Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ The Neverending Issues ❯ Chp. 1 ( Prologue )

Nope, I still don't own Cardcaptor Sakura .... and probably never will .... *tear*

Hiyee, ppl!! It's me, ~*!fireblaze~*!, back with another new CCS ficcie ... hope you all enjoy it!!

**Specially dedicated to my best friend (or one of them, at least) Teresa/Terwesa/The Sarcastic One ^^ After all, it was your t-shirt that gave me the idea for this story!! Thankiez!**

Chp. 1

If there was ever one thing that even Sakura would notice about her friends and herself, it would be that they were never normal.

Never.

For one thing, there was the magic issue. After all, how many kids out there had magic? How many kids out there are the Card Mistress? How many kids out there are the reincarnation of the greatest sorcerer who ever lived?

Not many.

And another thing was that they were just plain "unique" in their own ways. After all, how many kids out there tell lies just for fun, and later on get beat up by their girlfriend for telling them? How many kids are obsessed with videotaping their best friend?

Again, not many, dear reader.

And of course, we could never forget Eriol and Tomoyo's "great" matchmaking skills.

I mean, they've spied on Sakura and Syaoran every single date the two have had, and they always find some way to embarrass the heck out of them.

Which is where our story begins. Sakura and Syaoran are out on a date . . chaos ensues . .

***

"Syaoran, do you get the feeling that we're being watched?" Sakura asked her boyfriend, taking a spoonful of udon.

Syaoran's eyes immediately narrowed. "Not them again."

"Oh, Syao-kun," Sakura sighed. "You say it like they're such bad people!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Sakura," he began patiently, "they've spied on us every date we've ever had. You seriously think they're good people?"

"They're Eriol and Tomoyo, Syaoran. What do you expect?"

Syaoran sighed, knowing she was right.

"I swear, those two are scary . ."

***

"Oh my gosh they're SO cute!" squealed Tomoyo excitedly.

Eriol sighed. He was used to this. After all, he was Tomoyo's partner in crime, and he had to endure her habits of bringing her videocamera wherever she went, and her occasional outbursts of how cute Syaoran and Sakura were.

But that never meant he liked it.

"Look at them, Eriol-kun!" Tomoyo squealed again.

Eriol simply sighed, and proceeded to bang his head against the nearest wall.

***

When Eriol got home that night, he was satisfied. When Syaoran had leaned in to give his Sakura-chan a kiss, Tomoyo and he had popped party poppers, thrown confetti, and applauded loudly, attracting the attention of everyone in the restaurant.

So, so far, it had been a good day.

So far would be the keyword there.

"So did you, did you, did you?" asked Nakuru, bouncing up and down eagerly.

"Did I do what?" asked Eriol innocently.

"You know!" burst out Nakuru exasperatedly. "Did you tell her?"

"I can say with the utmost confidence he didn't," interjected Spinel, giving his master a long, hard look.

Eriol avoided the piercing stares his guardians gave him. Truthfully, he would've loved to tell her of everything. But he couldn't, and he just wouldn't.

"Well?" asked Nakuru impatiently.

"I didn't," Eriol said shortly. "I didn't, and I never will. I'm going to bed now."

"But --" began Nakuru, then stopped, seeing the look on Eriol's face as he climbed the stairs. She started up the stairs to follow him, but Spinel stopped her.

"Leave him be, Nakuru," said Spinel imperatively. "Just leave him be."

"But don't you want him to tell her, Suppi-chan?"

"More than you could ever imagine," Spinel said wearily, not even bothering to correct Nakuru on his name. "But still, leave him alone. The poor boy has enough to deal with without you bothering him."

Nakuru sighed, and finally nodded.

"Fine, Suppi. Fine."

***

Unknown to the two guardians, Eriol had been listening. Silently he thanked Spinel for having enough common sense, consideracy, and compassion to know when to leave him alone.

"How did I ever get myself into this mess?" he groaned.

He remembered asking Nakuru that question once. She had come up with an answer he didn't quite understand, yet somehow fitted.

"Eriol-sama, that's life. And the worst thing is there's nothing you can do about it."

That was the worst part. He hated knowing there was nothing he could do about it. He hated the fact that he couldn't make himself stop liking her.

The truth was, he liked someone . . the way Syaoran liked his dear Sakura. And he hated himself so much for falling guilty to the curse of the four letter word, love.

He shook that thought out of his head quickly. Love? Surely it hadn't gotten that far?

Had it?

***

The next day, Syaoran approached Eriol cautiously, as if he were a bomb that could explode any minute.

"Yes, dear descendant?" Eriol asked, his voice full of the annoying cheerfulness he knows Syaoran hates.

Syaoran flinched as soon as he heard it. He couldn't believe what he was about to do.

"Hiiragizawa," he said gruffly. "I, er, need your help."

"Oh really?" asked Eriol, the smirk on his face growing wider.

Syaoran flinched again. This was really hurting him.

"Yes, now shut it. People might hear," said Syaoran, making sure no one was listening. The last thing he needed was gossip about him going up to his worst enemy for help.

"Well, what do you need help with?"

Syaoran muttered something Eriol couldn't understand.

"Uh, what?"

"I need to get Sakura an anniversary present ... the first year for her birthday and for our anniversary, I got her jewelry. Frankly, I think she's getting tired of it. So I need to get her something else. And I've chosen lucky you to help me," said Syaoran, rolling his eyes.

Eriol's mouth dropped open mockingly. "You? Want me? To help you pick out a present? For your beloved Sakura? Why, my cute little descendant, I'm just so honored!"

Syaoran flinched, again. He still couldn't believe he was doing this.

"Urgh, yes or no, Hiiragizawa?"

Eriol smirked. "Of course, dear descendant! How could I ever refuse?"

Syaoran groaned. "Meet me after school," he muttered.

"What ever you say, Syao-kun!"

Syaoran winced.

Ouch.

***

It wasn't that Syaoran couldn't have found a present good enough for his dear Sakura that wasn't jewelry on his own. It was the fact that, well, Sakura was always trying to get him to stop acting like Eriol was the devil (which, by the way, was a true fact in Syaoran's world), and he thought that if he could tell her that he actually got along with Hiiragizawa for at least a couple of hours, it would make her happy.

He sighed. The things he did for Sakura . .

***

School came and went too fast for Syaoran's comfort. He really wasn't looking forward to this. He was afraid. VERY afraid.

And he had a pretty darn good reason to be afraid.

And his fear grew worse the moment he saw the huge smirk on Eriol's face.

"So, my cute descendant, shall we get started?"

"Let's just do this," he gritted his teeth, trying to stifle the curses that itched to come out.

"You don't have to be afraid, descendant," came Eriol's annoyingly cheerful voice. "I won't embarrass you!"

"Wanna bet?" grumbled Syaoran.

It never failed. Eriol somehow always found a way to embarrass Syaoran.

"Hey, look! It's a lingerie shop! You think you can find a present there?" asked Eriol "very" subtly.

If looks could kill, Eriol would've dropped straight dead on the floor right then and there, at the killer glare Syaoran was giving him.

"Hiiragizawa," Syaoran said slowly. "Shut. The. Hell. Up."

And then he left.

***

Eriol, having finally gotten the message, shut up and behaved.

At least for the first hour.

By the second hour, Eriol yearned to call Syaoran "a cute little descendant", oh-so-subtly mention the nearest Victoria's Secret, or buy him another box of condoms.

"Syaoran, are you do-o-o-o-ne yet?!" whined Eriol. An hour and a half had passed, and STILL Syaoran hadn't found "the perfect present."

"No, now shut up," ordered Syaoran. God, whoever knew that the "great" reincarnation of Clow Reed was such a whiner?

"Urgh," Eriol grumbled, looking through windows of random shops. Who knew Syaoran was so picky?

"Look!! Do you think that's good enough?" asked Syaoran eagerly, pointing to a simple yet somehow elegant little frame.

"The perfect present for your Sakura is a picture frame?" asked Eriol unbelievingly. The frame was cute, in a way, but they had been roaming around the mall for nearly two hours now. And to know that that two hours was for just a cheap picture frame (it was $7.88, plus tax) just made him want to strangle his descendant.

"You can put other things besides pictures in it!" said Syaoran defensively.

"Like what?" asked Eriol, curiosity overpowering him.

Syaoran flushed. "A poem I wrote . ."

Eriol blinked, unbelieving. It was the second time Li had shocked him in this day. Li Syaoran, writing a poem for his Sakura's anniversary present?

Eriol blinked again, regarding his descendant in a whole different way. Poetry?

Who knew?

***

Tomoyo was at Sakura's house, listening to her ramble on and on and on about what present she should get for her Syao-kun.

Which, trust me, got tiring pretty quickly.

"No, really, Tomoyo-chan! What should I get for him?! It's our second year anniversary!! Argh!! I just don't know!"

Tomoyo sighed. She was used to this. Every year, Sakura would psycho twice. Exactly two times. Once in July, on what to get for Syaoran's birthday, and of course, now, May, on what to get for him on their "anniversary."

Of course. May 17th, the day Syaoran and Sakura finally got together. A huge relief.

And now, Sakura was going ballistic over what the heck she should get Syaoran. After all, there was no way in hell she could just not give him a present.

"For God's sake, Sakura-chan, just give him a freaking box of chocoates," Tomoyo said, on the edge of losing her temper, which she rarely did.

Sakura's eyes lit up, oblivious of Tomoyo's almost-going-PMS-on-you-even-if-you're-my-best-friend-and-I'm-in-love-with- you. "That's it, Tomoyo!" she said, sounding like a four-year-old who had just completed a coloring activity. "You're brilliant, you are!"

Tomoyo blinked. Sakura's anniversary present for her beloved Syaoran, after going ballistic about it, would be a box of chocolates?

Chocolates were okay for a present; after all, they're the most common presents there are during V-Day. But usually, Sakura tried to get something "unusual." And she knew it'd be a surprise for Li to get something edible from Sakura for a special occasion.

"Well . . Li does like chocolates . . ." trailed off Tomoyo.

"Yup!" said Sakura brightly.

Tomoyo sighed.

A box of chocolates?

Well, it just might work.

Uh-huh. Right.

***

Half an hour later, Eriol still couldn't get over the fact that his "cute little descendant" actually wrote poetry. And he was making a huge deal out of it, too.

"I still can't believe you actually write poetry," Eriol said, shaking his head.

"Argh, shut up about it, will you?" growled Syaoran. He was really getting tired of this, and the emotional and sensitive part of him took over. "Haven't you ever had such strong feelings for someone that you'd do anything for that someone, anything? Even the most embarrassing things, things you'd never live down? Like writing poetry, for instance?"

He watched Eriol, waiting expectantly for an answer.

After some time, Eriol spoke. "Yeah, I have, Syaoran. I have."

Syaoran looked at Eriol for awhile, regarding him in a whole different way. He thought for awhile, debating on whether he should ask who Eriol had such strong feelings for. But then he decided against it.

He gave Eriol a smile, the first true smile he ever gave him.

"I guess I had you all wrong, huh?" he said amiably, breaking the serious moment.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," said Eriol softly. "Being the reincarnation of a great and powerful sorcerer can be fun, but there's so much responsibility, so much I have to take care of . . . it may seem that because I'm magical, I'm not human. That's crap; I'm as human as you all are. And I'm not exempt from the issues of my life, those issues that never end. I feel for some girls the way you feel about your cherry blossom, you know. I do."

He stopped, looking away.

When he looked back at Syaoran, he was smiling strangely.

"You love, or at least like her, don't you?" he asked Eriol gently.

Eriol didn't even bother to deny it, or ask who he was talking about. Li knew.

"C'mon, Hiiragizawa. Let's eat."

And as they were in the queue for their food, Eriol suddenly realized that that had been the first real conversation Syaoran and he had ever had.

When the two teens came home that night, they were friends. Nothing changed, Eriol still called Syaoran his cute little descendant and teased him about Sakura, and Syaoran was still wary whenever Eriol was around. But nevertheless, they were still friends, maybe even best friends, even if they did have a funny way of showing it.

Of course, like they say, every good thing has some sort of flaw in it.

See, since Syaoran knew who Eriol liked now, his new hobby was to pester him into making tell her (her name was too special to say out loud, especially when Eriol was around) of his feelings, which Eriol just wouldn't do.

"Urgh, Hiiragizawa, you know you want to," Syaoran said. "Dammit, just tell her already!"

But Eriol was firm and determined not to let her know he felt towards her.

"No, I'm NOT going to tell her, and I never will."

And try as Syaoran might, he just couldn't convince the stubborn sorcerer otherwise. And he knew it would be no use if he kept on trying.

So eventually, he stopped pestering Eriol about it, and the days went back to normal. At least, as normal as it ever got over there.

"Hey, Chiharu-chan!" Yamazaki called out. "Did you know that Barney the dinosaur was really --"

BAM, went Chiharu's mallet, not even waiting for Yamazaki to finish.

Yep, those are the issues, all right.

***

A/N~ End of first chapter .... hope it wasn't too crappy .... if it was, sorry .... I'm in a hurry .......

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