[CCS/Ranma 1/2]Wild Cherry Blossoms Ch. 1

[KLSymph]

Edit: Full chapter posted.
Edit: Okay, I guess there's a limit to how much I can post.
Well, I guess I'll just leave the updated version of the first
section here, then.

*********************************************************

The breeze.

*drip*

A warm breeze.

*drop*

The girl stood as the warm, gentle breeze washed over her.
And as it did, the breeze brought words to her, and she
turned, emerald green eyes wide and unbelieving.

The boy was there, far in the distance.  And yet, as if only
a step away, he grinned at her, his sapphire blue eyes
filled with a bold sort of courage, and yet a little bit of
unease.

*drip*

She whispered something, but her own ears couldn't catch the
words before the breeze carried them away.  And he whispered
something back, and she couldn't hear those words either
over the sound of her own beating heart.

She took one tiny, tiny step forward....

*drop*

***

Wild Cherry Blossoms
by KLSymph

Disclaimer ~
Card Captor Sakura is copyright: CLAMP
Ranma 1/2 is copyright: Rumiko Takahashi
The original idea for WCB belongs to Philip "Serafita" Chan
No infringement is intended, and this story is not written
for profit.

[extra info blah blah, must write new version of warning]

Serafita's base idea is here:
http://ranko.anifics.com/ideas/crossovers.html#id40
Read this now (i.e. go into the story with this knowledge).

Since both Ranma and CCS are very well known series, this
is written with the expectation that the reader knows both series;
though I try to make that knowledge unnecessary to enjoy the
story, there is an unavoidable degree to which you'll not get the
whole effect if you don't know CCS canon (Ranma is, oddly,
not necessary; the information in the idea is enough).

[/extra info]

***

Japan.  The island nation was a well-respected one, with a
firm national identity and rich customs.  Japan was a
country with strong people and perspectives.

Tomoeda was a simple town on the outskirts of Japan's
capital city, Tokyo.  On the scale of traditional versus
modern, it was quite firmly on the modern, urban side, much
like the nearby city, though not as completely developed.
An inviting place with many friendly citizens, it was known
for its idyllic beauty and peaceful atmosphere.

In one part of Tomoeda, there stood a house.  It was a homey
little place; built simply in the western way, the yellow
painted walls and blue tiled roof of the house went well
with the greenery planted around the property and the white
wall surrounding it.  It had two stories and an attic, with
white painted balconies on the east side of the house to
catch the morning sun and a purplish canopy that served as a
garage for the family car.  And since it was in a clean and
safe neighborhood, it was a good house for a family.

In that house, in a bedroom on the second story, emerald
green eyes opened, and a strawberry-blonde ten-year-old girl
sat up on her bed.

Passing a hand through her rumpled hair, she tried to blink
away the morning bleariness from her eyes, and only then
noticed a worried voice softly saying: "Sakura... hey
Sakura...."

The girl looked up at the voice, and saw her faithful orange
plushie hanging in the air, looking down on her with its
black little bead eyes full of concern, and the morning
sunlight bouncing off its giant round head.

"Hey Sakura, you alright?" the faithful plushie asked.

Kinomoto Sakura, age 10 and fourth year student at Tomoeda
Elementary School, stared up at the floating toy without
comprehension for a whole minute.

"Oh, Kero-chan."

Kero-chan (Beast of the Seal "Cerberus" to himself, orange
winged plushie to everyone else) drooped a little at the
bland response.  "Sakura, what's wrong?"  You had a bad
dream?"

"A bad dream...."  Sakura shook her head.  "No, I don't
think so.  I mean, it didn't feel bad...."

"If that's the case," Kero let his tiny body hover low
enough to look his charge in the eye, "then why're you
crying like that?"

"Eh?  Crying?"

One hand went to her face, and indeed, she felt trails of
wetness going down her cheeks.  Sakura hurriedly wiped them
away with a sleeve of her powder-green pajamas.  "But why am
I crying?  I don't feel sad!"

"Well, that's what I was gonna ask you!" Kero cried.

The fourth grade girl climbed out from under her bright pink
bedcovers and slid off the bed, stepping over to open the
nearby window and let in the breeze.  Outside, birds chirped
on the pleasant June morning, and a few clouds drifted
slowly across the otherwise clear blue sky.  She let her
eyes focus on the trees across the street from her window.
"I don't know why, but that dream wasn't so bad.  I was sort
of nice, I think."

Floating over her shoulder, Kero squinted as he tried to
look into her eyes.  "Well, what did you see in it?"

But before she could answer that question, a knock on her
door interrupted them.  With a gasp, Kero went
stiff, letting himself drop down from his perch in the air.
Sakura managed to catch him as he bounced off her shoulder
before the door opened, and her older brother peered into
the room with an impatient look on his face.

Kinomoto Touya, second year student at Seijou High School
and already dressed for it in his uniform white shirt and
black tie, glared for a very suspicious second at the doll
in his little sister's hands before turning his gaze up to
her.  "Yo, breakfast is ready, you know.  Hurry up or you're
going to... be...."  His eyes turned worried as he looked
more closely at his sister.  "Hey, what's wrong, Sakura?"

"Hoe?" Sakura replied.  "N-nothing's wrong!  What makes you
say that?"

Touya frowned.  "You've been crying?  Your eyes are kinda
red."

Sakura eeped, and began to shake her head rapidly.  "N-no,
no I wasn't!  I'm fine.  I'll be down in a sec, okay
Oniichan?"

Her brother didn't seem convinced, but after a moment, he
shrugged it off and left, closing the door.  Sakura breathed
a sigh of relief, joined by one from Kero, who then started
to squirm out of her unexpectedly tight grasp.

"You know," a low, muffled voice said from the other side of
Sakura's bedroom door, "You better go and wash your face.
You'll scare people away with those ugly red eyes-"

"ONIICHAN, DON'T YOU DARE SAY-"

"-kai~~~juu."

Standing at the window across the room as she was, she
couldn't reach her brother and deliver some divine
punishment for his teasing like she wanted to, but she threw
something at the door just out of habit.  A moment too late
she realized what she had thrown.

Kero was very unhappy as the bedroom door bounced off his
giant round head.

---

In another part of Tomoeda, there stood an apartment
building.  It was a modest little place: three stories,
surrounded by a low brick wall, upon which shrubbery was
planted.  Painted stark white, the mostly rectangular
building was representative of living structures of its
type, with the small balconies of individual apartments set
regularly along the length of its walls.  Located reasonably
close to important areas around town like the park, shopping
district, and school, it was a convenient place for a person
living by himself.

In that apartment building, in an apartment on the second
story, sapphire blue eyes opened, and a black-haired
ten-year-old boy got up from his spot on the cold hardwood
floor.

With purposeful steps, he left his room and crossed the hall
into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.
That done, he quickly and efficiently made a simple
breakfast in the small kitchen.  Sitting down at the kitchen
counter and consuming the terribly burnt and utterly botched
attempt at home cooking, the boy then cleaned up after
himself, and entered the bare and empty space that would
have been the apartment's living room if it had some living
room furniture, which it didn't.

He gazed upon the space in stony silence for a long moment,
before moving across it to pull aside the sliding glass door
to the balcony and stepping out onto it.  The warm summer
breeze blew across his face--a refreshing change from the
musty interior of his newly leased apartment--and played
with the strands of his dark black hair, loosely bound
together in a ponytail.

The boy shooed away some birds that were sitting on his
balcony's ledge and stood looking out over the street,
already busy with cars moving and people walking past,
enjoying the peaceful quiet.

Going back in, the boy walked around his tenement, opening
windows to air out the place and blinds to let in light.
The apartment was little more than the foyer, a living room
and attached dining room, a bathroom and a kitchen, and one
single bedroom.  None of them were furnished, except for a
few pieces of bathroom- and kitchen-ware.  The walls were
blank and the floors barren.  Though it was hardly a place
that felt lived in yet, he would change that soon enough.
He was going to be there for quite some time.

He passed a small store-bought alarm clock he had left on
the kitchen counter, and saw the time.  8:20 A.M.  Ten
minutes until school started for the day.

The boy cursed.

---

It was just another Monday for Tomoeda Elementary class 4-2.
Friends were chatting and getting ready for another boring
week of school, so close and yet so far away from summer
break.  From the school clock tower, bells rang the time,
8:25.

Daidouji Tomoyo, a friendly, polite little girl with
delicate features and soft, immaculately brushed hair,
looked out the window that she was standing next to toward
the trees in the small grove bordering the school, their
leaves lazily swaying in the breeze.

One of the sliding doors to the classroom opened, and the
footsteps of someone she knew very well sounded behind her.
She turned with a smile.  "Good morning, Sakura-chan!"

"Morning, Tomoyo-chan!"

Tomoyo looked at her classmate and best friend with concern
shining in her violet eyes.  Sakura flinched, wondering if
she was so transparent that everyone could tell her mood so
easily.  Seeing the slight jerk, Tomoyo said nothing about
it, instead letting her usual cheerful smile come to the
fore again.  "So how are you today, Sakura-chan?"

"Eh-heh, I'm fine!  Just great!  Nothing to worry about
today, that's for sure!"

Her friend knew that that wasn't the right response when
Tomoyo's cheerful smile immediately collapsed into a worried
frown.  "Sakura-chan...."

Tomoyo leaned in to look at Sakura's face, which though she
didn't know it, Sakura had, in fact, washed thoroughly that
morning.  But this was Tomoyo after all, and she was able to
see something anyway, as observant as she was about
everything Sakura.

Sakura folded at once.  Beckoning Tomoyo closer, she
whispered in her ear.  "Last night, I had a really strange
dream."

"And what was it about?" Tomoyo whispered back, even though
there was no one standing close enough to hear them if she
hadn't.

Sakura put a finger on her chin in thought.  "I'm not sure.
I remember I was standing on a path somewhere, and I was
looking for something.  Or maybe waiting for something.  I
heard a voice, and when I turned around, I saw someone
coming toward me."  She paused as she tried to remember
details.  "It was a boy.  He was dressed funny, but when I
saw him I felt... something."

Tomoyo blinked in confusion.  "That's... quite strange,
isn't it?  I wonder why you would have a dream like that?
Was it someone you know?"

"Nope, I don't know him at all."  Sakura dropped herself
onto her seat by the window, as Tomoyo stood nearby.  "I
didn't get to see much of his face, but I'm sure I've never
seen him before.  I think I knew him in the dream, though.
I don't know how to say it, but I think I was happy to see
him then.  But it wasn't just that.  At the same time, I
felt something... else.  When I woke up, I didn't even
notice I was crying.  I don't even know why,
Tomoyo-chan... I wish I could figure it out, but I can't
think of anything."

Tomoyo pondered her friend's words as Sakura rested her head
on her desk.  Over on the other side of the room,
Yamazaki-kun was telling a lie, and being throttled for it
by Chiharu-chan, which was a bit distracting, but she
focused on Sakura's dream.

"Hmm... did Kero-chan say anything about it?" Tomoyo asked
finally.

"No, he just said something about dreams being important and
that they might tell the future, but he couldn't think of
any reason why I would be dreaming about a boy either."

"Oh, well, maybe we'll find out soon."  Tomoyo smiled
cheerfully again, having come to a satisfactory conclusion
to the matter.  "If it *is* a dream of the future, then
there's no reason to worry.  What will happen, will happen,
don't you think?"

Sakura grinned weakly back.  "I wish I could think of it
that way, Tomoyo-chan."

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!  Tomoyo-chan!"  The greeting
from Rika, their fellow classmate, managed to distract them
both from the topic.  Tomoyo gave a polite bow as Sakura
returned the curly brown-haired girl's wave.

"Morning Rika-chan!"

"Good morning!"

"Alright everyone!  Settle down, homeroom is staring."

With those words from Terada-sensei, coming through the
door, everyone took their seats.

---

The boy ran desperately down the sidewalk.

Running, itself, was nothing to him.  He had done it plenty
before.  Running while carrying a heavy bookbag wasn't much
more impressive, not compared to the kind of training he had
gone through.

But running the distance from home to school in less than
ten minutes, carrying a heavy bookbag, while in a new and
unfamiliar neighborhood, making sure to follow the right
streets and take the right turns, and all without losing
time by asking directions or making a mistake, that was a
bit of a challenge.  Not too much, but a little.

And of course, the fact that he had to go through the
shopping district to do get to school didn't help.  Twisting
and turning streets, however straightforward they may be to
a native, only served to mix up his sense of direction.

He was quite happy when Tomoeda Elementary's clock tower and
blue roofs finally came into view.  He was less happy about
the tower's clock hands reading 8:30.  That meant that he
was already late.  And he still didn't know where the
homeroom was.

But this boy was nothing if not perseverant.  Onward he ran.

---

"Terada-sensei, what's wrong?" Rika asked in her gentle way.
"Isn't it about time to start class?"  The rest of the class
murmured in general agreement, some nodding, some seeming to
want to scold Rika for reminding the teacher.

"Oh, yes that's right.  I suppose I should.  Hmm.  I wonder
why he's late though."  Terada-sensei muttered to himself a
bit, to the confusion of the students.  "Oh well.  Yes,
let's being."

The class settled into routine as the teacher began to take
attendance for the day.

"Sakura-chan," Tomoyo whispered to the girl sitting a row to
her left.  "What do you think Terada-sensei was waiting for?
Do you think it might have been something to do with your
dream?"

"Tomoyo-chan, you're already looking too deep into it,"
Sakura replied softly with her chin cupped in her hands.
"Whatever happened to 'What will happen, will happen'?"

Tomoyo just smiled.  "Aren't you curious?  It could be
something good, you know."

A single loud knock on the door at the head of the class
startled the two girls, as well as the rest of the class.
For a second, Terada-sensei had a puzzled look on his face,
but it was quickly replaced by one of understanding.  Sakura
glanced up as her teacher went to open the door, stepped
out...

And then came back in a moment later with a boy.

"Everyone, I have an announcement."

The class stared at the newcomer in bewilderment.  The
newcomer stared back warily.

"We have a new student in the class.  He moved here from
Hong Kong very recently, and will be attending our school."
Terada-sensei turned to the boy.  "Why don't you introduce
yourself?"

Sakura stared at the boy standing at the front of the
class.  He was no older than she was, and his black hair
stuck out from where it wasn't hidden under the Tomoeda
uniform cap.  Dressed in the standard boy's uniform of dark
jacket and shorts with white kerchief, and carrying his
bookbag in his hand, something in his stance somehow managed
to make him look both imposing and utterly mundane at the
same time.  Stormy blue eyes passed over the members of the
class, and caught her own green ones for a moment.  She
froze.

The boy paused at the teacher's words and glanced down, as
if considering his words.  "My name's Li.  Li Luan Ma.
Pleased to meet you all, and I hope you'll forgive me
intrusion here."  Formal introduction done, he looked up
again.  He didn't bow.

The class looked surprised at his words, as did
Terada-sensei from where he was writing the boy's name in
kanji on the board, before they all started chuckling at how
serious he sounded.  The boy's demeanor didn't change.
Seeing that, Terada-sensei smiled kindly at him and said,
"Now, Li-kun, you're not intruding at all.  I know it might
be hard to adjust to a different country, but we're all
friendly people here, so try not to be so serious."  The
rest of the class nodded at that, some still giggling at the
new kid's strange tone.

Terada-sensei looked around the class, then turned back to
Li.  "Well, the seat behind Kinomoto is empty.  Why don't
you take that one?"

"Yes, Sensei."

At the teacher's nod and point toward the girl he named, the
boy turned and started walking down the aisle.  Sakura kept
staring in shock as he approached her, his eyes on her own
the entire time.

Tomoyo watched Sakura in amusement, seeing her reaction to
the boy in front of her.  This new student didn't seem at
all threatening or unfriendly, though a little closed and
withdrawn, but that was understandable.  Nothing that would
make Sakura freeze up like that.  There was teasing material
here.  Turning to this "Li Luan Ma" as he neared them, she
beamed a bright smile.

"Hello, Li-kun.  Your seat is right here."  She waved to the
desk behind Sakura.  "My name is Daidouji Tomoyo, and this
is my friend Kinomoto Sakura.  We're very pleased to meet
you."

For the barest fraction of a second the boy's expression
seemed to freeze, though she thought she probably imagined
it, since his face was hardly animated.  Li looked away from
her friend and let his gaze fall on her instead.  Looking
into his gray-speckled blue eyes, Tomoyo felt as if his gaze
was seeing right through her, looking deep into her soul.
It was almost enough to make her blush, but the boy broke
eye contact as he bowed slightly to her, and then Sakura in
turn.

"Thank you, Daidouji-san.  Kinomoto-san."

With that, he moved to his new seat behind Sakura, placed
his bag down and removed his cap, sat, and faced forward,
clearly ready to start his day.

Sakura was still frozen in shock.

Tomoyo smiled.  Definitely teasing material.

Unnoticed, Li ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing
it, and adjusted his small ponytail to a more comfortable
position.

Terada-sensei finished calling attendance.

---

The morning classes were uneventful.  The new kid, Li, spoke
very little, never volunteered for anything in class, and
seemed to be trying to stay as separate as he could from
everyone else, maybe unconsciously.  He responded a bit
curtly to other people's questions about him during the
passing periods, but he was plainly and obviously sincere in
his manner, recognizing whenever someone was put off by his
attitude and apologizing immediately.

The only time that his face changed from its closed, guarded
look was when Takeshi Yamazaki, that teller of tall tales,
engaged him in a strange conversation about the marine
wildlife of the South China Sea (as he often liked to
do--engage others in strange conversations that is), which
Li mumbled and stumbled his way through, and then led the
conversation to the Philipines, and by the time he was
interrupted by the bell was spinning a story about sharks,
rock salt, and underwater volcanoes... or at least that was
what Sakura could make of it.  The look of bewilderment on
Li's face as he tried to figure out what in the world
Yamazaki was talking about convinced all onlookers that he
was just like everyone else (if only in their opinions of
Yamazaki), and cleared away the last lingering bits of shock
and confusion that had hit Sakura when she first saw his
eyes.

Sakura sneaked a peek over her shoulder at the boy sitting
behind her.

She immediately whipped her eyes forward again at the sight
of the glare Li was leveling down onto the pages of his
Japanese textbook.

Shock and confusion back up to max.  Absolutely, definitely.

Sitting a row to Sakura's right, Tomoyo glanced at her in
concern, and then looked at Li.

The boy was glaring with incredible intensity at his reader,
and Tomoyo realized with a start that he probably couldn't
read all of it.  But his eyes, his eyes were so filled with
some burning emotion that that couldn't have been the only
reason.

As if he felt someone's eyes on him, Li looked up at her,
and she shrank back at those eyes.  The next instant, the
only thing in his expression was confusion, and she relaxed
a little.

It was still strange though, she mused as the bell rang and
Midori-sensei wrapped up the lesson.  But she couldn't
really imagine what was going on in Li's mind.  She looked
up at Sakura, who was already out of her chair and looked
ready to bolt from the classroom.

Sakura bolted from the classroom.

"She's just eager to get to lunch," Tomoyo told a startled
Li, who seemed a little rattled by Sakura's swift
departure.  Many people were surprised at how fast Sakura
could be when she wanted to be.

"Oh," the boy responded intelligently.

With nothing more to say on that matter, she left to follow
her friend.

Li watched her go with an unreadable look.

---

Sakura paused a few steps down the stairwell, releasing a
sigh of relief as she finally relaxed after charging from
the room.  She didn't know why, but just sitting close to
the new student was bad for the nerves.  But if she was
right, and he was-

Someone poked her, and she jumped.

Smiling, her best friend watched as her face make strange
twists and turns.  Sometimes, Tomoyo was bad for the nerves
too.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm...."

Like... now, for instance.

"Umm, why are you looking at me like that, Tomoyo-chan?"

Now it should be said that there were moments when her best
friend scared her.  Scared her very much.  This wasn't
exactly one of those times, yet, but from the way Tomoyo's
eyes twinkled it was already awfully close.

"Oh, no reason."

A large bead of sweat slowly worked its way down Sakura's
head as Tomoyo continued to smile that odd smile in her
direction.  The ones that always made her wonder what was
going on inside Tomoyo's head.

"Then why are you smiling, Tomoyo-chan?"

"Oh, just thinking about something."

"Like... what?"  Sakura was pretty sure she didn't need to
know, but she just had to ask.

"Well, I don't know why I suddenly thought about this, but
the look you had on your face when you saw the new boy just
made me realize something... but if Tsukishiro-san knew that
you would react like this to some boy you've never met
before, I think he'd be heartbroken!  And after he gave a
gift of candy to you this morning!  Are you really in love
with Li-kun?"

"H-h-hoeeeeeee!!!"

Yep, just... had... to... ask.

"It's not like that, Tomoyo-chan!  That boy's is-"

"Oh, so all those glances you've been giving him this entire
morning weren't of pining adoration?  Was it something
else?"

Sakura's mouth became a thin line of irritation, and her
left eyebrow developed a twitch.  Tomoyo-chan, being
Tomoyo-chan, no doubt thought it was cute.  "Now you're just
making fun of me."

"Ohohohohoho!"

---

Terada-sensei walked into the classroom, and immediately
noticed something odd.  "Oh, you're still in here, Li-kun?
Everyone else is at lunch now."

Li looked up from his desk, where he was laying his head
down.  "Oh!  Err, I knew that, Sensei.  I was really late
gettin' goin' this mornin', and I... forgot my lunch.  And I
had somethin' to go over with the Principal, and there ain't
much time left in the period, so... I'm just gonna wait out
the rest of it in here."

The young Phys. Ed. teacher blinked.  His new student's
speech was very different from the formal way he had spoken
when he had introduced himself only a few hours ago, fluent
but rough in manner.  "Not much time?"  Terada-sensei asked,
filing that fact in the back of his mind, "There's still
lots of time in the period!  Why not get something from the
cafeteria?"

"Nah, it's fine.  I'm not hungry, anyway."

"Oh."  The teacher scratched his chin, then shrugged to
himself.  "Well, I guess that's alright then.  Have you
gotten all the school materials you need by now?  You've
just moved to Tomoeda a few days ago, correct?"

"Materials?"  Li blinked.  "You mean the books?  I got all
of them.  I don't know if I'm up with the rest of the class
tho'.  That readin' with Midori-sensei just killed me."

"Oh, well I don't think anyone will blame you for being
behind in Japanese, seeing how you're from Hong Kong.
Though," Terada-sensei hit on the opportunity, and gave Li a
measuring look, "your spoken Japanese is very good actually.
Not so strong on reading?"

"I, uh, I had someone to teach me how to speak Japanese good
enough to get around, but he never really took the time to
teach me readin' and writin'.  Sorry."

"No need to apologize for it.  Come see me after class and
we'll see about getting you up to speed on that."

---

"But Oniichan, I'm starving!"

Touya groaned in annoyance, standing on one side of the tall
green fence separating the gym fields of Seijou High and
Tomoeda Elementary.  "And who was it who was in such a rush
this morning that she forgot to grab her lunchbox?  And
besides, I already ate, so I don't know what good
complaining to me is going to be."

"But!  But!  I really want to eat something!" whined Sakura,
clutching the fence from the other side.

"You can have some of my lunch, Sakura-chan," said Tomoyo,
carrying her small bentou in her hands.

"But then you wouldn't have enough of your own,
Tomoyo-chan!"

Touya's irritated gaze bored into his little sister.  "And
that was why you wanted mine?"

"But Oniichan always has a bigger lunch than Tomoyo-chan
does!  Why won't you share some with me?!  You're so mean!"
And so saying, the girl started kicking the fence
repeatedly, as if she was trying to do the same to her
brother's shin.

Touya just watched in idle boredom as his sister
ineffectually attacked the painted chain links.  "So did you
forget the whole part about me already having eaten?"

The sound of running footsteps came to them, and Touya
glanced over his shoulder to see one gray-haired and
bespectacled Tsukishiro Yukito come to a halt beside him.

"Hey!  I got some meat buns from the cafeteria if anyone
wants some!"

"Yukito-san!  You're a life-saver!"

Touya slowly, slowly rolled his eyes upward as his friend
obligingly climbed over the low part of the fence and doled
out some food to his blushing little sister.  Nearby, Tomoyo
started making coughing noises in Sakura's direction, which
Sakura responded to with shushing gestures.

Well, he didn't really want to know what was going on
there.  Bratty little kaijuu.

"Sakura-chan," Yukito suddenly said, "You're looking a
little more cheerful.  Are you okay now?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, Yukito-san," Sakura replied, reddening
further.  "Why's everyone so worried about me today?"
Though since Sakura was talking around a mouthful of meat
bun, it came out a lot less clearly.  More like, "RRm fnn,
rrm fnn, uukiio-nnn."  And so on.

"Well, you were a little down this morning, so I thought I'd
ask."  Yukito blinked at Sakura's crimson face as she
swallowed her mouthful.  "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm just fine!  Really!"

"Oh, okay then!  If you're ever worried about something, you
should definitely tell me, okay?"

Sakura blushed even more into her bun.  "it's nothing!
Nothing at all!"

Tomoyo giggled as she watched the exchange.

Touya just snorted.

---

The last bell of the day rang, and most of the students
quickly left.  Terada-sensei was busily gathering up his
things, when Li came up to his desk.

"Oh, that's right!" Terada-sensei exclaimed after a moment,
and reached into his bag.  "Here."

The boy took the books that he proffered.  "They're just
some of the lower level readers, but unfortunately that was
all Midori-sensei and I could come up with on quick notice.
Hopefully those will help a little bit."

Li nodded, and thanked him.  The boy was about to go, when a
voice asked, "Are you having trouble in Midori-sensei's
class?"

Both turned toward Rika, standing quietly nearby, who
continued, "If you'd like, I can help you in that class,
Li-kun."

The boy stared blankly in confusion (Terada-sensei noted
that he seemed to be quite practiced in this; he had seen
the same face worn many times that day), before
quickly stepping back with an apologetic look and rigorous
hand-waving.  "Oh, no, you don't hafta go through the
trouble!  I can do this by myself, that is, um...."

"Sasaki Rika," the girl introduced herself to the boy with a
smile.  "And I don't mind, really.  If you need help, I'd be
glad to!"

Terada-sensei gave a thoughtful look at Li, partly because
his speech had just turned rough again.  "Well, that's not
such a bad idea, actually.  She might be able to help you
quite a bit.  What do you say, Li?  It'll be much easier
with someone to go over it with you."

Li looked back and forth between his teacher and his
classmate, before finally agreeing.  He turned to Rika,
thanked her, and bowed, prompting an embarrassed look and
some hand-waving of her own.

---

"So what were those looks about then, if they weren't you
falling in love with Li-kun?" asked Tomoyo as she and Sakura
walked home together after school.  Along the brick path
through the park, children were playing and adults were
relaxing, enjoying the sunny afternoon.

"I've been trying to tell you, Tomoyo-chan!  I think Li-kun
could be the boy from my dream!  But you won't listen!"

"Oh, but it's so fun to be like that!  But, okay, you think
Li-kun might be that boy?"

"Well, actually I'm not completely sure... I never did get a
good look at his face in the dream, but when I look at
Li-kun, I have this feeling that I'm connected to him in
some way.  What else can it be?"

"It could be a coincidence.  What else do you remember about
the dream?"

Sakura paused in her walking, and her face took on an
expression of concentration.  "There was..."

                    ~The breeze.~

"A warm breeze.  And I was standing... waiting?  I'm not
sure, but I was thinking about something, and suddenly..."

             ~the breeze brought words~

"I hear a voice... and I turn around, and he was standing
there..."

      ~the boy was there, far in the distance~
          ~and yet, as if only a step away~

"His eyes... they were so... and I felt as if I was...."

For a long moment, Sakura was silent, standing under the
shadow of a nearby tree's leafy branch.  A tiny bird,
perched upon the branch, turned to look down at her from
above, and as she raised her eyes to meet its own, it flew
away, letting the sun's rays filter down through the
shifting leaves onto her face.

"Hoe?"

Sakura shook herself as she landed back on planet Earth.
"S-sorry about that, Tomoyo-chan.  I guess I spaced out a
little th... there....  Tomoyo-chan, I bet you weren't even
listening, were you?"

Tomoyo continued to look at Sakura with her hands clasped
under her chin, stars in her eyes, and a soft whisper on her
lips.  "Sakura-chan is just too, too cute.  If only I had my
camera...."

"Hauuu..." Sakura hauued in exasperation.

"Oh, don't mind me.  Please go on, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo
replied giggling.

"Well, that was it, actually."

The two girls started walking again.  Suddenly, Tomoyo
clapped her hands together.  "Wait, didn't you say before
that the boy was dressed funny?  Do you remember anything
about that?"

"Hoe?  Umm, wait, I think I remember something.  I think he
was dressed in some sort of... uh... he was carrying...
umm... some sort of...."

Sakura's face went blank, and she stopped again.  The two
had reached the Penguin Park playground by then.

A minute passed.

"Nope!  Don't remember it!"

Embarrassed laughter.

A dramatic pause.

Tomoyo patted Sakura on the head, much like someone would a
cute, confused puppy.

"Tomoyo-chan is so mean...."

Before Tomoyo could respond, a loud clap of thunder sounded,
and the sky was suddenly filled with dark storm clouds.
Children scampered toward their parents, as light flashed
from above.

"A thunderstorm?!"

Sakura and Tomoyo quickly hid under the King Penguin slide.

---

"So how do you like Japan so far, Li-kun?  You've just moved
here, right?"

The two kids, Rika and Li, slowly walked along the quiet
street toward home, empty as usual at that time in the
early afternoon.

"It's alright.  Japan's a nice place, and this's a pretty
nice town, I think."  Li seemed a little uncomfortable as he
spoke, his back rigidly straight and his eyes looking away
from Rika as if guilty of something.  Probably about having
her walk with him, Rika thought, even though she already
told him not to worry about it.

The gentle girl smiled warmly at her new classmate as they
walked.  "I'm sure Hong Kong is a lot more exciting than a
quiet town like Tomoeda.  You probably think we're pretty
boring compared to a busy city like that."

"Nah, I wouldn't know anythin' about that."

"Oh?  But I thought you're from Hong Kong?"

Sighing, Li shook his head.  "That's not really right,
actually.  That's where my f-family is, and I just moved
from there to here, but I didn't really live there that
much."

Rika looked at him in surprise, but Li continued speaking,
his mind elsewhere.

"Truth is, I didn't live with my family at all.  On the
road, mostly.  Left Hong Kong years ago, and only got back
about maybe two, three months ago.  Now I'm away again."

Suddenly he jerked, and turned toward Rika again with an
apologetic face.  "Er, I mean, that's borin' stuff!  You
don't hafta listen to that sorta thing!"

"It's alright, Li-kun.  I don't mind listening, not at all!"

"Oh."

When Li didn't seem eager to say anything else, Rika gently
poked with a question.  "You know, I was just wondering
about how good your Japanese is.  Could it be that you've
been to Japan before?"

Li twitched.  Very faintly, but Rika still noticed it.
He didn't answer for a while, but just as Rika was about to
ask something else, he spoke up.  "Yeah, I've been here
before."

Rika clapped her hands together and beamed in triumph.  "I
thought so!  You're so fluent it's hard to believe that you
just came here.  You don't have an accent or anything!"

"Yeah, I can talk fine."  Li continued to look uncomfortable
as he marched stiffly forward.

Waiting for more from him wasn't fruitful.  Rika gently
poked again.  "It's rather strange, but when you learn a
foreign language, shouldn't you learn polite forms first?
You speak so casually, I can't imagine that you even know
them at all!"

If Li felt offended by her words, and truthfully Rika was
hoping by that point that it would at least make him feel
less uncomfortable, he didn't show it.  "Sasaki-san, you've
learned another language before?"  It sort of sounded like
he was dodging the question, but it was the most he had
contributed to the conversation on his own so far, so she
didn't hold it against him.

"Oh, me?  No, I haven't.  But we Japanese like to emphasize
politeness and ceremony.  And my father-"

Li's eyes hardened suddenly, but Rika was looking down the
street, and missed the change.

"-who works outside of the country most of the time, says
that being polite is always important when speaking with
people from foreign countries, so I just assumed-"

"Look!" Li suddenly burst out.  "Sorry, but can we not talk
about this?  It's... it makes me uncomfortable, okay?"

The boy fell into silence again, and Rika drew back a little
at the... not the hostility, but the odd, faint sense of
panic she could hear in Li's voice.  "Oh, okay."

The two of them continued walking wordlessly until they
reached a T-intersection before the entrance to the park.

"Well, I'm headed this way.  I have some shopping to do
today, so...."

"Oh, geeze, I kept you, didn't I?  I'm sorry about that."

Rika took in the sincerely ashamed look on Li's face, and
started laughing.  "Li-kun, you're really too quick to
apologize.  You don't have to do it so often, you know.
Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow at school, and we can talk
about practicing your reading then, okay?"

Li nodded, his eyes cast downward.  "Tomorrow, then," he
intoned formally.

"Bye!"

The boy watched as his classmate waved and hurried off down
the branch street, then turned and walked in his own
direction down the main one.

A loud clap of thunder sounded, and frowned up at the
suddenly dark and stormy sky.

---

"I'm home!"

Sakura's greeting was met by silence, not that she expected
anything.  Checking the whiteboard on the wall in the living
room, it seemed that Oniichan would be back by five to make
dinner, and Daddy would be back a little later than that.
Well, good to know.

Going upstairs to her room, Sakura found her plushie
sleeping.  The floating in midair above the bed, sparkling
and drooling, was a little weird... okay, more than a little
weird, but sleeping was something Kero did a lot, so it
wasn't unexpected.

Sakura very carefully nudged Kero in the side with a finger,
hoping to wake him up gently.

Kero, as if just to spite her, sputtered awake at the touch,
incidentally dropping like an orange and slightly-fuzzy rock
onto the bed.  "Wha-wha-what was THAT?!"

"Hrm," Sakura hrmed.  "Kero-chan sure likes to sleep.  I bet
if a Clow Card came in here he wouldn't even notice."

"...Yeah, so what?"

"Aren't you even going to try and deny it?!" Sakura cried in
disbelief.

"Yah, well, let's see... nah, don't think I will."  Kero
didn't exactly sound ashamed of himself.

"Oh, why do I even ask?"  Sakura rubbed her forehead for a
moment.  "I need tea."

Kero watched her leave the room.  "What's the attitude for?!
Don't think I forgot about the throwing at the door this
morning!"

Sakura came back a few minutes later with two cups of
steaming hot green tea.  "Sorry, I've had a strange day."

"Eh.  Life's like that.  So what happened?"

Sakura laid the cups down on the little cup mats, and the
two of them gathered down on the fluffy rug in the middle of
the room.  Kero started stirring the tea in his own cup with
the spoon Sakura had brought, while Sakura started
organizing her thoughts.

"Well... today, we got a new transfer student."

Kero waited.  Sakura just sat there contemplating her tea.
And contemplated.  And contemplated some more.

Finally he could wait no longer.

"Yeah, and so you discovered that he was the person from
your dream, and then you locked up the entire day because
you can't keep it out of your mind, and Tomoyo probably saw
it and made fun of you nonstop.  Also, you found a Clow Card
on your way home from school."

"Ehh?!"  Sakura lowered her arms from the defensive posture
she found them in.  "How did you know all that?!"

"What?  You mean I'm right?  I was just making that up!
Sheesh, what're the odds?"  Kero started spooning himself
some tea.

Silence.

"Yep, I'm definitely having a strange day."

Silence.

"Wait, I don't know if there's a Clow Card yet!  I mean,
there was just the weird thunderstorm that popped up during
the afternoon!  Who knows if that's a Clow Card?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Sakura."

Sakura glowered at Kero.

"In the meantime, why not tell me about this new transfer
student?"

"Well, he's a boy, my age."

"I couldn't have guessed.  Go on."

Sakura's glower deepened.  "Well, fine, be like that.  His
name is Li Luan Ma.  He has blue eyes, black hair, about my
height, knows how to speak Japanese, and he's from Hong
Kong."  Done speaking, Sakura took a long sip of tea.

"Wait, waitwaitwaitwaitawi, 'Li' you said?  This new kid's
name is Li?"

"Yep, Li Luan Ma.  L-an Ma.  Ru-wa-n Ma?  Well, anyway, he's
really quiet, and he's sorta strange, but I think he's the
one I saw in my dream last night.

Sakura glanced down her cup at Kero, who was frozen in the
act of sipping from his own spoonful of tea.  Kero had an
odd look on his face as he pondered in silence, before
starting to mutter to himself.

"Li... Li... that couldn't be a coincidence...."

Sakura blinked.  "Huh?  What couldn't be a coincidence?"

"The name, it's just something in the name."  Kero finished
his spoonful in one gulp and plopped himself down on the
ground.  "If you had a dream, and then a Li came to this
town, it could only mean that..."

"That..." Sakura prompted.

"That..." Kero continued.

"That..." Sakura prompted.

"That... I have to go meet him!  AHAHAHAHAHA!"  Kero rubbed
the back of his head as he began laughing loudly.

"Geh!"  Sakura fell over.  "What kind of conclusion is
that?!"

Kero quickly fell quiet again.  "Well, it's probably
nothing.  No need to worry about it so far.  Besides, Li is
a pretty common Chinese name.  Oh well, now we got to worry
about the Clow Card.  You said some strange thunderstorm
came around, right?"

"Hrm...."  That sounded a lot like a dodge to Sakura, but
whatever.  "Well, when me and Tomoyo were coming back from
school, a sudden storm came up and lightning started
shooting.  And then it all suddenly disappeared again.  I
don't know if it's a Clow Card."

"Yeah, and would it look something like this?"

Kero flew to a window and opened the blinds.  Sakura gasped
at the dark clouds and flashes of lightning outside.  The
clouds covered the sky, casting the city in shadow so dark
it seemed like nighttime, even though it was still 2:30 in
the afternoon.  "There it is!  It was just like that!"

"Oh yeah," Kero nodded sagely.  "That's definitely a Clow
Card.  Guess we'll have something to do tonight.  Heck,
Tomoyo'll probably be calling-"

Sakura's portable phone rang.  Idly, Kero wondered what sort
of costume Sakura would get for this occasion.

---

Seven hours later, Kero poked at the little pink bell
hanging from his neck.

"So, why a cat?"

"Well, because it's cute," Tomoyo cheerfully answered as she
zoomed her camcorder in on Sakura, dressed in her newest
electricity-resistant pink frilly costume of Card
Captor-ing.  Which, incidentally, had a cat motif.  The
light pink of the boots and the dress went with the darker
pink of Sakura's want, or so was Tomoyo's thought.

Sakura tugged on a pink kitten-ear.  She already had the
costume on, so there wasn't a point in moaning about it.

Far away, a bolt of lightening flew through the sky,
striking rooftops and bouncing along in no particular
direction.  Tomoyo taped its movement as the three friends
stood under the cover of some trees in the park.

Kero took a good hard look.  "No doubt about it, that's the
THUNDER card!  We'll have to get close enough to seal it,
Sakura!"

"But that might be dangerous," Tomoyo noted as the strange
bolt of energy flew around randomly in the distance.  Sakura
simply tossed out a card and released her magic.

"FLY!"

In a flash of light, white feathered wings formed on the
head of Sakura's wand, and away she flew toward where
Thunder was, Kero following.  Tomoyo ran after the two,
intent on keeping Sakura in view.  But unfortunately, her
feet weren't enough to keep up with two pairs of wings, and
soon Sakura was out of sight.  Luckily Sakura was going
toward Tomoeda Elementary, familiar territory, and she
headed in that direction.

A single girl in an orange dress, carrying a camcorder and
running around the streets in the early evening alone, was a
conspicuous sight.

"Eh?  Daidouji-san?"

Tomoyo froze at the sound of her name.  Turning around, she
saw a black-haired boy walking up the street in her
direction, carrying only an unopened black umbrella in his
hand.  "Li...kun?  What are you doing here?"

Li, still dressed in his school uniform: shorts, jacket,
cap, and everything, pointed to himself.  "Me?  I'm goin'
home right now, since I finished takin' my walk.  Tryin' to
learn the place, since I almost got lost this mornin'.  Do
you live around here, Daidouji-san?"

Tomoyo started to fidget.  "Ah, no, not really.  Actually, I
was just, umm, in the neighborhood."  Rats, she needed to get
to Sakura, before the fight ended!

Li gave her a strange look, and Tomoyo belatedly realized
that she should have given a more believable excuse.  He
seemed to accept it though, as he looked up at the dark,
cloud-covered sky.  "You don't have an umbrella.  Do you
think it's a good idea to run around in this kinda weather?
I think it's about to rain."

Before  Tomoyo could respond, a far-away yelp sounded, one
that was definitely Sakura's.  Li turned toward it,
puzzled.  "What was that?  I think it came from... the
school?"

Tomoyo quickly tried to do damage control.  "Err, no,
actually I didn't hear anything.  Probably just the wind."
With nothing better to say, she started giggling in
embarrassment.

Li considered that.  "oh, well, that was the direction where
you're goin', right?  I'm headed that way too.  Are you in a
hurry?  I don't mind walking with you."  With that, he
started toward Tomoeda Elementary.

Tomoyo was inwardly panicking.  Everything was moving out of
her control.  What could she do but follow?

---

Sakura leapt to the side as the ball of lightning smashed
into the blue shingles of the school roof where she had been
standing.  The pale elven spirit Windy floated around her,
and Sakura gulped.  Windy hadn't been able to hold Thunder
at all.  That plan didn't work, just like Kero said.

"Kero-chan!  What should I do?!  Should I try Watery?!"

"NO!" Kero shouted back from the other side of the roof near
the clock tower.  "Watery definitely won't work!  You gotta
use Shadow!  That's your best chance!"

Sakura's hand went into her pocket, and came out with the
SHADOW card.  But before she could use it, someone suddenly
stopped her hand, and she was lifted up far above the
school's gym field.  The deafening sound of Thunder crashing
followed, and looking down, Sakura saw the crackling "body"
of Thunder recovering from another pounce, one faster than
the ones before, that would surely have caught her if she
hadn't been saved.

Sakura looked up at her savior, and saw her guardian
spirit.  Windy's hand tightened around her own, the one
holding Shadow, and she silently shook her head.

"Sakura, you alright?  That was way too close!"  Kero
floated up to the pair, his pink bell jingling with
agitation.

Sakura looked at Windy in confusion, before turning to
Kero.  "But, but if I should use Shadow, why is Windy saying
not to?"

Kero and Windy shared a glance, and then Kero looked back
down to Thunder, who looked like it was busily charging
itself for a jump.  Kero nodded.  "Windy's right.  You can't
use Shadow yet.  Not until we've gotten Thunder to its true
form.  Right now, Thunder moves too unpredictably.  There's
no way Shadow can catch him like this."

"How do I get it to change?"

Kero took on his thoughtful pose.  "Injure it.  Confuse it.
Put it on the defensive.  Anything's better than letting it
keep attac-MOVE IT!"

With a flash of light and a crack of sound, the ball of
lightning shot up towards the three floating in the sky with
extraordinary speed.  Sakura knew instantly that Windy
wouldn't be able to move quickly enough to avoid it, but
before she could do a thing, Windy *threw* her to the side
to fall toward the field below, out of Thunder's path.

"Kero!  Windy!" Sakura screamed as she watched Thunder close
in on them.  She hurriedly drew the FLY card again, and as
Clow Read's magic circle shimmered into existence around
her, she cast it toward the outer arc.  She didn't notice
when Thunder sharply turned away from Kero and Windy,
streaking towards her instead.  But she did see it before it
hit her.

---

"Sakura-chan!" cried Tomoyo.  The sound of someone moving
past made her lower her camcorder and turn to the side.
"Li-kun?  What are you doing?"

The boy set his cap on the ground, shook his ponytail out,
and stood up straight, resting his large, still unopened
umbrella on his shoulder.

"Stay here, Daidouji-san."

Without even glancing in her direction, he calmly ran out
from under the school building's arch where the two were
standing, lifting his left index finger and thumb to his
mouth.

---

Kero floated before the unconscious heap that was Sakura,
lying on the dirt track circling the gym field.  Nearby,
Windy hovered protectively over her mistress.  Half the
field away, the force of nature that was the THUNDER card
spitted and crackled, having landed there after striking
Sakura.  Kero strained his memories, trying to remember
something about Thunder that could help in this situation.

**FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET**

The sharp sound of a very, very loud whistle cut through the
air.  Kero just gawked as a kid, dressed in what looked like
the school uniform Sakura wore, and carrying an umbrella of
all things, ran toward Thunder from the opposite direction.

"Oi!  What're you doing?!  Stay away!"

The kid came to a stop a good distance away from Thunder,
but Kero didn't think it was because of his warning.
Instead, it looked like the kid was saying something to the
blaze of energy.

Whatever it was he did, it seemed to drive the Card nuts.

"W-what is that guy DOING?!" Kero yelled as Thunder's corona
abruptly flared in brightness, and the Card suddenly jumped
on the figure near it with a horrible shriek.

He was quite surprised to see that figure abruptly leap to
the side, his umbrella trailing behind him, before rolling
to a crouched position, not seeming the least bit concerned
about almost being fried to a crisp.

---

Sakura groaned in pain as she pushed herself up.  The gentle
touch of the breeze made her glance up at Windy's concerned
face, which quickly changed into a relieved one, before
Windy returned to card form, her duty done.  Sakura looked
around, and was surprised to find that she was on the gym
field.  A few steps away, Kero was floating, watching
intensely as the storm of energy that she recognized as
Thunder jumped repeatedly around the field, chasing
after... wait!

"Kero-chan!"

The winged guardian looked back, and took in her disheveled
appearance.  "Sakura, are you hurt?!"

"Forget that!  What's going on with Thunder?!  Who is
that?!"

Kero shook his head.  "Hey, don't look at me, I think that's
someone from your school.  More than that," Kero's face grew
more serious, "I think we need to bail out that kid.  I've
been watching him bait Thunder for a while, and I don't know
how he's doing it, but he won't be able to do it for long.
Thunder's a lot faster than him.  You need to get Thunder
while it's distracted."

Sakura nodded.  Thinking rapidly, she drew a different card
from her pocket.

Kero stared for a second, then nodded as well.

---

Tomoyo was speechless as she watched Li run a large,
meandering arc around Thunder, avoiding its attacks.

Luckily, speech wasn't necessary for good videotaping.  But
nonetheless, she was quite speechless.

She saw a movement from where Sakura was, and zoomed in on
that side of the field, where Sakura was bringing her wand
down on one of her cards.

The next instant, everything went quiet.

---

Thunder, leaping into the sky, suddenly seemed to stumble
(though how a giant bolt of electricity can be said to
stumble, while jumping, was something for Sakura to think about
later), and began to shudder and twist in midair, before
falling to the ground.  As the SILENT card returned to her
hand, the randomly sparking energy condensed to form a
creature.  A huge, furred and fanged beast.

She watched as the beast, which as far as she could tell was
some some sort of giant wolf, swept its head back and forth
in confusion at the sudden, deadening silence, opening its
maw wide as if giving an angry roar, and sending the
occasional arc of electricity across its fur.  It seemed to
orient on a target, and she realized with a start that the
target was the boy with the umbrella, who was crouched and
watching it from a distance, his back to her.

She watched as Thunder, with its sharp claws and fangs,
leapt high into the air and came down towards the boy.

But why wasn't he moving?

Wait, maybe he couldn't get out of the way?!

Sakura desperately reached into her pocket.

The next moment, the SHADOW flew in streams of darkness
toward the oblivious THUNDER, intent on reaching it before
it could land on the unmoving figure it was about to hit.
But Shadow was too far away.  Sakura watched in horror as
the huge, glowing beast fell toward the boy still crouching
on the field under it.

The figure stood with difficulty, and raised the umbrella.

---

Kero gawked, again, as the kid who was about to get smacked
by one of the fiercest direct attack spells in Clow's
arsenal calmly opened his umbrella over his head and set it
on his shoulder, as if he was expecting a gentle shower
instead of an instant of agonizing magical death.

Thunder landed with a blinding flash of light.  Kero, even
as he covered his eyes, knew that if it weren't for the
lingering effect of Silent, there would have been Thunder's
trademark crash as well.

Through the light, his sensitive eyes caught the sight of an
umbrella flying through the air, with no sign of its owner.

---

Sound suddenly came again, in Thunder's angry roar.  Shadow,
no doubt unperturbed by it, quickly encircled the creature,
bands of black reaching high into the air before binding
together to seal Thunder in a ball of darkness, shifting to
accomodate its captive's wild thrashing.

The Card Captor quickly ran up to the black ball.  A wave of
the sealing wand later, Thunder was nothing more impressive
than a larger-than-average card in the hands of its new
mistress, with only a dully-colored picture representing its
former presence and power.

Without such an impressive source of light, the deserted
field was a very dark place.  The lingering clouds that
Thunder had brought dispersed quickly, leaving the stars
twinkling in the clear night sky.

"Sakura-chan, are you hurt?!"

Sakura looked up to see her best friend running her way, and
shook her head.  "no, I think your rubber dress really
worked, Tomoyo-chan.  I'm not hurt at all.  Just... a little
startled."

Tomoyo sighed in relief, smoothing Sakura's slightly fried
dress.  "Well, you were hit by lightning, after all.  I
think after that, startled is better than we could hope
for.  But where is Li-kun?"

Sakura froze.  "Wait, the one who Thunder was chasing, that
was Li?"

"Yeah, that was me."

Both girls LEAPED, and turned toward the voice.  The boy was
only a few steps away, his jacket on his arm, inspecting his
umbrella which looked a little worse for wear.  He glanced
over it a bit, tapped its tip on the ground a little, then
closed it and wrapped the small strip of material around the
umbrella to hold it closed, finally looking up at the two
girls watching him.

"Somethin' wrong?"

Tomoyo spoke.  "H-how did you get away?  I saw you get hit!"

"Oh, that?  I jumped away at the last second."

There was another pause.  Li squinted a bit in the dark, his
eyes adjusting to the lack of light.  After a moment, Sakura
noticed that he had stopped squinting, and had adopted a
rather disturbed expression.  One directed at her.  She
cringed a bit, sweatdropping.  "Is there something on my
face?"

The black haired boy raised a finger to point at her.  After
a second, he said one word, as if to sum up a host of
different feelings and impressions.

"Cat."

Sakura's sweatdrop ballooned in size.  Tomoyo started
giggling helplessly.

"Umm... is there something wrong with that?"

Li's face took on a surprised look.  "Wrong?  No, not wrong,
it's just that it's probably the-" he squinted again,
"pinkest thing I've ever seen.  Ever.  Do you wear this
outfit a lot?"

Tomoyo managed to stop laughing to say, "No, this is her

[Sunhawk]

I like.  There's a bit of awkwardness in a couple spots, but I like.

[KLSymph]

Any place in particular? And was it "weird" awkward or "painful" awkward? I used this chapter to practice a few unfamiliar writing techniques, so if it's only awkward in a few spots, I must be doing better than I thought. ^^

[KLSymph]

Well, here's the full version of chapter one, proofread and etc.

C&C welcomed as always. In particular, comments on the action scenes would be great. Also, if anyone could give me some help with making the Japan lead-in for the chapter longer and more interesting (I just can't come up with more than that for some reason), and/or another pair of color adjectives to replace emerald/sapphire (to describe eyes, they're a bit lamer than I'd like, but I can't seem to come up with anything else there either), that would be really helpful.

[Sunhawk]

Hmm... I see much additional material here...

Looks good.  Don't really feel any awkwardness now.

[KLSymph]

Astute members of the IRC chatroom who:
a) know who I am, and
b) care
may have noticed that I have been logging onto #soulriders for the last so-and-so months every single day, when before my habit was to, well, not do that, ever. Here is the chat conversation that explains it.

* KLSymph pokes for front page update
<KLSymph> ARGH! Update front page! Or buy new webspace and update that space's front page, whichever it was you were doing!
<KLSymph> RAWR!
<KLSymph> Poke poke poke.
<Serafita_laptop> o_o
<KLSymph> Front page. Update.
<KLSymph> Only posting a single not-obvious link = bad Sera. Put up an update notice!
<Serafita_laptop> it's done  :O
<KLSymph> Hmm, I feel a sense of satisfaction.
<KLSymph> After counting, I am happy to report that getting you to fully complete a RRR update required only fifty-two consecutive days of poking, including the days you weren't here for it.
<Serafita_laptop> o_o
<Serafita_laptop> Couldn't you have just built your own site?  :3
<KLSymph> Perhaps now would be a good time to let you know that writing WCB (and also TotS, while we're at it), was specifically for the purpose of making you update RRR.
<Serafita_laptop> o_o

Notice that Serafita loaded my chapters five days ago but did not write the "look my site has been updated" notice--which would actually get my chapters read--that he did today, causing me to pop at least two additional forehead veins. Now that this has all finally been accomplished (though he has not loaded the prettier HTML chapter versions, which I have of course not forgotten about), I suddenly feel capable of doing many, many things that don't involve lurking and waiting for Sera to appear in chat for two months. Like the SS2 review. And that newspaper thing I think I promised I was going to try. Or the other fanfiction moderator things.

Anyway, chapter three is sitting at a comfortable 95k or so. Hopefully will become readable sometime by the end of the month.

Hopefully. >_>

By the way, Sera, you said you would give me more detailed C&C on these chapters since May, or possibly April. I still look forward to that.

[Dracos]

Congrats KLsymph. =)

Dracos