Chapter One-An Empty Space
"Hey little monster, time to get up!" Sakura's
brother, Touya yelled. Waking up groggily, Sakura
rubbed her eyes sleepily.
"Kero-chan, what time is it right now?" she asked as
she got out of bed. Kero-chan checked the clock and
informed her that it was already seven thirty. "Oh
no!" she exclaimed, "I'm going to be late for school!"
And with that, she raced down the stairs.
"Morning, Sakura," father said amiably. "You're going
to be late."
Sakura gulped down her breakfast and managed to say,
"Morning father, I really have to go. I'm almost
late!" He sweatdropped. 'This is the first time that
I'm later than usual,' she thought, irritated. 'I
wonder what's going on.' As she roller bladed down the
street, she didn't see Yukito there, and she sighed.
But she knew she wouldn't meet Yukito out this late.
Now she saw Yukito in a completely different light-at
first, she had liked him. But after telling him that,
he told her to think hard. the feeling she had towards
him was more like the feeling she felt towards her
father than anything else. And she had to agree with
him-it was true. After that, she was temporarily
heartbroken, but then Syaoran had helped her out
there. She still remembered the day when he held her
in his arms, telling her that someday she would find
someone who truly loved her. It had felt so
reassuring.but also very.could it be? . Maybe. But now
he couldn't comfort her anymore, because he was in
Hong Kong. So far away. But everyday Sakura would
think confidently to herself, 'Yes, he'll come
back-he'll come back to visit me.' She never lost
faith.yet.
"Good morning, Sakura Kinomoto!" someone greeted her
as she stepped into the room. It was her best friend
Tomoyo.
Waving back happily, Sakura asked anxiously, "Am I
late yet, Tomoyo?" and she sat down in her seat beside
her.
"Not quite," Tomoyo replied, eyes twinkling. "But
just. You know fifth grade has harder discipline rules
than fourth grade, but you don't seem to care."
Sakura blinked twice, looking puzzled.
Laughing, Tomoyo waved off the remark and said,
"better get ready, the teacher is coming in soon. This
period will be math." Sakura groaned visibly when the
word 'math' was mentioned-it was her least favorite
subject. Tomoyo just smiled.
During math, Sakura wasn't really paying attention to
what the teacher was saying. Tomoyo could tell.
Sometimes she was staring out the window at the cherry
tree, or she would be doodling on her textbook. Tomoyo
acknowledged why Sakura was so distracted; she could
tell by what Sakura was doing. The cherry tree was
where Sakura and Syaoran often sat in the old days,
and she was drawing Clow cards-Tomoyo understood, so
she said nothing.
During lunch, Tomoyo asked Sakura if she would like
to talk with her for a minute. Sakura nodded her head
dazedly and followed her friend out the classroom
door. They strolled around until they stopped at the
old cherry tree outside of their classroom. Sakura
slouched down in her usual spot, and Tomoyo asked,
"May I sit here?" She indicated to the spot where
Syaoran usually sat. "Sakura, I know you miss Syaoran
a lot, but thinking about him all day long and not
paying attention to class isn't going to get you very
far." Tomoyo said gently.
She blushed, and murmured, "I know, but somehow I
can't abandon the image of our friendship."
Tomoyo smiled serenely and replied, "Sakura, you
won't ever lose the image of Syaorun, because you
think of him everyday. And I can promise you, he will
be thinking of you this very moment."
"I.I.I know that," she stammered, "but the way he
left. it wasn't very long, if you know what I mean. I
know it was very nice of him to give me that teddy
bear at the end, but after that, he just ran off to
the plane. It was so.so. so abrupt." Tears welled in
her eyes.
Tomoyo handed her a handkerchief and said, "It's
alright, I'm sure he just didn't want you to have a
painful memory of saying goodbye forever. It must be
that."
"I hope so, I really do." sniffed Sakura tearfully.
"I can but help of thinking about it though."
Tomoyo suddenly thought of something. "Don't you
still have the card that your tear made when it fell
on the floor? You know, that card.what was it called
again?"
Sakura whispered, "It's called 'The Love', and I
still have it with me in my pocket," and she pulled it
out.
"Have you ever tried to use it and see what it does?"
Tomoyo inquired carefully.
Sakura looked surprised. "I always thought it was
just for gazing.since it was so pretty." She said as
she let her fingers wander around the outlined shape
of the heart with wings.
"Maybe you should try it sometime, because it was
made because of your tears. because of Syaoran."
Tomoyo suggested. "It should take your mind off of him
for I while." She smiled.
"Yeah I guess so," she admitted reluctantly.
When she got home, Sakura flopped onto her bed,
exhausted. 'Don't think about him,' she thought,
squeezing her eyes shut-as if that would help her
forget Syaoran. Then it came to her.what Tomoyo had
told her to try out. Whipping out the card from her
pocket, she gazed at it for a few seconds. Then she
took the key and said the rune, and it instantly
became the magic staff when she said "Release!" Her
heart thumping wildly, she took the card and threw it
in the air, saying "Love!"
Nothing happened. Disappointed, she tried again,
"Love!" Still nothing happened. Near to tears, she
thought in deep in her heart, 'Why? I miss him so
much, and this card doesn't work! Stupid card.' A
single tear trickled down her cheek, and it splashed
soundlessly onto the card. Suddenly, the card began to
glow, and out of it sprang a pink heart. Mystified,
she took the plush heart in her hand, and it burst
open to reveal a crystal ball. Then, in the crystal
ball's reflection, she saw all the memories she had
shared with Syaoran. Hugging the ball tight, she
cradled it in her arms, murmuring, "Syaoran I miss you
so much." And then she lay on her bed spread-eagled,
waiting for her father or brother to call her down for
dinner.
After a few minutes, someone knocked gently on her
door. "Come in," was Sakura's muffled response. In
stepped her brother, a worried expression on his face.
"How did you know I wasn't feeling well?" Sakura
demanded, because normally he would've called her
little monster when he came in.
"Which person in their right mind couldn't see that
you weren't feeling well?" he snorted, and then the
worried expression came back on his face. "So what's
wrong, Sakura?"
"I can't tell you," she mumbled, and buried her face
into her pillow. But her brother persisted, wrenching
the pillow from her grasp. "Hey!" she yelled
indignantly.
"C'mon, you can tell me, I'm your bro!" Touya
exclaimed.
Sakura wiped a tear away from her eyes. "You wouldn't
understand," she said softly.
Touya pulled her into a bear hug and whispered, "It's
okay, I'm here to listen to whatever you have to say."
"I.I miss Syaoran very much; ever since he left
Tokyo," she said.
A vein twitched on his forehead, but seeing her so
sad made him shut-up. "Hey, it's all right, don't cry
so much. Your eyes will become smaller," he joked.
"Oh thanks, I just needed someone to tell me my eyes
are tiny," Sakura said sarcastically.
"Oh okay, so long as you feel better," he mumbled,
and walked out of her room. 'I'm so lucky to have
such a good brother,' she thought.
"So, Sakura, did you try out my suggestion?" Tomoyo
smiled.
"Um, yes, but it didn't work at first." she trailed
off.
"Tell me about it, Sakura," Tomoyo asked, and Sakura
did so reluctantly. After she finished her story,
Tomoyo just smiled and told her it was sweet. Sakura
nodded in agreement-for once in a week, she smiled
brightly. "I have nothing to bother me now!" she
announced to the world that day. Now for every class,
she paid excellent attention, and she once again
started to go to cheerleading practice. But she hadn't
practiced her magic very often now, because there
wasn't anymore that she could do to them. After all,
hadn't she already turned them all into Sakura cards?
Eriole had seen to it that she had. But she still
missed the old days when she was always chasing after
one card or another; it was dangerous, yet also very
fun. Then she remembered how surprised she was when
she found out Yukito was really Yue. And how pleased
she was when she collected all the Clow cards. Those
memories gave her a warm feeling inside. And she
remembered Meiling, and how they became best friends
in the end.
'But those memories are behind me now,' Sakura
thought fiercely. 'I shouldn't think about them so
often.' Then, another side of her was arguing, 'Why
not?' Shaking her head involuntarily, she shot back
into reality. Everyone was having a nice time during
lunch, so why shouldn't she? 'Because...'she drifted
off.
A dark shadow darted around then corner when Sakura
was walking towards her house. Sensing something out
of the ordinary, she whipped her head around, only to
find herself staring into air. 'I must be thinking of
the old days too much,' she scolded herself. With
that, she turned the key to the door and stepped into
her house. "Father, bro, I'm home!" she yelled
cheerfully. But only silence greeted her. 'Oh, I
forgot, Touya has to work today.but father should be
home.where could he go?' she thought, agitated. Not
giving it much thought, she marched upstairs to her
room. "Kero-chan! I'm home!" she announced, and he
came floating slowly over.
"What, you're home already?" he asked sleepily.
"Well, it's four! Have you been sleeping all day?"
she demanded, hands on her hips.
"It WAS quiet around the house all day, so I fell
asleep without knowing it." He yawned.
Sakura's face became tight again. "Do you mean the
whole entire day?" she asked frantically.
"Just about; hmmmmmm, after you left for school, I
think," Kero-chan answered.
"So you didn't see Touya or father go anywhere?"
"Well, I couldn't exactly SEE them, if you know what
I mean, but I didn't hear the door open or close all
day."
Sakura bit her lower lip unconsciously, and she
decided to investigate. But when she went down stairs,
an unusual sight met her eyes-things were floating
around the room like someone.or something was holding
them up, but there just wasn't anyone holding them. A
coffee mug floated around as if Touya was holding it;
it was just about his height. Then an even stranger
thing happened. the vacuum cleaner was busy vacuuming
the house, but no one was holding it. Sakura drew back
in surprise, but as Kero-chan joined her, he creased
his brow and declared, "It's another card yet!"
"But I thought I already captured them all!" said
Sakura, confused.
"Well, Clow Reed just made another one!" Kero-chan
answered. "Get that card!"
Sakura took out her key and said, "Release!" and the
key turned into the magic staff once more. "Windy!"
she yelled, and Windy came out of the card, wrapping
the two SOMETHINGS up into a bundle. Instantly, the
bundle appeared to be Touya and father, and as the
Windy returned to its card, another new one also took
form. Sakura let the new card drop slowly into her
hands, and as the card became visible, there was no
picture and no label!
"Huh? There's no picture OR label!" she exclaimed.
"It must be some card that didn't exactly function
right," Kero-chan chuckled. "Sometimes the Clow Reed
does that by accident."
"Oh." And she put the card into her pocket, not
giving it anymore thought.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Li Syaoran was busy with his
own schoolwork, and he had no time to do anything
else. Of course, there was no longer the need to learn
Japanese, but. how would he talk to Sakura otherwise?
He decided that even if he didn't really like learning
Japanese, he would do it for her. Every now and then,
he would take out a piece of paper and start writing
Japanese characters on them. But the words that popped
up the most were Sakura Kinomoto. Then he would blush
a very deep shade of red and scratch it out hastily.
He often thought about when they used to go out and
chase Clow cards for all they were worth, or when
Eriol caused problems for them both. He was always
there to protect Sakura if there was any trouble to be
had, and after the thought about it, he rather liked
to protect Sakura. Especially the sweet way she would
thank him afterwards, it made him feel warm inside. He
often wondered if he would ever be going back to see
Sakura. Of course, he often dreamed about that
perspective, but he never really thought it would
happen. And then he thought about the day that he
left; how deeply sad her face was.and there were tears
welling up in her eyes. But he nearly kicked himself
for doing nothing about it. Then.he finally gave her
the teddy bear he had so long ago wanted to. They had
often written to each other, but recently they had
stopped mailing each other simply because they were
too busy.well, at least he was. He was angry with
himself for stopping the letters first, and he never
wrote another one, in fear of Sakura getting angry
with him. He seriously doubted that Sakura would ever
get angry with anyone, but there was always a first
time.
He rolled over on his bed, staring at the ceiling, at
nothing. At her face? The ceiling now held the
delicate features of Sakura Kinomoto's face.at least
in his eyes. Syaoran reached up as if to touch her
cheek, but the image distorted, and he was left in
frustration. 'Exactly how long can I go on without
her?' he thought painfully. He then made up his mind
to go and find her-by himself, secretively. He slipped
out of the house when his mother and all his sisters
were asleep. Alone.