Eriol watched Sakura as his words sank in.  He could see her fear even as she was ale to reign it in and hide it behind false confidence.  He clenched his fists, mentally berating himself for not being able to defend her in court.  Sakura did not deserve the punishment that was handed to her.  Even worse, Apollo was usually a fair judge, and it was no secret he and Clow had been close friends despite Clow's refusal to join the Council.  So why did he let it go this far, and why did he give her such a harsh sentence?

"You are in the Council's headquarters.  Pretty much like any government building in the non-magic world.  The difference here is time is distorted.  You've been here at least in hour to us, but you've only been gone from Japan for about 15 minutes.  I can send you back to Japan.  We just have to go back to the main hallway."

He went to the door and led her back to where she had appeared.  He forced a smile as he turned to her.  "Good luck, Sakura.  I know you can do it."  He made his staff appear and sent her back to Japan, landing her in an empty area near the school.  The smile left as soon as she was gone, his shoulders sagging and exhaustion taking over his features.  He would never forgive himself or Clare if something happened to her.

Sakura followed Eriol to the main hallway. When he bid her goodbye, she returned his smile with a forced one as well. A bright light engulfed her and she found herself back in her town. She glanced around and saw that she was near the school. Sakura could hear the elementary school's clock chiming and knew that school was about to start. She got out the Dash card and used it to help her get to school quicker. When she got the entrance of the school building, Sakura returned Dash back to his card, and she headed over to her shoe locker. She quickly changed into school shoes and ran upstairs to her classroom. 

As she approached her classroom, Sakura could hear her homeroom teacher doing roll call. Sakura was glad he hasn't reached her name yet. She slowly opened the door and got down on her knees. She then made her way to her desk by crawling on the floor. She hoped that he wouldn't notice her. When Sakura got toward her desk, she held her hand out to the seat and grabbed a hold of it. But before she could pull herself up into her seat, her homeroom teacher caught her.

"Kinomoto, hallway," He spoke without looking up from the class roaster. Sakura let out a sigh and stood up. She then made her way to the hallway. Some of her classmates were giggling quietly at her. When Sakura entered the hallway, she closed the door behind her. She lean against the wall and stared out the window. 

She stood there thinking about her punishment. Sakura was so scared of failing and going to jail. She looked back at her struggle to capture some of the cards or transformed them. She then started doubt her magical abilities. While she was able to capture the cards on her own, most of the time she gotten help from her friends.

"The right thing to do would be to ask for help, but.." Sakura thought to herself. The idea of asking the others to help made her feel worse for some reason. She couldn't figure out why.

"Kinomoto," spoke a voice. Sakura turned and saw it was her teacher. "You can go back in now. Now, I'm going to let you go with a warning. Don't ever come to late school again otherwise I'm going to mark you tardy. Understand?"

The teenage girl just nodded her head and went back into the classroom. She took her seat and waited with her classmates for the first bell to start. Tomoyo looked at her.

"What happened this morning?" she asked Sakura.

Sakura looked at her friend and replied, "My alarm clock didn't go off. The batteries died. Luckily Toya woke me up." She felt bad for lying, but for some she didn't want to tell Tomoyo the truth. Before her friend could say anything else, their math teacher walked into the room.

Throughout the whole day Sakura thought about her punishment and asking the others for help. She kept going back and worth with the idea. She knew it would make things a lot easier, but every time she thought about asking for help, Sakura felt a pit her stomach. She thought how she would be a burden on Kero and Yue. Both of them were enjoying their peaceful lives. Plus Yukito was a student and calling for Yue would distract him from his studies. Then there was Tomoyo. She had no magical abilities so her life would be danger. Sakura would feel bad if something would happen to her... 

During gym class they were playing line soccer. Sakura stood on the sidelines waiting for her number to be called. As she stood there she watched her classmates played. The gym teacher called some numbers and Syaoran entered the game. She watched him and it dawned on her. She hasn't thought about him once during the whole school day. She kept thinking about her guardians and Tomoyo. It didn't occur to her to ask him for help. 

"Five!!" The teacher shouted which was Sakura's number. She came forward and headed toward the ball. As she was playing her mind was now thinking about Syaoran.

"He would want to help me," she thought to herself. "But... I would make him worry and ..." She got hold of the ball and kicked it toward the goal. " Distract him from his studies... Syaoran's mother wants him to focus on his magic. I bet she would send him back home if she found me too distracting..." The ball then got taken from an opponent and Sakura went after them. As she was running toward the ball she thought about how Clare called Sayoran weak. " He's not weak. I'm the weak one.. I always need someone to help me. He can do things on his own." She then stopped running and watched her opponent score a goal. She turned away and let out a sigh. Sakura was convinced she couldn't capture these spirits at all. "UGH!!!! I can't do this, but I would be a burden on everyone!!" Then suddenly the soccer ball hit her on the back of the head causing her to fall over. 

The teacher rushed over to her at once. "Kinomoto, are you alright!?"

She sat up and laughed nervously. "Yes." 

"You better go to the nurse."

Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

The teacher just crossed his arms. " I'm not going to argue about this. Who wants to escort Kinomoto to the nurse's office?" He glanced around at his students.

Syaoran quickly raised his hand.  "I'll go with her," he said with no hesitation.  He had been worried about her all morning and had yet to get a chance to talk to her thanks to school.  The fact that she had made no effort to speak with him at any point in time while seeming deep in thought only worried him more.

"Alright.  Be sure to come back before class ends," the gym teacher said as Syaoran approached Sakura.  Syaoran nodded, barely acknowledging the teacher as he reached Sakura.

They headed out the door in silence, and Syaoran waited for them to be down the hall a ways before speaking.  "Where were you this morning?" he asked, curiously.  He had grown used to her meeting him and had assumed she was running late.  He only started to worry when she didn't make it and he had to abandon their spot at the gate and head to the classroom without her.  He was relieved to see her come in, but her distraction all morning had only awoken fresh worries.

Sakura knew Syaoran would be the one to volunteer. Normally that would make her happy, but right now she didn't want to be alone with him. She stood up and follow him to the nurses's office. As they were walking he asked about this morning. That took her by surprised. She thought he would ask about happened during the game. 

"My alarm clock's battery died," she replied using the same excuse. "Toya ended up waking me up because Kero was still asleep. He probably was up late reading comics again." She hoped he bought her lie.

Syaoran nodded, accepting her answer.  Accidents happen, after all.  There was just as much chance that her being late was not connected to her distraction as there was for the connection.  His mind moved to the soccer ball incident that had just happened as the next logical question.

"So, what about the soccer ball?  You seem distracted this morning."  He asked, hoping she would answer truthfully.  He knew how Sakura could be when she didn't want to worry others, but he was worried something more than just Sakura being late and getting hit with a soccer ball could have happened.

Sakura wished Sayoran would stop asking her questions. She was worried that she would end up telling him about her punishment. She hasn't fully decided to ask for help yet. She needed more time to think things through. 

"I'm just a bit frazzled," she replied. "Coming to school late just threw me off that's all." Sakura then saw the nurse's office. She was glad they made it before Syaoran could ask anymore questions. She just hoped he bought her answer about the soccer ball incident.

Sakura opened the door the nurse's office and they walked inside. The nurse greeted them and Sakura told her about what happened. The nurse had her take a seat and she took a look at her head. Everything seem to be fine and the nurse asked her if she had a headache. Sakura explained that her head her slightly and the nurse gave her some medicine. She then told Sakura if the pain didn't go to way to come back and see her. Sakura and Syaoran then made their way back to class.

Syaoran followed her quietly back to class.  He wasn't sure he believed her.  He was already on edge after sensing that powerful presence the week before, so the small change actions was enough to raise a red flag.  Unfortunately, he had no reason to question her further.  He didn't want to give her the impression he didn't trust her.

"So, do you have any plans for tonight?" he asked, deciding a subject change was in order.  They were almost back to the classroom.

Sakura was relieved that Syaoran wasn't going to ask her anymore the questions. The idea of hanging out with him sounded nice actually. It would allow her relax and to clear her mind. She just smiled at him.

"I'm free," she answered. "Do you have something in mind?" Then the two of them made it back outside to the soccer field. Gym class was wrapping up.

Syaoran thought for a moment as the students on the field finished their play and headed towards the gym teacher for the end of class.  He stopped a little ways away from the field so they could finish their conversation.  The teacher hadn't noticed them yet.  "Not really.  Just doing homework and hanging out.  Wei's going to run errands, so we could order pizza."

The teacher's voice rang over the voices of the students nearby, announcing what they would be doing the next class.  Syaoran glanced toward the class, making sure the teacher still hadn't noticed them.  He then turned back to Sakura to wait for an answer.

Doing at homework at Syaoran's place alone? That sounded wonderful and would help her to calm down. Sakura couldn't help, but to smile at him.

"Sounds good," she replied. "We could go straight to your place after school. I'll just have to text my dad about it so he knows that I won't be home for dinner."

Syaoran nodded, a small smile on his face.  "Sounds good."

They rejoined the group of students just as they were being dismissed to their next class.  The teacher nodded to them, seeming glad that Sakura wasn't hurt, before telling them what they would be doing next class and motioning them on their way.

The rest of the day moved slowly as Syaoran watched Sakura for other strange behavior.  She was definitely acting less cheerful than usual, and her strange behavior continued even as they headed towards his apartment.  She walked a little slower without the bounce in her step, and she didn't reach for his hand like she had many times since he had returned to Japan.  Something had to have happened on her way to school but she hadn't told him yet, and he was pretty sure she would not tell him.  That thought worried him even more.

They reached his apartment and set up their homework in the living room.  Then Syaoran prepared some tea, setting the cups on the coffee table.  "Which subject would you like to start with?"

Sakura sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. She was in a slight daze and didn't hear Syaoran's question. The events from the morning were still on her mind. She wished that right now this was all a dream and she would wake up any moment. Sakura then heard the tea cups being placed down on the table and snapped back into reality. She realized that he was talking to her. She had a feeling that it might have something to do with their homework. So she grabbed her school bag and pulled out their math book. They had twenty problems to solve so why not get it out the way first? Sakura still wasn't a big fan of math despite getting better at it. 

"Is it okay that we get our math homework out of the way first?" she asked him. Sakura wasn't quite sure how he felt about math. She hoped he was good at it like Tomoyo.

Syaoran waited for her to answer his question as he sat down. It normally wouldn't have taken so long for her to answer.  Yet another sign that something was going on.  He nodded when she suggested math.  It wasn't his favorite subject, but he wasn't terrible at it.  The pressure from his mother to succeed in all subjects was enough to keep his grades up for the most part.  Showing her bad grades only got him extra studying, after all.

"Alright.  How about we split up the problems and then go over them? We should be able to get them done faster that way."

He opened the book, signing and dating a piece of paper as he awaited her answer.

"Sounds good," replied Sakura and she opened up her book and got a sheet of paper. She started on the second half of the problems while Sayoran started on the first half. It took them about thirty minutes to finished their math homework. There were a few problems that threw them both off, but they were able to figure it out together. They then both decided to start on their English homework seeing how that was that was a difficult subject too. As they were going over their drills a phone started to ring.

"Is that your house phone?" She asked him looking around to see where it was coming from.

Syaoran was quiet as the phone started ringing.  "Yeah.."  


Oh crap! I forgot... he thought as he stood.  He crossed the room to the phone, sitting on the half wall between the living room and the kitchen.  There were only a select few that had his apartment phone number, save for the random telemarketer: Meiling and his mother.

He looked at the caller ID on the phone before picking it up.  Hong Kong, China.  That ruled out the telemarketer.  His automatically switched to Chinese as he answered the phone, hoping it was Meiling.  It wasn't.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Syaoran," the woman answered.  It was his mother.  He hadn't checked in with her since he arrived in Japan, which already violated the conditions for his returning to Japan in the first place.

"Hello, mother.  How are you doing?" He asked. Maybe easing into the conversation would keep her from bringing up his error.

"I'm doing well.  Thank you for asking," she answered. Syaoran relaxed a little but only momentarily as she continued, "I would like to know how your training and studies are going now that you've been in Japan for a week.  You were supposed to call me on Saturday."

Syaoran bit his lip. Despite wanting to stay in Japan, he had slipped in the training schedule she had laid out for him.  He didn't train at all the first morning... and then there were the nights he hanged out with Sakura...  He tapped his finger on the counter, trying to add up how many training sessions he had skipped.  And that didn't even include his lack of training with his magic ever since he got to Japan...  His family could train with magic quite openly in Hong Kong because of all the land they owned, but he couldn't just go outside and train in Japan.  He needed a secluded spot to keep from being seen, barring any magical happenings like when the Clow Cards were loose.  And even then, secrecy was important.

Apparently, he was quiet for too long.  "Am I to assume your silence means you've made little to no progress?" she asked disapprovingly.

"No!" he answered, a little too quickly, before clearing his throat and elaborating, "I mean.. I have been training. I do my martial arts training every morning, and I've been keeping up with my studies..."  He trailed off.  He had a hard time lying to his mother.  She had a commanding aura to her, and she was good at telling when he wasn't being truthful.

"Please, tell me what you've studied in ancient magic so far. I want to make sure you're keeping up."

"I..."  Ancient magic...  He skipped that part of his mother's study regime; one, because it required actually using his magic (which he had nowhere to practice at this point), and two, because the reading was incredibly boring.  He had enough schoolwork without worrying about the extra "homework" his mother had assigned to him.

"We made a deal, Syaoran.  I let you return to Japan.  You have to continue training and studying what I've given you," she said, tired of waiting for his answer.

"It's only been a week!  I had to settle in, and I've been busy.  You can't expect me to keep up with every single thing, and you're never this harsh with Fuutie, Shiefa, Fanren, or Feimei!" he snapped before a small gasp escaped his lips.  It was incredibly rude and unacceptable to yell at his mother in his family, and questioning how she treated him compared to his sisters was even worse. 

The silence on the other end of the phone was painful.  He could almost see her withdrawing him from school right this instant and having Wei drag him back to Hong Kong to be punished for his insubordination.  She answered strangely calmly, however, surprising him.  

"Your sisters have learned what I asked of them.  You are expected to do the same.  Plus, you had no problems keeping up with your duties when I sent you to Japan the first time.  Perhaps you've been distracted more than busy?  You're confirming my worries that being closer to Sakura will keep you from your training."

"Sakura has nothing to do with it!" he answered, remembering too late that Sakura was in his apartment and would have no clue why her name was coming up.  He wouldn't be too thrilled to tell her, either...  "I'm just getting used to Japanese school again.  Plus, I haven't found a good place to practice my magic yet, so ancient magic isn't something I can study right now."

His mother sighed before completely changing the subject, "Has anything strange happened while you were there?"

The fact that she derailed her own conversation threw him off, and it took a moment for him to answer, "No...  Should I be expecting something?"

"No.  Probably not," she answered in a way that guaranteed he would not get a single answer from her.  She continued a moment later, "Just find a place to train your magic and get back on schedule.  I want a full report from you next week."

"Yes, mother," he answered.

"Good.  I'll talk to you next Saturday."

"Right.  Good bye."  He waited for his mother to answer before hanging up the phone, muttering a few curses in Chinese when he was sure the phone was back on the hook.  Of all the times she could have call, it had to be when he had Sakura over.

He sighed and headed back into the living room, collapsing into the couch cushions.  "Sorry about that.."

Sakura remained still while Syaoran talked on the phone. She noticed that he started talking in Chinese all of the sudden.Then it dawn on her. He must be talking on the phone to his mother? The only time she heard him speak in Chinese was, when she was at his house in Hong Kong. Although it could be Meling? They probably talked in their native language when they were alone. Then his tone of voice changed. It must be his mother...

She looked down at her homework and wondered what they were talking about. Syaroan sounded angry about something. She then heard her name being brought up and her eyes widen. They were talking about his training. He has only been back for a week and she was already getting in the way. She bit her lip. There was no way she could tell him about her punishment now. 

Syaoran rejoined her and collapsed on the couch. Sakura didn't look up at him. "It's fine.."

Syaoran frowned when she didn't look up.  Had she realized what his conversation was about?  He hoped not.  It wasn't Sakura's fault his mother was so strict with him.  His mother was always that way when it came to his training.

He sat up from leaning against the cushions and slowly reached his arm around her.  "You ok?" he asked.  He didn't want her to feel responsible for whatever she thought his conversation was about.  He could hit himself for saying her name out loud during such a heated conversation.

When Syaoran wrapped his arm around her, Sakura leaned into him. She wanted to burst out saying it was all her fault for being a distraction, but she didn't wanted to upset him. She gave him the best smile she could. Sakura hated that she couldn't hide her feelings very well. The curse of being too cheerful. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "Shall we got back to our drills?" Sakura hoped this indicated to him that she didn't want to talk. She was worried she would ended telling him everything.

Syaoran gave her a concerned look, fighting with himself on whether or not he should try to push the conversation.  It wasn't right that his relationship with his mother was hurting her, but pushing the subject could make Sakura feel worse.  After all, he would have to tell her every part of his conversation with his mother if he wanted to truly talk about it.

He sighed, mentally dropping the conversation.  Maybe they could talk about it some other time.  "Yeah.  Let's finish our English drills.  Then we can order pizza and finish the rest of our homework."

"Sounds good," Sakura replied in relief. She was glad he dropped it. She broke from his gripped and grabbed their English text book from the coffee table. After they went through their drills, Syaoran went off to go order their dinner. Sakura cleared off the coffee table and sat down back down on the couch. Syaoran returned and joined her on the couch. They decided to watch some TV while they wait for their pizza. Sakura sat close to him trying to enjoy their time alone. She couldn't help, but think about his conversion with his mother. 

When dinner arrived, they continued to watch TV as they ate. They found a really old movie to watch and were poking fun at it. This allowed Sakura to relaxed a bit and enjoyed herself. After they finished eating, they continued to watch the movie forgetting about homework. It was a long movie and neither of them noticed how late it was getting. When the movie finished, they went back to their homework. 

Around nine o clock Sakura was going through her bag looking for her pencil sharpener. They were working on their Kanji homework and the tip of Sakura's pencil broke off. As she was going through her bag, she noticed a red light.  It was coming from the bracelet that Apollo gave her. Sakura let out a groan in her thoughts. Why now? She looked over at the clock on the wall and saw how late it was getting. She could used this as an excuse to leave. 

"Syaoran, it's getting late," she spoke looking back at him. "I told my dad I would be home before ten." She got up from the couch and gather her things. She then bid him farewell and went out the front door. She hoped her sudden departure didn't set him off. Once outside, Sakura pulled the bracelet out from her bag and strapped it onto her wrist. She then made a run for it glancing at the bracelet waiting for it tell her where the spirit was located.

Syaoran looked at the clock as Sakura mentioned the time.  There was still an hour until 10, and he knew it wouldn't take her that long to get home from his apartment.  He filed the thought under his list of potentially strange behaviors but didn't think as much of it.  Maybe she wanted to be home for more reasons than just curfew.  It's not like he expected to know where she was 24/7. 

It was dark, though, and he worried about her walking home alone. Japan was a relatively safe country (proven by how often they wandered around at night when they were kids), but there was always the chance of one malicious person deciding to pick up a lone teenage girl.  He doubted Sakura would use her magic against someone who had no clue of its existence.

He was about to suggest walking with her, but she didn't give him the chance before saying goodbye and hurrying out the front door.  He rushed to the front door and opened it to call to her, but she was already gone.  

Worry and suspicion filled him.  Sakura was quick to run off when magic was involved, but he didn't sense any magic so that was unlikely to be it...  He shook his head.  He had to be overreacting.  Maybe she just forgot she had to do something before bed.  He would text her in an hour to make sure she made it home ok, and then he would see her in the morning.

The bracelet started to flash when Sakura got toward the shopping district. She slid into an alleyway throwing her school bag to ground and got out her magical key. Then her magic circle appeared below her as Sakura begun to chant. "The Key which hides powers of the Stars! Show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract! Release!" A gust a wind surrounded her and the magical key transformed into her star wand. She grabbed it and her magic circle disappeared. 

Sakura tighten her grip on her wand, when she heard yelling coming from the streets of the shopping district. There were still people out shopping. She poke her head out from the alleyway and saw a shop keeper looking at his front window. It was smashed and glass was everywhere on the ground. In front of him Sakura noticed a fox like creature standing there. She cocked her head. Did the man not see the fox? 

"What happened?" asked a bystander who was walking past the shop. 

The shop owner looked back at the other man. "My window got smashed somehow. I was in the backroom and didn't see who caused it."

"Hmm teenagers?" The other man suggested. As the two men talked the fox creature ran past them a smashed another shop's front window from across the street. The men ducked from cover and were joined by that store's shop owner. All three of them were clueless. Sakura gasped. The fox was the spirit and they couldn't see it!

Sakura moved back into the alleyway and lean against the wall. She needed to get the spirit away from those stores. But how? She then heard her phone buzzing from her bag. She picked up her bag and pulled the phone out of her pocket. It was a text message from her brother wondering where she was. She let out a sigh. Of course he would want her home before ten. She wished her brother trusted her like their father. She replied saying she was on her way. She then placed her phone into her pocket and pulled out her deck of cards from her other pocket. She grabbed one out and threw into the air.

"Right now I need another me," she spoke as her magic circle appeared below her. She then struck the card with her wand. "MIRROR!!" A giant mirror appeared and a long hair girl came out of it transforming into a Sakura look alike. She opened her eyes and smiled at her master. "I need you to go home and cover for me. Also don't tell Kero about these Evil Spirits. Just say I'm still doing homework at Syaoran's and I didn't want my brother to come after me." 

The card nodded her head. "Um, master wouldn't I need a school bag to fool your family?"

"Oh, right." Sakura then pulled out the Create Card and used it to make her fake bag. "That should do it. Be sure the leave the bedroom window open for me so I can sneak back into my room."

"Of course," Mirror spoke. "Please be careful. We believe in you." She smiled at her master and Sakura returned it. Hearing that meant a lot to Sakura. Mirror then hurried to Sakura's house.

Sakura then pulled out another card and tossed it into the air and struck it with her wand. "SLEEP!!" A blue fairy appeared and rushed off to the street. She sprinkled her magic dust on the people and they fell to the ground asleep. The evil spirit stood there and tensed up when Sakura appeared before it.

"Stop right there!" Sakura yelled at it. The spirit then made a run for it. Sakura chased after it and used the Windy Card to try bring it to her, but it broke free from the card's chain of wind. It then leaped up on a building. Sakura summoned the Jump Card and joined it on the roof tops. The chase continued all the way to the Penguin Park. Sakura quickly pulled out the Wood Card and caught the spirit in Wood's vines.

"Yes!" Sakura cheered. She was starting to feel confident about all this. She pulled out a blank card and then froze. It dawn on her no one told her how to seal an Evil Spirit. All she knew was that you needed a physical object. The evil spirit took this moment to turn into a small creature to escape the vines and then it disappeared. Sakura then glanced at her bracelet and it stopped glowing. She let out a heavy sigh. Her new found confidence disappeared. Suddenly she heard her phone buzzing. She pulled out it and saw it was Syaoran asking her if she got home alright. She replied yes and said see ya at school. Sakura returned her phone to her pocket and went go to retrieve her school bag. 


Sakura returned home using the Fly Card. She was exhausted. It has been so long since she used so much magic in one day. Mirror left her bedroom window opened and she crawled in. It was a bit more difficult seeing how she was not a child anymore. She greeted Kero and Mirror and got into her PJs.

"Had a lot of homework?" he asked her. 

"Yes," replied Sakura. She glad he bought the lie. "Thanks for covering for me Mirror." The card just smiled and returned back to her card. Sakura then crawled into bed and Kero turned the lights off for her. She told him goodnight and was out like a light.

Eriol sat in his office, a small half orb of magic resting on his desk.  It displayed Sakura's encounter with the first spirit. Unbeknownst to Sakura and the Council, he had placed a weak alert spell on the bracelet while telling her about Clare and Clow's history.  A combination of the magic being weak enough to hide and Sakura's distraction from her sentence and the information he was giving her kept her from sensing the spell being placed.  Apollo ordered him not to help her capture spirits, but that didn't mean he wouldn't keep an eye on her fights.  He was willing to take whatever punishment the Council may give if he felt an absolute need to interfere.

Eriol frowned as he watched the fight between Sakura and the fox spirit. Of all the things he could have forgotten to tell her during her time here, he had left out the sealing spell.  Thank goodness the first spirit she confronted was on par with Dash or one of the other less offensively powerful Clow Cards.  She would have been screwed had she attacked a more powerful opponent.

He pulled a book from the shelf near his desk and opened it, flipping through the pages to find the spell.  Then he took a piece of scrap paper and wrote a quick note to Sakura apologizing for the oversight and providing the spell she needed to seal the spirits.  Finally, he folded the paper and held it in his hand as he muttered a transportation spell, sending the paper across dimensions to land inside her bag where she was sure to find it in the morning.





Wei gave him a sympathetic look. "I see.  Do you think your mother's actions were unreasonable?" he asked gently. There was no judgement in his voice, just a willingness to talk through the issue.

Syaoran shrugged, pushing a piece of food onto one side of his plate as briefly thought about eating it.  "I think it's reasonable for her to want updates... but I think her expectations are too high. She gives me so many areas to train in and expects me to be a master in all of them.  I only have so much time in the day, and I don't want every moment of my spare time consumed by training and studying. It was fine when I was a kid and didn't have any friends other than Meiling, but now... I just want some spare time to hang out with Sakura and the others."

Wei nodded.  "You have a right to feel that way.  Your mother has always been strict with you, and I often wondered if her actions were making it hard for you to get close to other people.  You don't know how happy I was when we came here and you were able to relax and open up a bit with people.

But you have to understand something about your mother.  She's hard on you because she cares a lot about you.  You are her only son, and she had to raise you all alone after your father's death. She wants to be sure you'll be ready when the time comes for you to take over the family, and I'm not sure she knows the best way to prepare you.  The Li Clan is very powerful and has powerful rivals. She just wants to be sure you'll be ok."

Syaoran bit his lip as Wei finished. "I know she cares and wants me to be prepared, but there is no way I can live up to her expectations. She's tremendously powerful.  I don't have that much power, and I really don't want to be head of the family anyway."

Wei frowned, "Why do you think you don't have that much power?  You're still young.  You just need to continue practicing."  He graciously did not touch Syaoran's lack of interest in being head of the family.

"It just feels that way since I never meet her expectations."

"Don't let her actions get to you. You just have to remember, her expectations are higher than anyone can meet."

Syaoran was quiet for a moment, glancing at the clock.  He needed to get going. "You're right.  I just need to find a place to practice my magic, and I'll be fine."

Wei smiled, "I find you a place to practice while you're at school.  You should probably get going."

Syaoran nodded, "Thanks, Wei. I'll see you tonight." With that, he abandoned his uneaten food, grabbed his bag, and headed to school.

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

Sakura sat up in bed hearing her alarm clock going off. She rolled out of bed and shut it off. She then quickly started to get ready for school. Kero opened up his drawer and watched his master getting ready. He frowned slightly. Sakura was acting like she was late for school, but she had plenty of time. 

"Sakura," he spoke up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," his master replied. She was brushing her hair in front of her mirror. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason."

Sakura shrugged it off and grabbed her school bag off her desk. She then bid Kero farewell and hurried off. The reason she for being in such a rush was she wanted to make sure she got to the school's front gate in time. She wanted to show Syaoran that there was nothing wrong with her. She had to make him stop worrying about her. It will only distract him from his studies. She went downstairs and grabbed her already made lunch and an apple for breakfast. She would eat along her way to school. 

She nearly ran to school and saw that she made it just in time. No sight of Syaoran. She fixed her hair and leaned against the gate. Sakura took a deep breath and told herself that she had to be cheerful today.

Syaoran ran the last mile to school.  His conversation with Wei had been welcome and needed, but it had stretched a little too long for him to make it at a nice walk before the bell rang.  Relief shot through him as he made it to the gate, both because he was on time and because Sakura was waiting for him.

"Morning," he gasped out as he stopped to catch his breath.  He was in good physical condition thanks to his constant training, but running an entire mile was still tiring this early in the morning.