Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ The Attractive Power ❯ The Hope Card ( Chapter 1 )

Sakura and The Hope Card
©2002 By Julia and Tania
E-mail: ccs_fanz@jtc-productions.com
Cardcaptor Sakura: The Attractive Power
Episode 1

"Return to your rightful form, Clow Card!"

Sakura had completed one half of the task returning the Clow card to its true form. She gripped tightly onto her sealing wand as she gazed into the spirit in front of her.

Sacrificing her feelings seemed like such a harsh exchange. It was what Clow-san had meant when he said that something terrible was to befall on the world if the cards were not captured. Now, this one card was to impose this threat on her.

Thinking about it though, it didn't matter that she was going to lose her feelings; she wasn't going to notice after she completed the transformation. As long as the world returned, her family, her friends, Syaoran returned, she was ready to give it all up for them.

At the thought of Syaoran, she felt repentance of the fact that she had so many chances, but never told him what she had planned to say for so long. "I guess, in the end, I never got to tell him my true feelings..."

Her chin held up high, she began her final incantation. It was time everyone returned. "The card made by Clow, return to your original form. Go to your new mistress, under the name of Sakura!"

She watched the card as it went into its final transformation to a Sakura card. As she waited for the final deed to be done, she held onto her last moment where she was still her entire self. But just as she expected the inevitable to happen, she did not expect this.

The swirl of light exerted from the newly transformed Sakura card raced past her, blinding her for a few seconds. As the light dissipated, Sakura realised what had happened and what was about to take place.

"Syaoran-kun!" she cried as she made her way to the edge of the platform. The card had chosen the individual with the strongest power. And the one with the strongest power was Syaoran.

Enveloped inside a black sphere, Syaoran looked to her. "I'm glad I made it in time," he said, fatigued, "It seems I have more magic left in me, after all. Feeling tired? It makes sense, since you just transformed that card."

"Syaoran-kun!"

She thought he had disappeared back there. All this time she thought he had been captured by one of those black spheres, only to find out that he had escaped and had been trying to catch up with her.

"Even if I don't have these feelings, I'll just fall in love with you again, Sakura..."

"SYAORAN-KUN!!!!!" Tears of despair ran down her cheeks as she watched the blackness of the sphere engulf him whole.

Amidst all the commotion, out of sight, a Sakura card called upon itself to activate, shooting a beam of yellow light. Soon, inside the clock tower was occupied with a blinding white.

Seconds passed. The light disappeared. Openings created by Emptiness were still present in the tower walls, Sakura on one side-still crying-and Syaoran on the other.

"Don't cry. It's all right," a voice said to Sakura.

She reached for the card which had flown to her. "It's you," Sakura said. It was Emptiness combined with the card she created months ago for her feelings towards Syaoran. It was now called The Hope card.

In the background stood the very guy she had become so fond of. He was looking to his hands, scrutinising them as if searching for something that was supposed to be there where it wasn't.

Syaoran-kun! Sakura thought in dismay. Fear coursed through her as she realised the consequence of her successful capture.

"Syaoran-kun..." her voice trembling, yet determined, "even if you don't feel anything for me anymore, I love you! The one I love most is Syaoran-kun!"

No response.

Streams of tears ran down her cheeks to her neck, saturating her costume. His facial cast was emotionless, blank towards her and her words.

Crying, Sakura's heart began to fall into a deep, dark chasm upon the acceptance of the card's contract. It had been done.

Then, unexpectedly, Syaoran replied. "Me, too," turning to face her, he added, "Sakura."

Her heart sped-total elation and relief ran through her. His most important feeling hadn't been taken away from him.

At the wake of the successful capture, the blanket of darkness that mastered the sky was seen through the spherical voids in the walls of the clock tower between Sakura and Syaoran, suddenly pull away to reveal a crisp blue sky with sunrise colours seaming through.

Street by street, structures, objects, living things that had been taken away into oblivion by Emptiness, were all finally returned into existence. The people in the world, Sakura's friends and family-her father, Oniichan, Yue-san, Kero-chan, Meiling-chan, and Tomoyo-chan-all of them, returned.

The final stages of returning everything that had been taken away by Emptiness neared as an overjoyed Sakura took a few steps back, in a stance ready to jump over to the other side of the clock tower to meet Syaoran's arms.

"Please, don't. In a few moments the tower will restore itself!" Syaoran said with distress, pleading her to wait until then.

"No!" she replied, refusing to listen, "I love you!"

Unable to convince her further, Syaoran prepared himself to catch her-his legs planted firmly on the ground, arms at the ready. Even with the amount of power depleted by the use of all her cards, he was surprised by the amount of energy she put into that jump.

"Syaoran-kun!" a rapturous Sakura called to him as she fell into his arms.

"Sakura, that was reckless," Syaoran said in a firm tone yet somewhat strained, "You could have seriously hurt yourself. What if you didn't make it; you transformed a lot of cards-or what if I missed?" Sakura just continued to grin widely, hugging him tight, never letting go. His brows furrowed, still waiting for her defense. But then realised it didn't matter now; she was safe.

"Sakura..." Syaoran took a heavy sigh of relief as the voids in the wall and the stairs of the clock tower disappeared. He began to smile-everything was back to what it was before and no one had to lose anything.

She unwrapped herself around Syaoran to meet his gaze, "Syaoran-kun, I'm so glad. I'm so glad... You're alright!"

He smiled. "We should get back to the Nadesico festival. Everyone should have returned." Sakura nodded.

Suddenly with no warning, she felt weak and toppled over Syaoran. Being relatively weak also, he fell back to a sitting position at the added weight.

"Sakura! Sakura!" he said, holding her by the shoulders, his shout obviously weak.

"I... I guess that jump took the last of my strength," slowly revealing a smile as she said it.

"I told you not to jump. That's what happens when you have already used a lot of your strength and try to push yourself too far!"

Smiling an awry smile, Sakura replied, "Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm okay."

"Okay..." Syaoran said, still worried.

"Don't worry, Syaoran-kun," she said, noticing his worried facial cast, "Really, I'm okay.

"Let's go, then." Sakura nodded as he moved to leverage her arm over his shoulders as they slowly made their way down the stairs inside the clock tower.

Back at the Nadesico festival, near a secluded environment, finally able to make sense of their surroundings, Tomoyo, Meiling, Kero, Yukito and Touya searched around for Sakura and Syaoran, but they were nowhere nearby.

"I'll look around for them," Touya said.

But just as Touya made a move towards searching for them, the pair turned up, flaccidly making their way towards the group.

"Sakura-chan, Li-kun!" Tomoyo called to them.

"Syaoran! Kinomoto-san!" Meiling also called to them. "Are you alright?"

"Sakura!" Touya shouted as he made his way towards her.

"We're both okay," Sakura answered, still weak from her capture.

"That's good. Is everything over?" Meiling queried, referring to the enchanted Clow card. Sakura nodded.

She turned to look at Syaoran. He was remote and unresponsive towards the conversation at hand; his head drooped heavily towards the ground, and eyelids almost ran right down to show only a slit of his eyes. He couldn't make eye contact; he was too tired, too worn-out.

By this time, from under the tilt of his head, Syaoran winced. A sign of weakness showed through a twitch in the corner of the lips. Meiling quickly moved to leverage Sakura as he descended to the ground-his sword, the only thing stopping him from meeting the ground as his weight laid solely on it.

"Syaoran, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Syaoran-kun," Sakura followed.

"I'm okay," Syaoran said to them, looking up at them with reassuring eyes.

Touya gave a curious stare at Syaoran for a moment then looked at Sakura. "Sakura, you're alright now?" She nodded.

"Yuki," Touya continued, "Let's go and check the others around the area-see if they need any assistance."

"Good idea, Touya," Yukito replied.

"Sakura," Kero called to her after Touya and Yukito's departure. Sakura turned her attention to him. "The Clow card-she's safely with you?"

Satisfyingly, Sakura nodded. She held The Hope card in her hand as she inwardly thanked it for saving her and Syaoran.

"Pictures!" Tomoyo shouted all of a sudden. Heads turned sharply towards her direction.

Already having the camera on record mode, she tracked around the young magicians, filming a recuperating Sakura first. Then she quickly switched her camera to focus in on a quite fatigued Syaoran, still on the ground leaning against his sword. Syaoran looked up at Tomoyo's camera, forcing a smile. "I want to take lots of pictures of Sakura-chan and Li-kun together. It is a momentous day; we must have it on film."

"In this condition: Tomoyo-chan?" Meiling asked.

"Yes! This would be perfect to conclude the final chapter of cardcaptor, Sakura: 'Sakura-chan, cute and strong, pulled into the destiny of capturing the Clow cards; Li-kun, brave and kind, brought here by fate to assist and encourage. Finally, they complete their arduous task.' These shots will make a great final addendum to my videos."

Then Tomoyo stopped recording and dragged Sakura and Syaoran together.

"Syaoran and Kinomoto-san don't look up to it. Daidouji-san, maybe we should do this another time," Meiling said, concerned.

"It'll be okay, Meiling-chan," Sakura affirmed. Sakura turned her head to look at Syaoran. He nodded, agreeing to do Tomoyo's shoot.

"Great!" Tomoyo exclaimed.

She moved Sakura to a spot where she held The Hope card and staff, cross-armed. She then moved to Syaoran. Tomoyo grabbed the sword off from Syaoran without his permission.

Syaoran reached out for the sword, but never touching it, afraid something might happen to it, as well as being concerned for her safety. "Daidouji, be careful. It's very heavy."

"Not to mention sharp, Daidouji-san," chimed in Meiling, "Syaoran almost cut his first two fingers off one time when he lost concentration."

Tomoyo took a moment to hold the sword, whilst admiring and respecting its heritage and the history that came with the sword. Then she gave it back to Syaoran to be held backhanded, in front of his waist, blade parallel to the ground, while directing his other hand to hold the ofudas.

"Okay, that's good," she said, finally happy with the pose. "Now, hold that position..."

* * *

At Tomoeda Elementary, Sakura was at her locker putting her shoes inside. Since today was the day after the Nadesico festival, her summer holidays officially commenced after today. Because of that, she felt awake and energetic-enough so, that she arrived at school before Tomoyo.

"Good morning, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura called to her, noticing Tomoyo from behind her school locker door as she closed it.

"You're in a cheerful mood today! Is it because of a special someone we both know?"

Sakura blushed, giving an embarrassed, giggle. "Umm..."

"When Li-kun came home last night, he appeared quite at peace too."

"Did he?"

"He didn't say anything, but it's not hard to see when someone's obviously happy. So everything turned out the way you expected, Sakura-chan?"

FLASHBACK...

"I'll get it!!!"

Sakura ran excitedly and hastily down the stairs to answer the door, already knowing who was on the other side.

"Syaoran-kun!" She then searched behind him, puzzled. "Where's Meiling-chan and Tomoyo-chan?"

"They couldn't make it... for some reason. They told me to tell you: You can thank us tomorrow," he said, inviting her to try and make sense of that.

"Oh... Okay..." not being able to make sense of the message either.

Suddenly she found herself being transfixed by him. To Sakura, it seemed like minutes had passed when she realised she was staring into him and still was standing at the door, stupidly.

Giving a nervous laugh in reply to her thoughts, she quickly invited him in. "Come in... My father is still cooking, so we'll have to wait a bit."

"Okay," Syaoran replied.

"Sakura, will your-" Sakura's father called for her as he entered the lounge, "Oh, your friend has arrived. Good evening..."

Syaoran stood straight and respectfully as he introduced himself, "Li Syaoran. My name is Li Syaoran."

"Oh. Li Syaoran-I've met you after my talk at your school."

"Yes, the subject of your talk was very interesting."

"Thank you, Li-kun." He then turned to address Sakura. "Will Daidouji-san and your other friend be joining us?"

"No-they can't make it, so it's just going to be Syaoran-kun."

"Okay then."

"Do you need any help, Dad?" Sakura asked.

"No thank you, Sakura. Stay with your friend." He then turned to face Syaoran, "Nice to meet you, Li-kun." Syaoran bowed in reply as he left for the kitchen.

"Sit, Syaoran-kun," Sakura gestured with a hand and a bow.

Syaoran nodded slightly, smiling, "Thank-you."

With that smile, Sakura's heart started beating fast, so fast she thought she was going to stop breathing. She felt a rushing sensation surge from her chest right up to her face and then it subsided in her fingertips. It was so quaint. She had never felt anything like it before. What she felt wasn't unpleasant-far from that-though, Sakura did feel herself clutching her own fingers, trying to impede whatever this tingling sensation was.

Sakura watched Syaoran for a brief moment as he sat at the couch rather casually. The tingling sensation heightened even further. She still couldn't identify the sensation.

"Syaoran-kun, I'm so glad you didn't have to give up your feelings!"

She leapt onto Syaoran like the many times Meiling leapt onto him. Sakura began to feel the sensation heighten further once more. Then it began to dissipate.

"Sakura..." Syaoran said, surprised by her sudden action. "Umm... Me, too. Sorry for doing that to you. It was the only way I knew to save you from a life of emptiness. Knowing that you value the feeling of love the most, I couldn't let you go through with it-" Syaoran paused for a moment: thoughts entering his mind.

"Syaoran-kun…?" Sakura queried then trailed off to a thought provoking stare. Until recently, she had never acknowledged his words; his feelings, his compassion-not completely like she had been now.

"Sakura...?" his tone: curious, having realised something.

"What is it?" She released him from her embrace to face him.

"The Clow card could only be captured at the sacrifice of one's most important feeling, from whoever's the strongest and most powerful at the time. So what happened? What saved me from losing it?"

"I'm not too sure, but I think it was the card I created several months ago."

"A new Sakura card?" Sakura nodded. "But there are only a few in the world who have the power to create entirely new magic!"

Sakura modestly nodded in acceptance of the fact she was one of the few. "It was just after I got off the phone with Tomoyo-chan. She was the one who told me you were leaving all those months ago. I felt so sad when I thought I would never see you again. It was then the Sakura card was created."

"Amazing…!"

It was at this point, Syaoran realised Sakura's true magical abilities and strength. She had the ability to create her own Sakura cards. He maybe the direct descendant of Clow Reed, but she-she created a new card; he could say she was the one who really inherited Clow Reed's magical powers.

"Thank you," Syaoran said after a moment lost in thought.

"For what…?"

"In the end, it was you who saved me. Thank you very much."

Interrupting their conversation, they heard Sakura's father call, "Sakura: dinner's ready!"

"Okay! Let's go, Syaoran-kun. I got dad to make some dim sums too. It's one of your favourite foods isn't it?" Sakura asked. Syaoran smiled.

END FLASHBACK...

"It was such a great evening. Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."

"No problem, Sakura-chan. What are best friends for?"

Sakura cheerfully smiled as she entered the classroom. There, she saw her classmates cleaning the room up, putting the costumes and props back into boxes.

"Good morning," she greeted the class as she placed her bag at the front of the room.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan!" Chiharu greeted in return. "Both of you were great yesterday-" Suddenly she changed her tone. "But the thing is: I don't remember what happened after the part where the prince revealed his identity..."

Sakura looked at Tomoyo then laughed hysterically, trying to direct the topic of conversation off somewhere else. "Umm... is there something I can do to help out-maybe help put the boxes back to the drama room?"

"Actually, yes there is one." Chiharu pointed to the front of the room. "That box next to the chalk board, just underneath the speaker's podium. You can take that one."

"Okay."

"Sakura-chan," Tomoyo called to her. "I'll be in the music room."

"Okay. I'll see you later then."

Sakura buoyantly headed towards the box, head bobbing up and down as she skipped her way there. Tomoyo smiled widely as she turned her head to watch her for a brief second. The sight of her best friend being so happy made her feel a sense of relief because she had been rather stressed with the Clow card and trying to express her feelings to Li-kun for the past week.

"Rika-chan, good morning," Sakura greeted her. She had come across from the other side of the classroom.

"Do you need help with that, Sakura-chan? It looks like it's very heavy."

"It's alright, Rika-chan. Thanks for the offer though."

"It's a shame we won't get to finish the class' play isn't it?" Rika expressed suddenly. Sakura nodded with guilt. "We all practiced so hard."

Sakura nodded again, quite nervously. She hoped that Rika would not ask her what had happened that night.

"Do you remember what happened-But then again, no one remembers, so I suppose you don't remember either. It really was a great night though… what we do remember anyway." Sakura nodded again, speechless and relieved. "Well, I better head off and see if I can help Terada-sensei with more jobs. I'll talk to you later, okay?

"Sure!" she said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Then Sakura turned to pick up the box. Hmm... Rika was right: it did seem kind of heavy, but no problem. She could do it, she thought. Afterall, capturing Clow cards was much more of a challenge than lifting this box. It should help her have the strength to lift it.

"Let's go. On three: One... two... bend your knees-good habits you see," she said to herself. "...and... Three!"

Sakura had overestimated the weight of the box-either that, or she underestimated her strength. She began to hop on her heels, becoming more and more unbalanced.

"HOEEEEE!!!!!!!!"

Succumbing to gravity, she began to drop to the floor. But just as she anticipated her fall, she didn't. Sakura came to a halt. For a nano-second, she thought it might have been the wall next to the door that had broken her fall, but it didn't hurt; it wasn't hard; quite the opposite. Someone had stopped her.

"Sakura!" the voice called in concern. "Are you alright?"

She turned around. She was surprised by the person who had caught her: "Syaoran-kun!"

"Are you alright?" Syaoran said, still gripping her in his arms until she regained her composure. Sakura nodded.

"What were you doing anyway, Kinomoto-san? Is that box too heavy for you?" Meiling said, appearing from behind Syaoran.

"No, no-I guess I misjudged the weight. I thought it was really heavy and I put a lot of strength into lifting it, but I-I-I guess I was wrong." She gave an embarrassed, laugh.

"Thank you, Syaoran-kun."

He smiled. "It's not a problem."

"Li-kun!" Takashi called to him from the other side of the classroom. The three turned their attention to him. "Li-kun, since you're here..." he said, pointing to a couple of boxes on the table. "…a box of props for you."

Syaoran headed over to the boxes; it was-after all-what he was here to do. "Where do we take these?" Syaoran asked Takashi.

"Drama room."

"That's where I'm heading off to," Sakura said.

Seeing another good opportunity for them to be alone, Meiling decided to stay behind. "I'll stay here to help out."

Syaoran nodded then picked the box up from the table. He waited for Sakura to follow before heading to the Drama room.

"Sakura," Syaoran began.

"Yes?"

"I'm going back to Hong Kong tomorrow, you know that," he said with a saddened facial cast, but his tone restricted to neutrality.

Suddenly Sakura fell into discontent. She felt a knot in her heart at the mention of it. She didn't like the thought of having to deal with his leaving later.

Her eyes began to sting again at the thought of sending him off again at the airport. Her brows furrowed, lips depressed, she continued walking, only nodding to the fact.

Syaoran could sense Sakura's reluctance to hear it, but he had to mention it. "Meiling and my plane leave at nine o'clock in the morning. I'd like to see you there. Can you make it?"

"No problem!" Sakura said with determination, immediately changing her mood, "I will definitely see you off."

"Are you sure? If you can't, it's okay." Maybe she had other things planned.

Puzzled, Sakura couldn't think of any reason to why she wouldn't be able to make it. She then realised. "I'll make it for sure. I'll get my dad's alarm clock, brother's clock, and my clock-oh, Kero-chan too-to wake me up. By the time I turn the clocks off and answer Kero-chan, I'd be wide awake," she said whilst pointing her finger in the air.

"That's not it, but thank you." He smiled.

His pleasant smile made Sakura's heart flutter irrepressibly, turning her cheeks to a rosy red colour as she tried to control it by hugging the box.

But she could stop neither her fluttering heart nor the feelings of disheartenment. Syaoran-kun had come back to Japan for a couple of weeks for the Nadesico Festival and that gave her a chance to spend some time with him. It also gave her a chance to tell him her true feelings in person. But two weeks was over; he was going back to Hong Kong and was going to leave her here thinking non-stop about when the next time she would see him and his pleasant smile again.

She put the thought aside for a moment as she felt her cheek cool down. Suddenly she heard Syaoran say, "Are you okay?" Sakura abruptly answered him, "Yeah."

"You seem… distant back there. Is there something the matter?"

"No," Sakura replied simply. Changing the topic, she said, "Do you want to come back to my house later for dinner?"

"I'm sorry. I won't be able to make it. I still have some things to pack, but I'll walk you home after school, if you don't mind that."

"Of course not, Syaoran-kun!" Sakura shouted with delight, "That'd be great!"

Syaoran nodded, holding a stare at Sakura which he felt comfortable in sustaining. Contently, he smiled as Sakura returned the favour.

* * *

Sakura's brother, Touya, was up early today in his usual cooking apron, at the kitchen bench preparing glasses of juice while hotcakes sizzled on a frying pan for breakfast. Today, he knew, would be a sad day for his little sister, and as much as he hated to admit that to Sakura's face, he was a caring brother and Sakura's happiness meant a lot to him. "Sakura: you're going to be late," he shouted to her.

A few minutes later, Sakura came running down the stairs, her right arm pushing through a sleeve. "Good morning, Oniichan (Brother)! You're up early today."

"It's quite a warm morning, are you sure you want to wear that top?"

Sakura ran into her lounge and peered out the window, pressing her face and hands against the window.

"Are you sure you're not close enough to the window? You already look enough like a monster as it is. You don't want to make it any more obvious do you?"

Sakura gritted her teeth, fists clutched tightly. "O-nii-chan!"

Touya was right for the other thing though, it did look like a very warm day outside. "Hmm..." she thought aloud, dismissing her annoyance quickly. "Did you go outside, Oniichan?"

"Yup."

Sakura decided not to wear the top. She ran back upstairs and a few seconds later, she came back down with a T-shirt. "It's nice of you to make me breakfast. But why are you up so early?" she asked.

"Part-time job. Didn't you see it on the board?"

"Yes I did and I remember your job doesn't start for another two-and-a-half hours," Sakura said.

With pursed lips, Touya shrugged it off. "Eat up, monster!"

"Don't call me that!" Sakura turned to him to say. Touya smiled. She sniffed the aroma of the pancakes and began to take a bite. "Thanks, Oniichan!"

"So you're off to the airport today?" Touya asked, pretending not to know.

"Syaoran-kun and Meiling-chan are flying back to Hong Kong."

"The Kid's going back, huh? Well, you better hurry up and finish your breakfast then."

Sakura cocked her head, halting her dining. There was no retort about Syaoran at all this time. Oniichan just let it go.

She nodded as she hurriedly scoffed down her pancakes. She looked at the time: it was slightly past seven. If she was going to make it to the airport in time, she had to leave now.

Quickly, Sakura wiped her mouth with a napkin, grabbed her bag which was sitting on the table top in the lounge area, and headed for the door. "I'm off! Thank you for breakfast!" she shouted as she got her shoes on.

"Okay!" Touya acknowledged.

"We'll make sure we'll return to Japan, soon," Meiling said to Sakura and Tomoyo.

"It's a shame you can't stay a little longer. We could have had a lot of fun, just like old times," Sakura said.

"I've checked us in," Syaoran informed Meiling, stepping into the group.

Meiling nodded. Then suddenly, she spotted Sakura holding a green gift bag of some sort hanging by her right side. "Syaoran, I forgot to get our aunty something. I'll be back soon." Then she addressed Tomoyo. "Daijouji-san."

"Right," she complied, understanding her intention for the call.

Syaoran looked at them suspiciously, starting to catch on to what his two good friends were doing.

"Do you think they're doing this on purpose?" Syaoran asked, his attention following the movements of his two friends.

"Do what?" Sakura asked, having little clue as she followed Syaoran's gaze.

"Nothing."

Once Tomoyo and Meiling disappeared into a gift shop, Sakura turned her attention to Syaoran, "Um… Syaoran-kun…"

"What is it?" Syaoran asked softly.

Taking on a sad tone, head declined towards the floor, she asked, "Will you be returning to Tomoeda soon?"

"I don't know. My mother has no plans of transferring me back here now the Clow cards have all been captured and their new master is well and strong." Sakura smiled then expressed a disappointed cast at the unlikelihood of Syaoran returning soon.

"Don't worry, Sakura, I can always visit you in the holidays. I won't miss the chance to see you for anything."

"Me neither Syaoran-kun-I'm so glad you came back to Tomoeda so that I could tell you my true feelings in person." She paused to gather more thoughts then started again, "When you're around, I feel safe. I feel that everything is going to be okay…" She paused for another few seconds as she hesitated, knowing that what she was about to say was too much to ask for. She continued anyway, "Syaoran-kun... I don't want you to leave!" She started to sob, clutching her fists near her heart, head down, leveraging on the fists.

He put down his luggage then took a step closer to her. "Sakura," Syaoran said, smiling. She looked at him, staring through her watery eyes. He moved to hold her in his arms. "Don't worry-I will return. That's my promise."

Sakura continued to stay in his comforting embrace, savouring the short time she had before he was due for his flight. Suddenly, she remembered she had yet to give him his gift.

"Syaoran-kun, I have something for you." He released her from his embrace, surprised. Sakura took it out of her bag, "Here," she said, gazing into his brown eyes intently as she handed the gift to him with cupped hands.

Syaoran looked down at the small green teddy bear pin. Engraved on it were three characters: S+S, encircled by a red love heart.

"Thank you," he said sweetly.

"Do you like it?" slightly nervous.

He nodded. "It's beautiful." Sakura's face lit up.

Syaoran turned the bear around and released the pin from its clasp then pinned it on to his top. He moved forward, once more approaching her and hugged her for the last time. They stayed like that until his flight was announced.

"Flight 105HK to Hong Kongis now boarding. Please make your way to gate five, thank you."

"It looks like it's me," Syaoran said to Sakura.

Just in time, Meiling came back with Tomoyo. "Syaoran, we better get going." Syaoran nodded, moving away from Sakura to pick up his luggage.

"Thank you Daidouji for letting the both of us stay at your place while we were here," Syaoran said.

"My pleasure," Tomoyo replied. "Make sure you both write often to us."

"Definitely!" Meiling said with enthusiasm. Syaoran followed with a nod. "See you next time, Kinomoto-san, Daidouji-san. Thanks for everything," replying from a distance now as she ran to the gate. "Come on, Syaoran!"

"Okay. Well, I'll see you next time," Syaoran said as he paced quickly to catch up.

"Bye, Syaoran-kun!" Sakura called to him.

"Visit us again soon, Li-kun," Tomoyo called after.

He turned around to bow his head to Sakura and Tomoyo then continued in his path.

To be continued in episode 2: "Sakura and Junior High School".