The soft light coming from the window sifted through the hair covering her face. Sakura got up yawning and searched for her phone under the pillow. She checked the time and gingerly kept her feet down the sofa.
After using up much of her powers last night, she had a sound sleep. Syaoran said he didn't mind if she shared the bed with him, but she refused thinking it would unnecessarily complicate things, so she slept in the living room.
"Do you have work today?" Syaoran asked as he rested at the kitchen door drinking tea.
Sakura arranged her hair quickly and turned to him.
"You woke up already?"
"Yeah it's 8."
"No I don't have work but I have to go help Yukito." Sakura answered.
Syaoran looked at her uniform that he had brought from the drier outside, and blushed. He quickly turned around without saying anything.
"Breakfast is ready." He called from the other room.
--
"So... do you know why your powers went away?" Sakura asked as she bit into the perfectly crisp toast.
"No... I don't know." The sound of ceramic rung against the metal fork as he focused on eating the bacon in his plate.
"Do you know how to get them back?"
"I'm not sure, but I think the cards can help. The day I was attacked by windy was the last day I could use any magic at all." He answered. He had to go meet a client in the afternoon so he was dressed in his formal shirt and pants.
"So you didn't want to steal them from me?"
Syaoran paused for a while. He wasn't sure about how to answer that.
"No" he answered half-heartedly.
"Did you find out who that woman was?"
-
Music:
https://youtu.be/cFQLWVl6-ws
-
Syaoran shook his head to a no.
"This might sound strange... but... I feel like... I've heard that voice before." Sakura looked at the glint on her poached egg.
"You've heard it before? Was it like Ruby Moon's? Or Miss Mizuki's?" He asked her with suspicion.
"It could... Although... it sounded like... one of our friends."
"Do you mean from school?"
Sakura nodded. "I'm very sure I've heard that voice long time back... But why would any of them know about the cards?"
"I never sensed any magic around them... She told me 'they' would get to your cards and cause you some harm. Did something happen after that incident?"
Sakura thought for a while. "After that incident... I was so scared, I asked Yue to take away my cards and keep them in a safe place. He sealed them in a void he created, and Kero went into the book to protect them. Only recently did I get them back."
"So whoever this 'they' was couldn't get to your cards because they were with Yue?" Syaoran inferred.
Sakura nodded. "But... who are these people who are after my cards? How did she come to know about this? It seems like... She means well..."
Syaoran bent back on his chair and crossed his arms. "If the cards avoided what was going to happen, she might have wanted to help. But why wouldn't she tell me who she is? Did Hiragizawa know about this? Or was it only mother who sensed that something bad will happen... And that woman."
"Did she call you again after that?" Sakura asked.
"No. She didn't."
"Then it's good I guess?"
"I guess... Have you been able to control your powers?" Syaoran asked as he got up from the chair and went upto the sink to keep his plate. The water from the tap sizzled onto the plate.
"Well... Yesterday was the first time I used them after I got them back from Yue. I got more exhausted than usual that's all. They're not randomly going out of control either, but I'm keeping a close watch just to be safe." Sakura went upto Syaoran who was leaning against the sink and kept her plate under he running water.
He picked up the tie he had tossed on the table and started tying it. Sakura looked at him as his careful fingers crossed the silk in calculated loose knots. He was always so meticulous with everything.
"Syaoran... Do you miss using your magic?" Sakura asked as he was busy perfecting the size of the tie.
-
https://youtu.be/BU07jriFemg
-
"It is my duty to protect my family. With or without magic." He spoke firmly.
"But do you miss it? Being a Cardcaptor?" Sakura asked softly. He paused to look at her, not sure how to answer her.
"Sometimes I think about how it used to be. How we made a great team." He answered. Sakura noticed that his collar looked slightly disproportionate. She walked up to him, extended her arm and arranged it.
"I miss it a lot... I miss that exciting life, where there was so much to explore... I miss using my magic to help people... Most of all... I miss all of us being together." She confessed and slowly pulled down her hands.
He looked at Sakura's face which wasn't looking back at him. He knew exactly what this tone in her voice meant. It was the same expression she had when they had stopped by the park in school and she told him that she had confessed to Yukito.
He placed his hand on her head and pulled her head to his chest. Sakura could smell the cologne from his shirt which she recognised from the night he stayed over at her place.
"I miss that too..." he whispered.
Sakura sighed as she nuzzled her face into his shirt.
-
The sun had already travelled across half the sky, and it's blinding light shone straight through the windows. Syaoran and Sakura walked out of the elevator chatting about how the weather had changed in Tomoeda since they were little. As they walked out of the glass windows onto the busy street, a man watched them from the shadows.
As Sakura faced Syaoran to tell him goodbye, suddenly a hand grasped her arm tightly and pulled her away from him.
"Is that him?" The man asked vindictively.
"Shiro?"