Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ In the Darkest Hour, There is Light ❯ Breaking ( Chapter 1 )

Merci! Salamat po! Arigatou! But most of all, thank you to everyone who reviewed! You know who you are! ^_~ Can you imagined how surprised I was when I found out I got all those lovely reviews for the first chapter, and that the story was on the fav's list of a couple of people! I was thrilled!

Just to tell you Syaoran is NOT an idiot and never will be. *Giggle* But this is how I want the story to go! And it seriously is funny when he's thinking of her. Poor, poor Syaoran indeed.

Syaoran: *glare* I resent that.

Otaku-hime: probably even more than you resent me writing you as the main, anguished, character who's trying to slowly pick up the pieces of his heart again after a dramatic farewell. *Goes starry-eyed* You know, Sakura and you would look so kawaii in the outfits that Tomoyo-chan sent me the designs for. She even bought me a new video camera!

Syaoran: *backs away nervously* She- she's already brainwashed you! AHHHH!!!!!!!

Otaku-hime: *giggle* Of course not, baka!

Syaoran: *sighs in relief*

Otaku-hime: *continues cheerfully* It's just natural authoress evilness. A lot of us who write something akin to S+S goop have it. And now… Touya! It's your turn to do the Disclaimer!

Touya: Remember the deal: I do the Disclaimer, you let me have the gaki for an hour. Just give me one hour.

Syaoran: *gulp* You won't seriously do this, will you Otaku-hime-sama? [Wow… long…]

Otaku-hime: of course I remember, Touya! I couldn't forget for the world! ^_~ *hands him a paper with writing on it* Here ya go!

Syaoran: Otaku-hime-sama, onegai-

Touya: All right: 'Otaku-hime does not own any of the rights to CCS. She does not own the characters, which belong to their respective owner, CLAMP. Go sue CLAMP. She's poor. Boo hoo. No money. Lucky CLAMP. Rich CLAMP. Poor authoress. Extremely poor. Uh, Otaku-hime?

Otaku-hime: Nani?

Touya: The rest of the Disclaimer just goes on like that. For about a page.

Otaku-hime: Oh well, just skip it then. On with the ficcy!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In the Darkest Hour, There is Light

By Otaku-hime

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

".... okay, everyone, is that clear?" asked their teacher.

"Yes," was the chorused reply from the class.

"Excellent!" The art teacher clapped her hands together joyfully. She was always so estatic, so… genki. Almost like her. But not quite, because no one would be like his Ying Fa.

"Okay! Get started!"

Syaoran stared at his canvas.

Blank. Just like his mind.

Suddenly, the image of Sakura with blossoms in her hair came back to him, stronger than ever.

And then, he lifted his paintbrush.

In a store at a mall in Hong Kong…

Mei-ling chattered on, as she dragged Syaoran to yet another shop. His thoughts, however, were far away. Syaoran thought about that painting, now. He had gotten a very good grade for it. Rian had something akin to a seizure when he saw what his best friend had painted.

"A girl?! You painted a girl?!" shrieked Rian.

"Why is that so odd?" asked Syaoran, irritated.

Rian stared once more at the picture. "I've seen those before… those petals…" His face brightened. "Ying Fa!" He looked at Syaoran eagerly. "You drew a cherry tree? What is it in Japanese, again?"

What on earth had possessed Rian to ask that? "Sakura."

"Sakura." Rian said it carefully as if he was testing the name out. "That's a lovely name for a lovely tree." He now squinted at the painting, critically, again. "This was done all in loving detail, man." He broke out in laughter. "If I didn't know you better, I would say you were in love with her!"

Mei-ling's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Please, buy that for me!" She pointed to something in a shop.

"No."

"But it's so nice, Xiao-lang! Please? Just look at it!"

"No," Syaoran replied through gritted teeth. Couldn't she just shut up? They weren't engaged anymore- couldn't she just accept that fact and live with it?

Mei-ling continued with her wheedling. "Oh, won't you just get this one little thing for your favourite cousin?"

"You're far from my favourite cousin."

"Oh, you're so mean!" When he didn't reply, she put on her puppy-dog expression and said once again, "Please?"

"Fine, fine, I'll buy it for you," he muttered. It wasn't that the puppy-dog thing was getting to him, it was that she was close to making a scene.

"Xie xie, Xiao-lang!" Mei-ling said cheerfully.

"So, what do you want?"

"This!" She marched him over to the shop picked up a little wooden music box, and opened it. A lovely tune floated on the notes…

Sakura- whispered a voice softly in his dazed mind. That's the tune they call Sakura… the painting, Rian, and now this?

In a flash, he recognized the wood the music box was made of: cherry wood.

It was like the breaking point, that little music box.

He had accepted a teddy bear.

He had framed a picture.

He had kept a handkerchief.

He had created a painting.

But the sight of that box, lying innocently in his cousin's hand, was just too much.

It was a breaking point.

He began to run, and ignored everything around him. He ignored Meiling vainly trying to call his name; he ignored the looks he was getting from the other people in the mall.

Just run, and everything will be all right, whispered the same voice that had said her name.

Running will not do any good, uttered another. Not unless you can run to her.

Otaku-hime: Yep- Syaoran running away just seemed to fit so nicely in the story, what with all the running away he did in the manga and anime. ^_^ The part with the sentences that all began with 'He had…' are just referring to some stuff in the series and everything. (Minus the painting) All right, my sincerest thanks go out to the twenty people who reviewed when I first posted this up. Now… next chapter…

Hmm. Here's a hint: Be afraid of how I can twist Syaoran's mind and turn him into someone… eugh… in love! *shivers dramatically* Horror upon horror.