Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ What If ❯ Sakura and the Clow, Part 1 ( Chapter 2 )

Howdy!

A/N: I see you liked, or at least survived through, the introduction. Well, I'm glad to see you here again.

Since you're willing to go through with this fanfic I suggest you take your time to read the notes I write at the start of every chapter as they'll be of vital importance to the story itself. Read these ones below and you'll see what I mean... Right after this disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Who, me? Owning card Captor Sakura? Yeah, right. You wish.

Things to know: Sakura and Syaoran have never met and all is pretty much the way it was when the anime/manga started except that Sakura is already a sixth grader at the beginning of the story, it's the second month of classes (In Japan, school year starts in April and ends in March) and that makes her twelve years old. The storyline is heavily based on the anime and the manga canons, but with changes to the development of the plot and the plot itself, made to make it more... interesting. (But not necessarily more "appealing to all kinds of audiences".)

More things to know:

My fic has some Japanese words (just the untranslatable ones which I find essential to keep the characterization.), so here’s a list of approximate translations. You may want to skip it since most words I'll use are pretty much common knowledge to anime fans; it's up to you really:

In Japan names and surnames are inverted, so instead of Sakura Kinomoto you have Kinomoto Sakura.

Hoe (Pronouced similarly to "Monet", not like "woe".) - Sakura's catch phrase... uh, word... whatever! She usually uses it when she's surprised or when she doesn't understand something... you'll get the hang of it as you read.

Oniichan (Niichan) - Big Brother (As in the relative, not the Orwellian dictator or the TV show!)

Otou-san (Tou-san) - Father

Okaa-san (Kaa-san) - Mother

These last three are exact translations, I know, but I'd rather use them cause they include the "-san " and the "-chan." I refuse to write "Dad-san". Plus, I think they help to get the Japanese feeling in the story.

chan, san, kun, sama - When placed after the name they're a very common formality, used when addressing someone; -kun is generally for boys, -chan is generally for girls, -san is generally for older people or strangers and -sama is used to refer to someone who's superior to you, it's like a sign of extreme respect and/or devotion. (They are all a bit more complex than that, but this gives you a general idea.)

Itadakimasu - Before eating a meal, it's a tradition to say itadakimasu. It's a way to thank for the food that you're about to eat.

Not much more to say but the basics:

“Character Talking”

ºCharacter Thinkingº

(Me Talking)

Card Captor Sakura

Chapter 1: Sakura and the Clow

Part 1: The Boy from Hong Kong

The next morning things were pretty casual in the Kinomoto residence. Sakura was late, Touya called her a monster and got a stomped foot for it, Nadeshiko made them stop fighting and Fujitaka just watched the scene amused.

Then something happened that wasn’t in their daily routine. As the siblings were about to leave the phone rang.

"I'll get it" Fujitaka said, picking up the phone.

"Hello.”

Silence.

"Yes, this is the Kinomoto residence. What do you wish?"

More silence.

"Are you sure? What's the name of the book?"

Fujitaka walked into his library, Sakura and Touya following him to see what that was all about. "Yes, I have the book, but why is it so important to you?"

Silence again.

"I'm sorry, that's an important founding from my archeology team and we’re still working on opening it. It's very tightly locked." Fujitaka left the library holding a book with a picture of a creature that resembled a winged lion on the cover and had the title of 'The Clow'. Sakura felt like she had seen it before. "Oh, I didn't realize it." Fujitaka let out a small chuckle. "In that case I can make an exception. I'll send it by mail."

Sakura looked at the book with curious eyes, the symbol on the back of the book, which consisted of some mystical patterns with a half-moon in the middle, was also familiar to her and gave her an odd feeling as she looked at it. "I see. When will he arrive?"

A last pause.

"I'll make sure he gets it. It is a pleasure to help you. Goodbye." Fujitaka hung up the phone.

"Who was it otou-san?" Sakura asked, hoping to find clues to the nature of the symbol on the back.

"It was a Chinese woman. She said this book is a lost heritage from her family. Somehow it ended up here in Japan and was found by my team, so she's sending a person named Li Syaoran all the way from China just to get it." Everyone stared him confused by the absurd statement. "I suggested sending it by mail but she said the book is too important to trust it to mail people."

"A Chinese man is coming here? When will he come?" Sakura said. She felt something odd about the mentioning of a Chinese man. It was the second time she had felt that way in the past few seconds.

"In three days. I'll be on a business trip so I won't be home. Touya, will you be home by then?"

Touya grunted. "Wait a minute. You just trust anybody who calls here asking for something?" He said it as if his father had just told a joke. "Maybe it's a trick to steal something valuable. This book may be worth a fortune. How would this woman even know you have it anyway?"

Fujitaka nodded in agreement. "That's what I thought at first, but after talking to her a while I realized I have many reasons to trust her."

Touya raised his hands in despair. "What's that supposed to mean!" But his father's expression didn't shift from its soft smile, leading Touya to find himself with nothing left to say. He sighed in defeat and looked at his father in the eye. "Are you absolutely sure?" Fujitaka nodded. "Fine, but I won't be here in three days either. I have a part-time job and soccer practice."

Nadeshiko took a step forward, entering the conversation. "I'll be visiting Sonomi-chan. I promised I'd be there cause she couldn't come to my birthday party." She looked at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, will you be home?"

Sakura, whose mind was still wandering around the book, did a double-take and took a step back as everyone's gaze was now directed at her in expectation. "Y-yeah. But... Are you sure it's okay for me to receive a stranger here, alone like that?" Sakura said, picturing a mysterious stranger doing something terrible like kidnapping her or even worse... She quickly shook her head to try and forget those thoughts.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan." Fujitaka's reassuring smile was more than enough to make her, or anybody for that matter, feel a little better. "As I said, I have complete trust in this person." Sakura decided to trust him. He was always right after all, wasn't he?

Sakura suddenly jumped up as if something had just hit her on the head. "We're very late already!" She said, realizing that she was now even later because of the phone call. "Bye." Sakura and Touya quickly ran through the door, one taking the roller blades and the other a bicycle, and started on their way to school.

Yukito was waiting at the usual place for Touya and Sakura. When he finally saw them he waved his hand in the air. "Touya, Sakura-chan! Good morning!" He shouted to the distant siblings.

Yukito's smile made Sakura blush. "Good morning, Yukito-san!" She said very cheerfully as Yukito accelerated his own bicycle to meet Touya and Sakura at the same speed.

"Sakura-chan, you seem very cheerful today." Yukito said with a smile as cheerful as Sakura's.

"Even though the monster is late she doesn't mind; typical." Touya said, making fun of his sister and succeeding to provoke her.

Sakura was about to kick Touya's shin, which would have probably caused a very disastrous bike accident when Yukito said: "That's a lie Touya, you're just saying that to tease her." Sakura was overjoyed to see that Yukito was on her side and moved so Yukito would be between herself and Touya.

"Humph. You're no fun sometimes, Yuki, you know that?"

Sakura was sticking her tongue out at Touya from behind Yukito's back and blushed when Yukito turned his attention to her. "We're here." They all stopped at the front gate of Seijou High school. "See ya, Sakura-chan." Yukito said petting Sakura's hair softly, causing her to blush deeper.

"Bye Yukito-san." Was all Sakura could say before leaving, happily humming a happy song to herself.



At the Li residence, Syaoran was doing his best to comfort his crying cousin, Mei Ling.

The girl had her head sunk on his shoulders. "You can't leave! You should stay here and spend time with me! That's what boyfriends are supposed to do!" Syaoran felt uncomfortable. Although he didn't return Mei Ling’s feelings, she was still one of his only friends since they were both home schooled together. They had known each other since they were babies. He felt very bad every time Mei Ling got too emotional. It made him remember that her idea that they were boyfriend and girlfriend wasn't just a joke, which is how he treated it most of the time. She didn't really seem to care so long as she could spend time with him.

Syaoran, as usual, ignored that uncomfortable feeling and let his angry side take over. "Calm down. I'm just leaving for a few days. And besides, if you want me to be like that, you should have picked another person to be your boyfriend." He blurted out hoping the girl would leave him alone. "This is something really important, there's no way I can put anything in front of this." Syaoran immediately realized those weren't the best words to say. He gave a loud dramatic sigh as Mei Ling's crying suddenly got astoundingly more intense.

"You're so mean!"



At Tomoeda Elementary, Sakura greeted her friends.

"Good morning." Her friends greeted her back. She passed by them, barely noticing their conversation about the latest edition of their favorite manga, sat down on her desk and looked out the window to nowhere in particular with a dreamy face on. She slowly put her hand on her hair and sighed quietly, but was caught off guard by Tomoyo.

"You're happy because of Yukito-san, aren't you, Sakura-chan?" Sakura jumped back on her seat, surprised by Tomoyo's sudden statement, but she managed to answer her.

"Y-yes!" Tomoyo giggled and took a camera out of her backpack.

"I'll call this one 'Dreamy Sakura-chan'!" She said, looking dreamier than Sakura herself.

Sakura sweat dropped. "Hoe! Tomoyo-chan! Where did you get that?"

"My mom gave it to me yesterday. I never knew filming could be such fun." The girl said as she pressed the REC button. Sakura blushed and looked away trying to hide from the camera's lens. "I think I've found my vocation."

Sakura was very relieved when Terada-sensei entered the classroom. "Good morning, everybody. Today we will have our math tests. I hope you studied hard."

It didn't take five minutes into the test for Sakura to wish she was back at the eyes of the camera as that would have been much better than any math problem. She had studied for it, but for her it was never enough when it came to math.

After school Sakura was walking home with Tomoyo like they often did. Tomoyo could go back in a limo if she wanted to, but she enjoyed walking with Sakura. And her house wasn’t so far from Sakura’s house anyway.

"Otou-san said we'll have a guest on Monday, so I'll have to be home earlier to clean up the house before he arrives. I'll have to hurry so I won't be able to walk home with you."

Tomoyo seemed disappointed. "It's okay, don't worry. I'll ask Kaa-san to send someone to pick me up." She lied, she really treasured those walks. They were always the time when they had their longest and most private conversations. "And who is this guest?" Tomoyo managed to smile, trying not to concern Sakura.

"It's a man from China." Sakura said letting her mind wander in the same odd feeling from before. She felt like there was something she was forgetting about this man. But that was impossible cause they had never even met.

"China? Wow, what's he doing here in Japan? Is he a friend of your family?" Sakura started to explain all the events from that morning, still feeling that there was something fishy about the whole story.



Monday, May 28th, 9:20 am, Hong Kong time.

Amidst the preparations for the trip, three days went by in the blink of an eye. Syaoran's family was all gathered around him saying their goodbyes. Mei Ling, who had practically gotten over the situation in the past three days, had now gone back to crying like a baby on Yelan's bosom. Syaoran had already lost all the sympathy he had felt for the girl giving way to the desire to smack her in the head and tell her to shut up. Other than the knowledge that she would only cry more if he did so, the only thing stopping him were his four sisters all around him. "We'll miss you!" They said in unison, though not as dramatically as Mei Ling had in the past days.

When the sisters moved out of the way, it was Mei Ling's turn to say goodbye. She approached the boy with tears dripping from the corner of her eyes and pointed a menacing finger at his nose, frowning. Syaoran was a little stupefied as he had been pretty sure the girl would just hug him in a bear hug like she always did. "Xiao Lang, you're still my boyfriend, so don't you dare stay there too long!" Mei Ling tried to sound as bossy as possible, but it was hard to do so in between sobs.

Yelan stepped forward and placed her hand on top of the boy's head. "Xiao Lang, you know that dream wasn't just your imagination, if this was as simple as getting the book back, the elders wouldn't have chosen this as your trial. That's why I didn't buy your return ticket. I have a feeling you will have to stay there longer than expected. I have already made reservations at an elementary school for you. I also rented a nice apartment. Wei is going with you as your responsible guardian. Don't disappoint me." She said, and then shuffled his hair a bit causing Syaoran to shake his head as if to get rid of her hand. Yelan giggled at the pouting expression Syaoran made at her, it was really rare to see Syaoran with a face like that. "Now go, and don't come back without those cards." She winked at the boy.

Syaoran now had a confident smile on his face. "Don't worry, I won't disappoint you." He turned his back to his family and walked to the gates.



Later that day.

Sakura said goodbye to Tomoyo at the school gates and skated down the streets while her friend watched her.

"Don't forget to call me if you need any help." Tomoyo said waving to Sakura.

"Sure. Thanks Tomoyo-chan. See you later." She turned the corner and started skating faster.



Syaoran had arrived in Japan a few hours after his departure and, after unpacking at his new apartment, he now wandered the streets of Tomoeda, tediously reading an address and some poorly written directions on a piece of paper, not really sure if he knew where he was anymore.

He had decided he could find the street written on the paper on his own and didn't need to ask any stranger for information. "Stupid place." He said as he turned on a corner he was sure he'd seen a few times before.

The only reason why he wasn't scared of not finding his own home again by now was because it was in the tallest building in Tomoeda and it could be seen no matter how far he went. "I think I'm beginning to get the hang of it." He said to himself, picturing an overview map of the district in his head.

After some more minutes of not finding his destination he saw a convenience store and, satisfied that he had not been to a repeated street for quite a while now, he felt it was time for a drink.

"I thought this place was smaller than this. I've been walking for nearly half an hour and I haven't found Kinomoto's place yet. I must have covered nearly every street in the neighborhood already." He mumbled to himself as he paid for the drink.

"Excuse me." Syaoran heard the cashier say and looked up wondering if had made some mistake in the payment. He was surprised however when he met the young man face to face. A weird, dizzy feeling came over him. The man was very tall, had short gray hair and wore a pair of round glasses. He felt his face heat up leaving him with no doubts it had turned bright red and his heart was beating twice as fast as usual. ºWhat the...?º "I couldn't help but hear you mention the name Kinomoto."

Syaoran looked down trying to hide his face. "Y-yeah, I'm looking for their house." The boy was pretty sure that in less than ten minutes more of walking he would have covered all the streets of Tomoeda and therefore, found the Kinomotos, so he didn't really bother to stay and hear the boy as his presence was making him feel... weird. He took his soda and started to walk away, still looking at the floor.

The cashier however took hold of Syaoran by the arm stopping him from moving another step. "Wait!" Syaoran didn't try to fight back. Instead he turned back to the young man and stood there, silent. "You forgot your change." The gray haired boy handed him his change. "About Kinomoto, I know him, he's my best friend. If this is the same Kinomoto I know, he lives near here." Syaoran was feeling more uncomfortable by the minute, he barely noticed as his tight grip on the soda can started to deform it.

As soon as he noticed that the boy had stopped giving him directions he ran away from the store as fast as he could, bumping into every person on the street and nearly being hit by a car. "Wait! Why are you running?" The other boy called. But Yukito didn't get his answer as Syaoran was already too far to hear anything.



After cleaning up the whole house, Sakura rested on the couch, exhausted.

"He should be here anytime now. I wonder if I have time to take a bath." She said to herself, glancing at the clock. She sighed, seeing that the boy was actually late already as it was almost night time. Sakura noticed the book on the coffee table again. It had been driving her insane to look at that symbol on its back and get that strange feeling for three days now. "What's so special about this book?" She wondered, taking the book in her hands and examining it closely for the umpteenth time. "Why can't we send it by mail? It's a really big trip from Hong Kong for just a book."

She looked at the symbol on the back again. "Where have I seen it before?"

Suddenly an idea popped up in Sakura's mind. She looked to both sides to make sure no one was looking even though she knew she was alone. She tried to open the book, but was stopped by the lock as she had predicted. "Maybe I can force it open. It's really old after all."

She pulled the lock as hard as she could but it wouldn't budge. "I know I shouldn't be doing this but..." She stepped on the book and used both her hands to pull the lock, producing no results again. Stressed by her failed attempts and that strange feeling that had been tormenting her curiosity, she dropped the book on the floor and closed her fist hard. "Open!" She punched the lock in anger and felt a sharp pain in her hand. "Ouch!" She squeezed her eyes trying to relieve the stinging feeling, but that caused her to miss whatever had made that loud, metallic sound.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that the lock was gone and now what were apparently pieces of it were scattered throughout the carpet. "Hoe! I broke it! But how did that happen?" She looked desperately at the metal pieces around the living room wondering if there was any way to fix them.

Her attention was soon drawn back to the book. "Since the damage is already done..." She told herself before opening the book. However, she didn't find any words inside it as she had expected. In fact, it could barely be called a book. It had a big rectangle-shaped hole in the middle of a solid block that was supposed to simulate pages and an odd collection of cards inside that hole.

Sakura felt now that she was very close to remembering something. "This weird feeling..." She took the first card and looked at its back. "These cards have the same symbol from the back of the book."

Sakura gasped.

"This symbol, the cards... My dream! That's where I know it from." She was now pretty sure this was like a second part of her dream and she would awaken anytime soon, late for school. Flipping the card back she looked at the drawing on it. A beautiful woman wearing clothes that looked as if they were made of air. "There's something written in this card." She read the words on the bottom of the card. "Windy." As soon as she had finished reading the card, a strong gust filled the room making a huge mess and sending all the cards flying to the roof, and, much to Sakura's surprise, through the roof also. Except for the one in Sakura's hand, they were all going away.

"Hoee!" She stared at the roof as the cards all disappeared. Despite her state of shock, Sakura was about to get even more surprised.

The front door came down to the floor with a loud thud, revealing a boy in Chinese clothes who had just taken it down.

"No!" He cried desperately. The boy stared at Sakura as the last few cards vanished.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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A/N: Ok, before you come saying that I'm not original and made the cards be spread in the same way as in the anime, I'll say that I could have done it many other ways, as it isn't really that hard to find another excuse for the cards to go around. I chose to use The Windy for that task as in the anime and the manga as a tribute of sorts. The further the story goes the more I'll change elements from the original CCS. I guess you could say that The Windy is a symbol of how the two stories haven't really differentiated much from each other yet.

That's all. Thanks for your time. Bye.

-This chapter was edited by Meredith Summer.