth. As it fell, it tilted.

Shatter!

The poor girl stood there looking at me, shooting daggers. She was now soaked in root beer and sticky with ice-cream.

"Ah! Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Her friend cried.

Ding!

I turned in a panic to see my body guards walking in the shop. Quickly I turned to the girl, "I'm very sorry! But, I have to go!" And I bolted for my escape.

~*~

"I can't believe this!" I wailed as I watched the young man run to the back of the shop.

"Oh no Sakura. Let's go back to the hotel." Tomoyo took my arm and began to lead me out of the soda shop.

....

We walked back to our hotel. Tomoyo-chan gave Kero a small box of chocolates to calm his food envy while I bathed and changed into a light pink sundress, and I had decided to wear brown open-toed sandals and a sun hat.

"Ah! Sakura, you're just so cute!" My friend clapped when I stepped out from the bathroom. No matter how many times she praised me, I would never get used to it.

We set back out on Xiao, determined to spend even more amounts of money and avoiding soda shops.

Next it was a nice sized book store. I loved to read and it was time to get a new book. Every time I traveled, I took one special book with me. Wilted Sakura, by Yuieh Usagi ((Keke!)). My father had given it to me when I moved out a few years ago into my own apartment.

It was about a girl and guy, like many stories. Their names were Dariehome and Sana. It was a lovely story about love. Sana had taught her arch enemy to live and appreciate things, while he was slowly falling in love with her, and her with him. Very romantic.

The binding began to fall apart and the hard back cover was scratched, almost unreadable. But the pages had that wonderful `old' smell, where you have flipped the pages so many times to keep in it's captivating spell, it began smell musty and ancient.

Really it was my father who had gotten me into reading.

"Sakura, this looks interesting!" Tomoyo called me over to her.

She was standing in one of the aisles, flipping through a book, "What is it?"

I flipped through the pages when she handed it to me and looked at the title, "Universe of the Four Gods? What's it about?" I read the back, "Tamahome? Miaka? It sounds interesting.... I'll get it!"

"Okay, is that all you wanted from here?" Tomoyo picked up another book, "Ribbons of Green....."

"I need to get another journal. My old one is full." I began to walk up the front counters where they would have shelves of journal type books.

Bending over slightly, I began to pick up a pink covered journal that looked sturdy enough for the kind of life I led, but I was soon bombarded with books.

"Ah! Are you all right?" I heard a voice say.

"Unn...."

"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo ran over to me and pulled me up, brushing off the books that were still attached.

"I'm so sorry!" A familiar voice said.

"YOU!" I shrieked.

There was the SAME guy who spilt my root beer float all over me! And now he was dumping libraries one me!!

"You....!" The young man rushed around the shelf to my side and helped Tomoyo steady me, "I'm very sorry. Here, let me pay for these."

Before I could object, he took the journal and book from my hands and rushed to the counter. We followed.

"Is this all?" He asked as he pulled his billfold out.

"Aya...." Awed by all the money he had, I shook my head, "No, that's all."

"Here." He handed the bag to me.

I took the bag from him, "Thank you...."

Silence.

"Uh, listen, I really am sorry about today." He flushed slightly from embarrassment.

"Oh, it's okay. My life has never really been normal." I laughed nervously.

More silence....

"My name is Sakura." I introduced myself stupidly, holding out my free hand.

"Sha...." He paused as he took my hand and shook it, "Er, Syaoran."

Even more silence.

"Are you a local?"

"No. My friend and I are here on business," I turned to introduce Tomoyo but she had gone! She was back in one of the art aisles looking at photography books.

"Oh, uh.... First time here?"

"Yes...."

"Like it so far?"

".... Yes, it's very beautiful."

"Well...."

"So...."

"So, uh, I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Thank you.... I better get going, nice meeting you." And I turned to begin walking away.

"Wait!"

"Phwee?" I turned to see him blushing furiously.

Apparently he wasn't very good with girls; it was very funny to see a man his age blush, "Yes?"

"Uh, well, you might not want to... but because you're new to this place... visiting I mean... I was wondering....." It was so cute how he stuttered!

"Yes?"

"Would you like to meet me for dinner?" He spat out.

"Phwee?!"

~*~

TR: Ho ho ho ho ho! There were several things regarding other stories in here! Like, Universe of the Four Gods came from one of my favorite anime/Mangas! Fushigi Yugi by Yu Watase! Very, VERY good! Just like Child's Toy! Does anyone know what that is? It's very hard to get here in the USofA. That and Ribbons of Green is one of MY fanfictions. Also, Yuieh Usagi is, guess who? ME! Ho ho ho ho ho! ::hops around in a little bunny costume eating yummy moshi::

Next time: "Secrets start so little and seem so unimportant that we pay no mind to them when they are first born, but soon they will grow to consume you."