Hi! I'm absolutely positive that no one here still remembers me ^^* I wrote the
E+T fanfic "Tale as Old as Time". This is my first S+S fanfic in over a year, my first fanfic
in more than half a year altogether, and I'm a bit rusty, so please be nice. It's my
Christmas contribution to the CCS fan world ^_^ A CCS remake of the popular Christmas play/story
"The Nutcracker", by E.T. Hoffman. I saw the play just last weekend, and fell completely
in love with it, so how could I NOT write this? And I hope it's original -- I don't think anyone
else has done this yet, but I haven't been online for a while. This is definetly an AU fic. It's mostly
based on both the play and a tiny bit on the movie, along with some other things I have added
myself. The characters WILL be a bit different -- this takes place in the nineteenth century,
and things were definetly different back then, and I had to change a few other things to make
CCS fit into "The Nutcracker" plot a bit better. But I think that I did an okay job managing to
keep them as close to their canon personalities as is possible. So I really hope you enjoy!
Tell me what you think, okay? Oh, and also, Merry Christmas everyone! =)
Disclaimer: *whimpers* I don't own Card Captor Sakura, or any of its characters, I
simply borrowed them. They belong to Clamp. And I also don't own the
fantastic story of "The Nutcracker" by E.T. Hoffman -- really, really, really
wish I did, but what can you do? *sighs* ^~
OF PRINCES AND NUTCRACKERS
Act 1.
Tomoeda, Japan, 1892
"Kaijuu!"
Her big brother's voice rang through the crowded and snow-covered streets.
Nine year old Sakura Kinomoto glanced up, startled to see her father and brother
drifting away through the throngs of people. She ran to catch up with them and
tapped Touya-niichan on the shoulder. "I'm here, Touya! And PLEASE stop calling
me a monster."
"If you wish, monster," Touya replied in his flippant way, tugging on one of her
auburn-gold curls.
"Father, make him stop!"
"Touya, Sakura, come along," Fujitaka ordered gently, propelling them through
the streets toward another Christmas shop. "You know how much your aunt wants
us to get to her party on time, and it begins in nearly an hour."
Sticking her tongue out at her annoying big brother one last time, Sakura took her
father's hand, and skipped alongside him, fascinated in watching and feeling the
swirling snowflakes dance in the December chill as they descended to the ground,
or on her new long, crimson winter coat. She did so love white Christmases - and
as today was Christmas Eve, there was no way that the snow would melt.
"Sakura-chan!"
As was usual whenever the Kinomoto family came to visit the Daidoujis, Sonomi Daidouji
made a beeline straight for her niece, squeezing her tightly as her long, mahagony brown
hair tickled the girl's nose. "Oh my, would you look at that. You are such a big girl - and
so pretty! My, you look nice tonight!" Sakura curtsied politely and beamed up at Sonomi.
"Hello, Sonomi-sama. Thank you so much for inviting me to this lovely party."
"Think nothing of it," Sonomi replied quickly, eyes widening. "How could I ever have
a Christmas party without you, Sakura-chan? And Tomoyo has been flitting about
the house all day, she shall be so excited to see you."
Sakura brightened even more at the mention of her best friend. "May I go up to see
her?" she pleaded.
"Certainly. Shall I ask one of the maids to escort you--?" Sonomi began, but Sakura
was already around the corner. Sighing and shaking her head, Sonomi turned back
to Touya, her sweet Nadeshiko's first-born child. She ushered both him and his
father into the spacious front hall, ordered one of the servants to take their coats,
and when Touya had wandered off toward the living room, where the Christmas tree
was set up, the woman turned to Fujitaka-san. Her violet-grey gaze had grown a bit
cold, yet she curtsied formally. "Kinomoto-san," she said. "I'm pleased to see you on
such a lovely evening."
Fujitaka Kinomoto bowed just as formally, a smile still on his face. "Daidouji-san, I
am just as pleased to be here. Thank you for inviting me."
Sonomi was saved from continuing the overly-strained conversation when the Yanagisawas,
their daughter Naoko, and their son Eriol arrived.
(A/N: LOL, couldn't resist ^^. Eriol and Naoko COULD pass for siblings, and they enjoy
many of the same things. Onto the story.)
As for Sakura, it turned out that she didn't even need to climb up to her friend Tomoyo-
chan's bedroom. As she turned the corner, prepared to dash up the carpeted, winding
staircase which led to the second floor, a streak of dark red and violet appeared at the
landing, which quickly turned out to be the young Daidouji mistress. Her pale face lit up
at the sight of the curly-haired girl below her. "Sakura-chan," she squealed, running down
the rest of the steps and taking her best friend's hands. "Oh, you DO look lovely tonight!"
"You do too, Tomoyo," Sakura replied, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "This
is going to be such a wonderful party. I can hardly wait! I heard the bell ring again --
perhaps one of our schoolmates is here. Let's go see."
Tomoyo laughed and held back her friend. "Do wait, Sakura-chan, your bow is slightly
misplaced." Holding the girl straight, she quickly pulled the bow which held up Sakura's
mid-back-length cinnamon curls out of her hair. Then, with quick and deft strokes, she
swept her hair back into the semi-ponytail which pulled the curls up to shoulder-length.
"There," Tomoyo sighed with satisfaction -- making her friend look extra nice was a
favourite activity of hers. "Now you look very kawaii."
Sakura blushed momentarily at Tomoyo's praise, then rolled her eyes and dragged the
purple-eyed girl to the living room by her wrist -- before she could think of getting her
sketchbook and decide to draw "Kawaii-Sakura-chan at Christmas Ball", or something
as ridiculous. Sakura knew she was thinking of it. In her opinion, however, Tomoyo-chan
was much prettier than herself.
The entire mansion was decorated nicely, but Sonomi had certainly gone all out on the
living room and the kitchen, where the party was centered. A huge, glittering Christmas
tree stood in one corner, with a sea of wrapped gifts around it which just screamed to
be opened. Daidouji-sama informed all the people gathered that there was one gift under
the tree for each guest. The Daiodoujis were always so gracious.
Almost everyone who'd been invited was already there, and the party was well underway.
All the children from the elementary school that Tomoyo and Sakura attended had already
arrived with their families, and the time was momentarily passed by talking about what
each child thought they would be getting for Christmas, and playing a few party-games
that were quite popular.
After he'd tagged Sakura, Eriol took the blindfold off of his own head and tied it around
Sakura's, making sure her eyes were properly covered. This was her favourite game,
Marco Polo, and so they were playing it in her honour, which had been Rika-chan's, Eriol-kun's
and Yamazaki-kun's idea, and was rather sweet of them. Of course, it was MUCH more fun
played in the water, but Christmas was not a time for swimming, she told herself firmly.
"Marco!"
"Polo!" The rest all screamed, then scattered throughout the room, while Sakura ran
around blindly, trying to listen for any sound from her friends. Accidentally, she slammed
into another person -- a grownup, she could tell instantly.
She lifted the blindfold hurriedly, to see whom she had bumped into -- her school teacher,
Miss Kaho-san. "I'm so sorry, Mizuki-sensei," she gasped, hurriedly getting to her feet and
dusting off her baby-blue party dress.
Miss Kaho simply smiled, smoothed the crease in her own elegant, forest green ball gown,
and leaned down toward her. "It's not a problem, Kinomoto-san -- however, I think you
might be interested to know that a certain Miss Tomoyo Daidouji and Mr. Eriol Yanagisawa
are directly across the room from you, if you continue in a straight line." Miss Kaho was
always so helpful -- and that combined with the fact that she was the prettiest lady the
children had ever seen was what triggered Eriol Yanagisawa-kun's not-at-all-very-secret
adoration for their teacher. They did so love to tease him about it dreadfully.
Sakura grinned at her favourite teacher, and Mizuki-san retied the blindfold around her
emerald eyes, before sending the young girl off.
Not far from them, Fujitaka-san was talking amiably with the Miharas and Sakura and
Tomoyo's Grandfather, while Sonomi spoke with Touya's best friend from school, Yukito
Tsukishiro -- the only child Sakura knew who was most like a grownup, although Tomoyo
and Eriol could come close. Near the bay window, Touya himself seemed to be having a very
boring conversation with one of the girls from his school, Nakuru Akizuki. At least, Touya
looked bored; Nakuru seemed as if she were trying to get him to court her -- again.
Sakura, her sight once again impaired, headed straight for the direction that Miss Kaho had
pointed her in. Around her, she heard the background music getting louder -- that meant
the dancing had started, she could hear the rustle of women's skirts as they curtsied and
swept about, as well as the scuffle of the men's shoes on the polished floor. She was willing
to bargain all of her favourite stuffed animals that Kaho-sensei had been the first asked to
dance; she was, after all, the belle of the ball. As usual.
This also meant that Yamazaki-kun and Rika-chan were surely not playing anymore; they
both adored dancing at the parties alongside the adults. They were also best at it --
they both took the same dance lessons.
The curly-haired girl kept to the side of the room as much as she could with her eyes closed,
not wanting to get in anybody's way. She was just about to take the blindfold off, tired of
the game, when she slammed into yet another person.
"Oh, not again!" she wailed softly from her position on the floor, hastening to untie the piece
of cloth around her eyes. At least, this person hadn't felt like an adult -- maybe now she
could pass the blindfold along.
Shaking her head briefly, her eyes travelled up to the person she had knocked into, and she
froze. Well, it wasn't one of the grownups, but it wasn't one of her friends, either.
An unfamiliar dark-haired boy with chocolate-coloured eyes was staring down at her in surprise,
as if she came from another planet. He was dressed up in a suit, and looked very nice just like
everyone else at the party -- but Sakura was positive that she had never seen this boy before
in her life, and couldn't remember Tomoyo mentioning another cousin arriving at the ball. He
looked a bit disgruntled, as if he didn't want to be here at all.
"Hello," she attempted conversation, getting to her feet. "Are you new around here? I haven't
ever seen you before."
The boy stared at her a minute longer, scrutinizing her -- Sakura fought the urge to look away
from his probing gaze. It WAS rather hard; his eyes seemed to drill right into her, which was
rather strange. She had never met a child who was this...well, focused.
"I don't live here," he finally responded quietly.
"Oh!" exclaimed Sakura. "Then you must be one of Tomoyo's cousins, right? I'm very pleased to
meet you, Tomoyo's my best friend." She curtsied quickly.
He raised an eyebrow. "Tomoyo...?"
"Tomoyo Daidouji-chan," said Sakura, glancing around the room for the violet-haired girl clad
in wine-red. She spotted her across the room, huddled with the other children and looking
rather fearful. They, along with the other guests, were staring in half-curiousity, half-fright,
at a tall, pale man in a dark suit complete with a sweeping navy-black cloak and top-hat.
His outfit, along with his dark-blue hair which was held back in a ponytail, accented
his elegant, pale face all the more. There was a little girl next to him, about Sakura's own
age, also dressed up for the party in a forest-green dress and her raven hair pulled up into
pigtails. She searched the room, and when her eyes landed on the boy next to Sakura, they
lit up and she waved him over.
The boy went without another word, and Sakura crept over to the others, her eyes still fixed
on the tall man. "Who is he?" she wondered.
"Mother invited him," Tomoyo informed her. "Clow Reed-sama. He's a magician, all the way from
England."
"Wow!" Sakura's eyes went about two sizes larger -- she adored magic shows more than
anything.
Sonomi Daidouji stepped forward with her welcoming-hostess smile in place. "Reed-san. So
pleased you were able to make it."
The man who was Clow Reed bowed to her gracefully with a calm smile that rather reminded
Sakura of her father. "It is a pleasure to be here, Daidouji-san. Allow me to introduce my
niece, Li Meiling-san, and...ah, there you are Xiao-Lang. This is my nephew, Li Xiao-Lang.
Both from China." Meiling and Xiao-Lang both curtsied or bowed on cue.
Sonomi beamed at them. "You are most welcome here, Li-chan and Li-kun. The other children
are right over here -- shall I introduce them to you?"
Sakura saw Meiling shake her head quickly -- she supposed the girl was just shy. That was
alright -- Sakura was a bit nervous of newcomers as well, though she almost never showed it.
"Actually, Daidouji-sama, Meiling and Xiao-Lang are to help me with my magic show," Clow Reed
explained, patting Meiling on the head briefly, to which she made a face. "Shall I begin it now?"
"Oh, would you?" Sonomi asked eagerly. "I'm sure everyone here is most excited." Indeed, a
circle had formed around the apparent magician and his niece and nephew, who were looking
around rather warily.
"Now, now, give me some space," Clow insisted, stepping back from the two children and
gesturing the rest of the crowd to spread out a bit.
Then he marched up to a woman in the crowd-- Sakura recognized her as one of Father's
fellow professors-- and before anyone could blink, pulled a bouquet of flowers out of her
ear. The crowd clapped appreciatively, before the bouquet suddenly exploded into a dazzling
shower of red, golden, green and silver stars. The applause became much more enthusiastic.
"You SHOULD know that Clow-sama never does things halfway," a voice piped from nearby.
Sakura turned in surprise to see the raven-haired Chinese girl standing a few feet away,
watching Clow Reed's magic display with the air of one who already knew what was about to
happen. Next to her stood her cousin, the boy Sakura had been speaking to earlier. Xiao-Lang..
that was his name, she remembered, smiling at him. He did not smile back.
She was curious as to what "Xiao-Lang" meant -- it didn't seem like a very common name.
The other children began speaking quietly to the two new children, while watching the show
at the same time. Meiling replied politely to all their questions, every inch the picture of proper
feminine ettiquette, even if she did seem a bit haughty at times. Xiao-Lang was much more
removed and stoic, letting Meiling do much of the talking. The two were incredibly close. It
was comfortable, however, for all of them just to sit and watch Clow Reed pull animals out of
teacups, turn long sticks into umbrellas, and make large dolls seem to come to life -- they were
all especially intrigued with this.
Clow Reed-san clapped his hands, calling the attention of anyone who hadn't been watching
him previously. "And now, if the children could please come up?" he asked with a kindhearted
smile which all of the elementary students trusted immediately. They ran up to him.
With what seemed to be only a wave of his hands, the previously life-sized toys suddenly
shrunk back to normal size. "For being such a captivated audience, you may each choose
one toy to keep as a Christmas present," he told them, pointing to the table where all the
toys had fallen.
There was an outcry of delighted squeals and cheers as the children rushed to the table; the
only ones who held back were Xiao-Lang and Meiling.
Sakura reached out, about to select a baby blue teddy bear which matched her dress and
was nearly identical to the one Tomoyo had just chosen. A pale hand suddenly took hers
gently, and she turned to look into Clow Reed's eyes, which were smiling back at her.
"I have the perfect toy for you, Sakura-san," he told her, pulling a doll out from behind his
back."
Sakura tilted her head to the side, wondering how on earth he had known her name, when
she suddenly focused on the doll in his arms.
It was a toy soldier, as big as one of her stuffed animals. He was dressed in a fine suit, with
a shiny red coat which had golden buttons, and smart dark pants and dark shoes. The only
thing that seemed slightly out of place was the tiny pendant that hung around his neck; it
looked like a crystal falcon's claw, only with wings attached to it. However, in Sakura's opinion,
it only added to the soldier's charm. He seemed so noble.
"It's a nutcracker," Clow told her. "A very special one."
Sakura beamed. She loved it immediately.
"Oh, it's absolutely beautiful," Tomoyo exclaimed, eyeing the doll appreciatively while holding her
own new, pale-pink teddy bear.
"I have always wanted a soldier doll," Sakura replied, her eyes glowing. "It's simply unfair that Touya
got one when we were younger, but I never did."
"Honestly, Kinomoto-san, it's not a doll," Meiling broke in, rather haughtily. "It's a nutcracker."
"A...nutcracker?" Sakura's eyes widened as she stared down at the toy soldier.
"Yes," Meiling explained. "It's used to crack nuts...although you CAN use it as a toy as well, if you
wish. This one is specially from China."
"Oh, how useful," Naoko sighed. "You're very lucky, Sakura-chan."
Sakura skipped over to show Yukito-san the nutcracker she had recieved from the wonderful
Clow Reed -- she did enjoy Yukito's company.
Yukito took it from her hand and examined it. "Nutcrackers are classic toys, you know," he told
her. "This could be an antique; or at least, it shall be someday. Have fun with it." He smiled and
was about to hand it back to her, when it was suddenly snatched out of his hand.
"Touya-kun!" Sakura cried, as her brother brought the nutcracker close to his face and inspected
it. "I don't see what on earth is so special about a little wooden toy. The toy soldiers I had as a
child were much better."
"Touya, you still ARE a child," Yukito rolled his eyes. Touya ignored him.
"This doll is MUCH better than all of yours put together," Sakura told him hotly. "It can crack nuts."
"Can I use it on you, then?"
"Ha, ha, ha, very funny indeed, Touya," she replied sarcastically, even though her father and Tomoyo
had both told her multiple times that sarcasm was not becoming of a lady. "Give me back my toy."
"When I've had a look," Touya responded, walking off with the nutcracker still in his hand.
"Touya!" Sakura chased him as he took off at a run, darting easily through the crowds of people --
Touya was athletic, but so was she.
This continued on for a while, with Touya always just barely out of reach of Sakura's fingers. But
then he got distracted by something -- perhaps it was the sight of his father and Sakura's teacher
sharing a dance. Whatever it was, it caused him to slow down nearly to a stop. It also caused Sakura
to run into him from behind, knocking the nutcracker out of his hands and sending it to the floor,
where it landed with a crack.
They both stared at it, now in two pieces, the head having been removed from the rest of the doll.
Sakura bent down and picked up the two parts of the nutcracker, her eyes rapidly filling with tears.
"You broke it," she whispered, before bursting into hysterical sobbing.
Her father was at her side a few seconds later, with a few other people behind him. "Sakura-chan!
What's wrong?"
Sakura flew into Fujitaka's arms, half-blinded by the water which filled her vision. "Onii-chan broke
my new nutcracker," she wailed. "It was already my favourite Christmas present, and he broke it!"
"It was an accident," Touya protested. "She bumped into me, and made me drop it. Sakura, I--"
"It never would have happened if you hadn't stolen it in the first place!" Sakura screamed back at
him, though her words were barely coherent through the tears. "It's all your fault, and I'm never
going to speak to you, ever, ever again!" With that, she whirled around and raced out of the living
room, past her teacher and her friends and the rest of the guests, still cradling the broken pieces
of her doll.
She ran through the kitchen, and out the back door -- luckily for her, she knew the Daidouji house
almost as well as her own, since it was like a third home for her.
The garden was icy and blanketed with powdery snow, which was only natural after all. Almost
instantly she felt the biting wind nip at her skin through the thin party dress she was wearing,
and the tears on her face froze to ice, leaving her even colder. She wiped them off the best she
could.
She began wandering quickly toward the rose garden -- of course, there would be no flowers
there, except for the few that could be made to survive in the wintertime. But she told herself
firmly that she was NOT going to go back in the house until the party was over and she did not
have to see Touya, or until Touya jumped off a cliff.
Sakura then heard voices from just up ahead, speaking quietly so the words were muffled. She
had barely begun to recognize them when she stumbled upon the speakers, nearly falling over
from skidding on the ice-- she had been moving rather quickly, and the ground was extremely
slippery with ice. Clow Reed and Li Xiao-Lang whirled to look at her in startled surprise.
"I'm sorry," she apologized for what felt to be the hundredth time that night. "I did not mean to
intrude, truly--"
"Oh, not to worry dear child, you haven't intruded on anything more than a little bit of friendly
debating between Xiao-Lang and myself." Xiao Lang seemed rather embarrased by the mention
of his name. "What's wrong?" Clow suddenly asked her, noticing the tears frozen on her face.
Sakura sniffled, holding up the nutcracker with shivering hands. "My baka brother ruined it,"
she whimpered. "I'm sorry -- Li-chan said that it was probably an antique, and...and..."
"May I see it?" Clow asked gently, taking the broken doll away from her. Sakura wrung her
fingers together as he examined it, partly from the cold, partly from anxiety.
"Hmmm...well, it is rather serious," she could hear him murmur as he turned away from her.
Tears once again sprung to her eyes. "You mean you cannot fix it?"
Clow smiled at her jovially. "Oh I never said that," he pointed out. "Just wait a minute, now..."
he trailed off, turning back to the doll.
Sakura was never very sure of what happened next -- all she saw was a swift, blinding flash
of blue light, and then Reed-san was showing the nutcracker to Li-kun, who handed it back to
her. It was good as new. Sakura looked at it carefully, eyes wide -- the only mark that betrayed
what had happened to it was a tiny crack on the side of the neck.
"Thank you," she breathed, taking it gently from Xiao-Lang's hands. As she did, her cold fingers
brushed his own, which were rather warm, despite the fact that he had been outside longer than
she had. Her jade eyes darted up to meet his, and only had time to register how very chocolate-
coloured they were before she hurriedly looked away, unexplicably shy all of a sudden. There was
certainly something strange about Xiao-Lang...
Reed-san smiled at the two. "Now, be careful with that doll, Sakura-san -- it is very special, more
so than you know."
"I shall be very careful, Reed-san," Sakura assured hastily, curtsying graciously. "Thank you SO much."
"'Twas nothing, my dear," Clow laughed. "Xiao-Lang, would you please walk Sakura-san back to the
house. I don't want you two catching cold. And there are some lovely buds here that Daidouji-san
mentioned, which I simply must see."
Xiao-Lang stared at Sakura a bit longer, forcing her to keep her eyes on the ground -- his gaze
was SO intense. But then he simply offered his arm, and she took it, relieved. They turned to walk
back to the house in surprisingly companionable silence.
Sakura finally felt the need to break the quiet. "So...whereabouts in China do you come from?" she
asked quietly.
Xiao-Lang turned to her, as if surprised that she had actually spoken up. "From Hong Kong," he
replied.
"Is it nice there?" Sakura wanted to know. "Does it get cold?"
"Yes, it is rather nice there. No, it does not get cold."
Sakura blinked, taken aback by his clipped responses. "Are you shy?" she suddenly asked.
Xiao-Lang was looking at her again, in a way that made it clear he thought that she was
the strangest girl in the world. "Excuse me?"
Sakura felt herself flush, and she quickly backtracked. "I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to be
rude at all--"
"That was a rather rude question, though," Li-kun pointed out. "You are a very strange girl."
"Well, that is a rather rude thing to say yourself," she answered primly, but then allowed
herself a small smile, shaking her head and making her curls fly all over. "However, it IS true,
Father says it all the time."
The conversation slowed to a stop then, and the only thing that could be heard was the
crunching of snow beneath their feet. Sakura wracked her mind desperately for something
to talk about -- she thoroughly disliked uneasy silences, and this was the most uneasy
silence she had ever experienced.
"Li-kun...what does your name mean?" she blurted, remembering the question she had
wanted to ask since the moment Clow Reed had annouced him.
Xiao-Lang glanced at her, surprised by the rather personal question. "Why do you want to
know?"
Sakura blushed again. "Well, if it offends you, then you don't have to tell me -- I was just
curious, is all."
There was another silence, and Sakura had become certain that he wouldn't answer, when
he spoke up again at last. "Little Wolf."
"That's very interesting," she said. "But whyever did your parents choose that name for
you? I mean--" she suddenly floundered, knowing that she had come off as rude this time
for certain.
Xiao-Lang was giving her the same look he had when he'd first met her, before rolling his
eyes and apparently deigning to put up with her. Well, there was no doubt that she now
WAS the strangest girl he had ever met. No other lady would phrase her questions so
bluntly. "It is the name of a warrior," he explained shortly.
Sakura turned to him, wide-eyed. "Are you a warrior, Li-kun?"
Now there was the tiniest hint of a smirk on his face -- the closest she had seen him
come to a real smile. "Perhaps." And he said nothing more.
There was also nothing more to be said, for by that time they had reached the
house, and it didn't matter anymore. She released his arm quickly, glanced back at him and
waved shyly with a tentative smile -- he may think her extremely eccentric, but he was
rather nice for someone who seemed to wear a permanent scowl. He didn't wave or smile
back, but that was fine.
Sakura then ran back over to the other girls, eager to show them her newly repaired,
extra-special nutcracker. On the dance floor, Grandfather had asked Sonomi to dance with
him, and the spirit of it all caught everyone, and many more joined in.
"But however did he fix it?" Tomoyo wondered, examining the nutcracker from all sides.
"Magic," Naoko told her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "One can do
anything with it."
Sakura took her doll back from the mauve-eyed girl and hugged it to her tightly, not
wanting to ever let go of it. Glancing across the room, her emerald eyes landed on the
young Chinese "warrior". He was now dancing to a rather lively tune with Meiling, who
seemed to be rather enjoying himself.
Xiao-Lang --Little Wolf, she thought to herself. The name is to symbolize a warrior... a
thoughtful frown crossed her face as she looked down at her doll curiously. The frown
soon melted into a bright smile. This soldier was definetly a warrior, if nothing else.
"Therefore, your name shall be Xiao-Lang, the brave little wolf warrior," she whispered,
holding it even tighter -- mostly making this decision simply because she didn't know the
names of any other soldier or fighter.
Only she couldn't pronounce the name properly, since it was a bit foreign to her.
It came out as "Syaoran."
And so this became the nutcracker's permanent name.
The party lasted a few more hours before the crowd began to thin, sometime near midnight.
It was the latest Sakura had ever been allowed to stay up. But she and her family had been
invited to spend the night at the Daidouji Manor, since a blizzard had sprung up during the
night, and it would be dreadful to travel in this weather. Briefly, she wondered where the
magician and his niece and nephew would be staying the night, but then Miss Nakuru
Akizuki called the children over to read from a favourite book of theirs --A Christmas
Carol --, and the thought quickly slipped her mind.
Finally, all of the guests had gone, and Touya, Tomoyo and Sakura were ushered upstairs
by the maid. Sakura separated herself briefly from the others to put her nutcracker under
the Christmas tree with great care, hating to seperate with it, but soon following the others
up the stairs without it all the same. She avoided Touya's glance; though she had forgiven
him since her precious nutcracker had been saved, she refused to give him the satisfaction
of letting him know, until tomorrow at least. She couldn't be mad at her brother on Christmas
Day.
As the children all dashed up the winding staircase to their respective rooms, the maid tidied
up much of the living room, as the darkness rapidly grew deeper. Finally done, she gave the
room an extra sweep, before turning off the lights and slipping quietly away. As the moon rose
through the glass of the window, it bathed the room in a silver glow which gave it an air of
mystery. The grandfather clock passed the eleven o' clock point, and the hands crept slowly
and steadily toward midnight.
Barely less than an hour had passed since Sakura had gone to bed, yet here she was,
wandering down the wide staircase in her light, pink nightdress, the pink bow still in her
hair. She simply couldn't fall asleep, and that was a pity, for Father Christmas would surely
be coming along soon and she couldn't be caught awake. Or...perhaps she COULD wait up
for him. Chiharu-chan had done so once before, although she admitted to falling asleep before
he came. Yamazaki had told the same tale, only he had actually MET Santa Claus... "And a
very jolly chap he was at that, too!" she remembered him exclaiming.
She curled up in an armchair in the living room, but not before reaching under the Christmas
tree and retrieving her nutcracker, Syaoran. The room was still warm, despite the fact that
there was no fire. She hugged the nutcracker to her chest, then marched him across her lap,
giggling lightly. "Oh, I DO wish you could talk," she whispered dreamily. "You look so noble and
brave, I am sure you would have such interesting things to say, and tales to tell."
This continued on for a little while, and Sakura contentedly whispered to her favourite Christmas
present, not paying attention to anything else...including what was taking place behind her.
A group of rats had congregated near a hole in the wall, not far from the grandfather clock.
More and more rats steadily joined the pack, and they crept closer and closer to the chair in
which the little girl was sitting in.
Sakura was startled by a strange sound, a type of scuffling noise. She froze -- she had been
positive that everyone was asleep upstairs, she had even heard Touya snoring from his own
guest room. She turned around in her chair, and thought she saw a shadow; this alarmed her,
and she quickly sprang up from the chair, the nutcracker clutched tightly in her hands.
She finally saw the rats, and realized that it was not an intruder. But this did not exactly give
her relief -- next to ghosts, rats were one of her biggest fears. And she had never known
the Daidouji Manor to hold rats. All the times she had been here, she had never once seen
one.
And these rats were acting rather peculiarly...almost intelligently. They were all huddled
together, and their beady eyes were all fixed directly at her. Or so she thought at first...then
she realized that they were actually looking at the nutcracker in her arms. And though she
thought herself silly for this, she couldn't help but think that there was something in their gazes
that she just didn't trust, a sinister type of glint in their eyes.
Then suddenly, the entire pack turned away from her and moved closer to the window, staring
up at the glowing moon. This was very strange behaviour as well, but Sakura didn't stop to
think about it; she turned and ran to hide behind another large chair, wishing that she could
only make it upstairs, but the rats were blocking the way.
The clock began to chime, once, twice, three times...
Midnight. It was not Sakura's favourite time of the night anymore.
She stifled a scream as her gaze snapped back to the rats and she noticed what seemed to
be happening to them. They were all looking steadfastly at the moon, and their bodies had
stiffened...Sakura rubbed her eyes, not quite believing what she was seeing, and yet feeling
terrified all the same.
Five...Six.. chimes from the clock.
The rats were growing. They were expanding, slowly, but surely, and the process was speeding
up. They were almost tall enough to reach the base of the Christmas tree now.
Eight...Nine...Ten...
They were as tall as her, and now looked much more aware than they had been when they
were so small. Sakura shuddered -- rats seemed to be all the more unpleasant the bigger they
got.
The rats began a strange, swaying type of swaying dance as the chimes rang in midnight --
when the clock struck twelve, the dance became much more lively, as they skipped and
scampered all over the place. They now looked as aware as any normal human being.
Sakura stood up carefully, her eyes wide with fear, and decided to make a run for the stairs,
thinking that if she could only get to Father's or Touya's or even Tomoyo-chan's room..
But at the sign of movement, all of the rats suddenly froze and swung around to stare at
her with their little scarlet eyes. Sakura hurriedly jumped back against the wall, but this
proved to be useless -- two of the rats were coming after her. She ran for a short while,
at least trying to make it to the kitchen, but then she soon felt a furry and surprisingly strong
grip on her arm yank her back, almost making her drop her nutcracker, Syaoran.
The other rat came forward and grabbed her other arm, and both began to march her back
to the rest of the pack, while she struggled unceasingly, not at all willing to get closer to
any of the other rats -- these two were bad enough. She was about to let out a scream,
when an equally strong furry paw was suddenly clamped across her mouth, making her choke
and almost throw up in disgust.
But then all the parties in the room were disrupted by a sudden bang and burst of light from
the direction of the window. As Sakura and the rats stood by and stared, a hairy figure
seemed to materialize from almost out of nowhere, though it was obviously what had caused
the sudden disruption.
Once it had fully materialized, Sakura realized that it was another rat -- only this one was even
bigger than the rest, and more sinister than the whole lot put together. But this wasn't what
caused her mouth to drop open in shock; the furry creature was wearing a long purple cloak
with a scepter in his paw and a golden crown on his head. And what put the puzzle together
in Sakura's mind was the reaction of the other rats. All of them dropped to their knees in
deep bows, including the ones who were holding her, although they were doing it rather
awkwardly because she refused to bow down to this... their Royal King.
The King of Rats wasted no time whatsoever -- his eyes immediately lighted on her, then
travelled to Syaoran, and Sakura gripped the nutcracker even tighter than ever. This did not
seem to faze the King. He gestured for the rats to bring her to him, a sinister smirk appearing
on his face.
Sakura began to struggle harder than ever, managing to break the grip on her and run toward
the stairs. Again, she didn't get far, because the entire swarm had now surrounded her, but
she was fighting tooth and nail to get away from them, and it was all such a big commotion,
complete with the loud squeaks of the animals.
And so naturally, Syaoran dropped from her arms.
Sakura turned on her heels and began searching for the nutcracker through all the confusion,
and at first the rats were all grabbing at her to pull her back and restrain her, but strangely
enough, they soon left her alone. She was dropped to the floor, and so began searching it for
her doll, but it was nowhere to be seen...and she began to notice that all of the rat feet were
suddenly scuffling, the squeaks were louder than ever, and she realized that something else was
going on...
Then a rat dropped to the floor next to her, letting out a huff of air. Sakura let out a
terrified whimper, once again thinking of how horrible rats were up close and so big, when
she remembered that the rat couldn't have fallen on its own. Then another pair of furry
legs appeared in her line of vision, only these ones were pale pink, and seemed to be
strangely made of satin.
Sakura froze: what could she expect now? Her eyes travelled slowly up, and then her jaw
dropped open from pure shock, and surprised disbelief.
She was staring up at Tomoyo's stuffed teddy bear, which she had gotten from the magician,
and which had been previously left under the Christmas tree along with all of the other
toys. But now...it was enormous! Almost a head taller than herself. Sakura at first thought
this was rather eerie, but the ever-present smlie on the bear's face put her much more at
ease than the rats had.
And speaking of which...
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped even more as she took in what was happening around
the living room. The Christmas tree had grown to a gigantic size, almost the size of a
mountain. And all of the toys which had been underneath it were now so large as well, and
it was them fighting with the rats, who were looking rather fearful. And the one leading all
of this...
He was wearing the smart dark pants, she was sure. She could see the bright red jacket, and
the shiny buttons, and the outline of the tall soldier hat. There was a crystal glow from
something which hung around his neck. He was just a bit taller than her now, and it was too
dark to see his face, but she was certain all the same.
It was her Nutcracker. Syaoran.
The fight had at first been rather comical, all of the rats being taken down by the toys,
because of their surprise at the sudden appearance of them and the Nutcracker. Of course,
the King looked as though he'd been expecting this.
But the surprise was now over, and the rats WERE much more skilled fighters than the
Christmas toys, and the fight was starting to turn. Trains and jack-in-the-boxes
certainly couldn't stand up to an army, and so the toys were now falling, and the battle was
nearly lost.
Then Syaoran raised something into the air, which gave off a loud crack -- a pistol. Sakura
jumped and rubbed her eyes when she looked at the tree and saw what was happening there.
An entire army of toy soldiers, complete with cannons and rifles and swords and battle cries,
were teeming out of the evergreen branches, working their way gracefully through the
decorations, and throwing themselves valiantly onto the rats.
Sakura, her eyes wide, had gone silent in shock, and she merely crept backwards into a chair
and watched the now-fiercer-than-ever battle unfold from around her. Rats and soldiers alike
were falling all over, dead -- she shuddered. As much as she hated rats, she found that they
were more unpleasant than ever when dead, especially after having been caught in a rat-trap.
During the wild battle, Sakura suddenly caught sight of Syaoran --easily the most elegant toy
there. He was approaching the King of the Rats, and the King was obviously meeting his
challenge. They stared each other down for a moment, before each pulled out a long, sharp
sword, and they began to duel. Sakura's heart leapt into her throat. Oh, the Nutcracker was
SO brave...but he could get hurt, and that caused an even greater fear to grow in the pit
of her stomach.
And get hurt he did, eventually. He had been fighting wonderfully, and causing many blows
to the King, but then the Rat King did something to him with his sword -- Sakura wasn't
exactly sure what. All she registered was Syaoran falling to the ground.
"No!" she screamed out, racing through the temporary-battlefield, to the side of the Nutcracker
and the King. She took one look at Syaoran, then turned to the King, her eyes blazing with
jade fury and bright tears. The King actually backed up a step, no longer looking composed, but
rather fearful -- Sakura didn't realize it, but she was glowing with an unnatural pink light.
Yet she WAS only a little girl, and she reacted completely on instinct, doing the only thing
she could think of to HURT the King, as he had hurt her nutcracker... yanking off her slipper,
she hurled it at the King of Rats.
Certainly, that shouldn't have done much damage -- the slipper wasn't even as hard as her
regular day-time shoes. But all the same, the King suddenly fell to the ground with a groan,
clutching his chest -- curling up in a ball, he was suddenly enveloped into a whitish-blue
light and vanished.
The rats took a single look at the scene, and at their fallen King..and they fled, faster than
Sakura could even blink. The other toy soldiers didn't even allow themselves a moment of
triumph -- they gathered their wounded comrades, and marched steadily back into the
Christmas tree, while Sakura turned back to Syaoran, her face tight with concern. One of
the soldiers tapped her on the shoulder in an oddly comforting sort of way -- glancing up
at him, Sakura thought that if she tried hard enough, she could almost swear by her life
that it was Touya.
The room became still once again, and she buried her head in the Nutcracker's chest,
sobs breaking out from her. He was too still. She wasn't sure what to do at all, or what
she should check for -- although she was distantly aware that perhaps the reason he
wasn't breathing was because he was technically only a doll, all she could think of right
now were the even grimmer possibilites. Besides, he didn't FEEL like he was made of
plastic and wood -- he seemed so real.
"Please don't die, Syaoran, please don't die," she begged in a whisper. "You can't, not
now -- You just came to life, I DO still need to get to know you." Her face still buried
in his chest, she reached out and gripped his hand. Again, she didn't notice this, but
once more she had begun to glow...and the glow transferred from herself to Syaoran
in a healing touch, as the pendant around his neck shone with a white light.
She was startled, yet happy, when the Nutcracker moved from beneath her, stirring
slightly. She jumped up and scrambled back a bit as he sat up, his eyes still closed --
yes, she was extremely happy that he was obviously well now, but...she wasn't
sure at all of what to expect.
His eyes opened. He turned to her with a small smile. And Sakura felt her breath catch
in her throat as her eyes went huge for the umpteenth time. Well, certainly this night
was just one surprise after another.
The face she was staring into belonged to Li Xiao-Lang.
To Be Continued...
End of Act 1.
A/N: Okay come on, who DIDN'T see that last part coming? This isn't really where the
first act ends in the real play, but I thought I could just leave it here for a little while.
First, before anyone jumps on me about Sakura's hair, just let me say that I SO didn't want
to do that to her hair. I really do love Sakura's hair just the way it is, because it is very
cute, but someone told me that girls didn't have hair that short back in the 1800s, and I
DID want to make this as accurate as possible. The reason it's curly is because I just did
the next best thing; I gave her Sophia's/Clara's hair (that's the real girl from "The Nutcracker")
Just ignore it if it bothers you a lot. *sighs*
But aside from this, did I do alright? Please email me at [email protected], or if you're
reading this at FF.Net, please leave a review. I REALLY want to know if I can still write or
not ^^.
If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading this fic! Also, if anyone has any
questions about the story, or the play in general (like whose playing what part) I'll gladly
clear it up for you ^_^. Once more, Merry Christmas everybody! ^_^
P.P.S -- Lately, I've been VERY much into the Harry Potter book series, and I made just
the tiniest reference to this in the fanfic, which I didn't notice till I reread it. Whoever can
catch it first gets the next and last part of this fic dedicated to them. ^^
E+T fanfic "Tale as Old as Time". This is my first S+S fanfic in over a year, my first fanfic
in more than half a year altogether, and I'm a bit rusty, so please be nice. It's my
Christmas contribution to the CCS fan world ^_^ A CCS remake of the popular Christmas play/story
"The Nutcracker", by E.T. Hoffman. I saw the play just last weekend, and fell completely
in love with it, so how could I NOT write this? And I hope it's original -- I don't think anyone
else has done this yet, but I haven't been online for a while. This is definetly an AU fic. It's mostly
based on both the play and a tiny bit on the movie, along with some other things I have added
myself. The characters WILL be a bit different -- this takes place in the nineteenth century,
and things were definetly different back then, and I had to change a few other things to make
CCS fit into "The Nutcracker" plot a bit better. But I think that I did an okay job managing to
keep them as close to their canon personalities as is possible. So I really hope you enjoy!
Tell me what you think, okay? Oh, and also, Merry Christmas everyone! =)
Disclaimer: *whimpers* I don't own Card Captor Sakura, or any of its characters, I
simply borrowed them. They belong to Clamp. And I also don't own the
fantastic story of "The Nutcracker" by E.T. Hoffman -- really, really, really
wish I did, but what can you do? *sighs* ^~
OF PRINCES AND NUTCRACKERS
Act 1.
Tomoeda, Japan, 1892
"Kaijuu!"
Her big brother's voice rang through the crowded and snow-covered streets.
Nine year old Sakura Kinomoto glanced up, startled to see her father and brother
drifting away through the throngs of people. She ran to catch up with them and
tapped Touya-niichan on the shoulder. "I'm here, Touya! And PLEASE stop calling
me a monster."
"If you wish, monster," Touya replied in his flippant way, tugging on one of her
auburn-gold curls.
"Father, make him stop!"
"Touya, Sakura, come along," Fujitaka ordered gently, propelling them through
the streets toward another Christmas shop. "You know how much your aunt wants
us to get to her party on time, and it begins in nearly an hour."
Sticking her tongue out at her annoying big brother one last time, Sakura took her
father's hand, and skipped alongside him, fascinated in watching and feeling the
swirling snowflakes dance in the December chill as they descended to the ground,
or on her new long, crimson winter coat. She did so love white Christmases - and
as today was Christmas Eve, there was no way that the snow would melt.
"Sakura-chan!"
As was usual whenever the Kinomoto family came to visit the Daidoujis, Sonomi Daidouji
made a beeline straight for her niece, squeezing her tightly as her long, mahagony brown
hair tickled the girl's nose. "Oh my, would you look at that. You are such a big girl - and
so pretty! My, you look nice tonight!" Sakura curtsied politely and beamed up at Sonomi.
"Hello, Sonomi-sama. Thank you so much for inviting me to this lovely party."
"Think nothing of it," Sonomi replied quickly, eyes widening. "How could I ever have
a Christmas party without you, Sakura-chan? And Tomoyo has been flitting about
the house all day, she shall be so excited to see you."
Sakura brightened even more at the mention of her best friend. "May I go up to see
her?" she pleaded.
"Certainly. Shall I ask one of the maids to escort you--?" Sonomi began, but Sakura
was already around the corner. Sighing and shaking her head, Sonomi turned back
to Touya, her sweet Nadeshiko's first-born child. She ushered both him and his
father into the spacious front hall, ordered one of the servants to take their coats,
and when Touya had wandered off toward the living room, where the Christmas tree
was set up, the woman turned to Fujitaka-san. Her violet-grey gaze had grown a bit
cold, yet she curtsied formally. "Kinomoto-san," she said. "I'm pleased to see you on
such a lovely evening."
Fujitaka Kinomoto bowed just as formally, a smile still on his face. "Daidouji-san, I
am just as pleased to be here. Thank you for inviting me."
Sonomi was saved from continuing the overly-strained conversation when the Yanagisawas,
their daughter Naoko, and their son Eriol arrived.
(A/N: LOL, couldn't resist ^^. Eriol and Naoko COULD pass for siblings, and they enjoy
many of the same things. Onto the story.)
As for Sakura, it turned out that she didn't even need to climb up to her friend Tomoyo-
chan's bedroom. As she turned the corner, prepared to dash up the carpeted, winding
staircase which led to the second floor, a streak of dark red and violet appeared at the
landing, which quickly turned out to be the young Daidouji mistress. Her pale face lit up
at the sight of the curly-haired girl below her. "Sakura-chan," she squealed, running down
the rest of the steps and taking her best friend's hands. "Oh, you DO look lovely tonight!"
"You do too, Tomoyo," Sakura replied, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "This
is going to be such a wonderful party. I can hardly wait! I heard the bell ring again --
perhaps one of our schoolmates is here. Let's go see."
Tomoyo laughed and held back her friend. "Do wait, Sakura-chan, your bow is slightly
misplaced." Holding the girl straight, she quickly pulled the bow which held up Sakura's
mid-back-length cinnamon curls out of her hair. Then, with quick and deft strokes, she
swept her hair back into the semi-ponytail which pulled the curls up to shoulder-length.
"There," Tomoyo sighed with satisfaction -- making her friend look extra nice was a
favourite activity of hers. "Now you look very kawaii."
Sakura blushed momentarily at Tomoyo's praise, then rolled her eyes and dragged the
purple-eyed girl to the living room by her wrist -- before she could think of getting her
sketchbook and decide to draw "Kawaii-Sakura-chan at Christmas Ball", or something
as ridiculous. Sakura knew she was thinking of it. In her opinion, however, Tomoyo-chan
was much prettier than herself.
The entire mansion was decorated nicely, but Sonomi had certainly gone all out on the
living room and the kitchen, where the party was centered. A huge, glittering Christmas
tree stood in one corner, with a sea of wrapped gifts around it which just screamed to
be opened. Daidouji-sama informed all the people gathered that there was one gift under
the tree for each guest. The Daiodoujis were always so gracious.
Almost everyone who'd been invited was already there, and the party was well underway.
All the children from the elementary school that Tomoyo and Sakura attended had already
arrived with their families, and the time was momentarily passed by talking about what
each child thought they would be getting for Christmas, and playing a few party-games
that were quite popular.
After he'd tagged Sakura, Eriol took the blindfold off of his own head and tied it around
Sakura's, making sure her eyes were properly covered. This was her favourite game,
Marco Polo, and so they were playing it in her honour, which had been Rika-chan's, Eriol-kun's
and Yamazaki-kun's idea, and was rather sweet of them. Of course, it was MUCH more fun
played in the water, but Christmas was not a time for swimming, she told herself firmly.
"Marco!"
"Polo!" The rest all screamed, then scattered throughout the room, while Sakura ran
around blindly, trying to listen for any sound from her friends. Accidentally, she slammed
into another person -- a grownup, she could tell instantly.
She lifted the blindfold hurriedly, to see whom she had bumped into -- her school teacher,
Miss Kaho-san. "I'm so sorry, Mizuki-sensei," she gasped, hurriedly getting to her feet and
dusting off her baby-blue party dress.
Miss Kaho simply smiled, smoothed the crease in her own elegant, forest green ball gown,
and leaned down toward her. "It's not a problem, Kinomoto-san -- however, I think you
might be interested to know that a certain Miss Tomoyo Daidouji and Mr. Eriol Yanagisawa
are directly across the room from you, if you continue in a straight line." Miss Kaho was
always so helpful -- and that combined with the fact that she was the prettiest lady the
children had ever seen was what triggered Eriol Yanagisawa-kun's not-at-all-very-secret
adoration for their teacher. They did so love to tease him about it dreadfully.
Sakura grinned at her favourite teacher, and Mizuki-san retied the blindfold around her
emerald eyes, before sending the young girl off.
Not far from them, Fujitaka-san was talking amiably with the Miharas and Sakura and
Tomoyo's Grandfather, while Sonomi spoke with Touya's best friend from school, Yukito
Tsukishiro -- the only child Sakura knew who was most like a grownup, although Tomoyo
and Eriol could come close. Near the bay window, Touya himself seemed to be having a very
boring conversation with one of the girls from his school, Nakuru Akizuki. At least, Touya
looked bored; Nakuru seemed as if she were trying to get him to court her -- again.
Sakura, her sight once again impaired, headed straight for the direction that Miss Kaho had
pointed her in. Around her, she heard the background music getting louder -- that meant
the dancing had started, she could hear the rustle of women's skirts as they curtsied and
swept about, as well as the scuffle of the men's shoes on the polished floor. She was willing
to bargain all of her favourite stuffed animals that Kaho-sensei had been the first asked to
dance; she was, after all, the belle of the ball. As usual.
This also meant that Yamazaki-kun and Rika-chan were surely not playing anymore; they
both adored dancing at the parties alongside the adults. They were also best at it --
they both took the same dance lessons.
The curly-haired girl kept to the side of the room as much as she could with her eyes closed,
not wanting to get in anybody's way. She was just about to take the blindfold off, tired of
the game, when she slammed into yet another person.
"Oh, not again!" she wailed softly from her position on the floor, hastening to untie the piece
of cloth around her eyes. At least, this person hadn't felt like an adult -- maybe now she
could pass the blindfold along.
Shaking her head briefly, her eyes travelled up to the person she had knocked into, and she
froze. Well, it wasn't one of the grownups, but it wasn't one of her friends, either.
An unfamiliar dark-haired boy with chocolate-coloured eyes was staring down at her in surprise,
as if she came from another planet. He was dressed up in a suit, and looked very nice just like
everyone else at the party -- but Sakura was positive that she had never seen this boy before
in her life, and couldn't remember Tomoyo mentioning another cousin arriving at the ball. He
looked a bit disgruntled, as if he didn't want to be here at all.
"Hello," she attempted conversation, getting to her feet. "Are you new around here? I haven't
ever seen you before."
The boy stared at her a minute longer, scrutinizing her -- Sakura fought the urge to look away
from his probing gaze. It WAS rather hard; his eyes seemed to drill right into her, which was
rather strange. She had never met a child who was this...well, focused.
"I don't live here," he finally responded quietly.
"Oh!" exclaimed Sakura. "Then you must be one of Tomoyo's cousins, right? I'm very pleased to
meet you, Tomoyo's my best friend." She curtsied quickly.
He raised an eyebrow. "Tomoyo...?"
"Tomoyo Daidouji-chan," said Sakura, glancing around the room for the violet-haired girl clad
in wine-red. She spotted her across the room, huddled with the other children and looking
rather fearful. They, along with the other guests, were staring in half-curiousity, half-fright,
at a tall, pale man in a dark suit complete with a sweeping navy-black cloak and top-hat.
His outfit, along with his dark-blue hair which was held back in a ponytail, accented
his elegant, pale face all the more. There was a little girl next to him, about Sakura's own
age, also dressed up for the party in a forest-green dress and her raven hair pulled up into
pigtails. She searched the room, and when her eyes landed on the boy next to Sakura, they
lit up and she waved him over.
The boy went without another word, and Sakura crept over to the others, her eyes still fixed
on the tall man. "Who is he?" she wondered.
"Mother invited him," Tomoyo informed her. "Clow Reed-sama. He's a magician, all the way from
England."
"Wow!" Sakura's eyes went about two sizes larger -- she adored magic shows more than
anything.
Sonomi Daidouji stepped forward with her welcoming-hostess smile in place. "Reed-san. So
pleased you were able to make it."
The man who was Clow Reed bowed to her gracefully with a calm smile that rather reminded
Sakura of her father. "It is a pleasure to be here, Daidouji-san. Allow me to introduce my
niece, Li Meiling-san, and...ah, there you are Xiao-Lang. This is my nephew, Li Xiao-Lang.
Both from China." Meiling and Xiao-Lang both curtsied or bowed on cue.
Sonomi beamed at them. "You are most welcome here, Li-chan and Li-kun. The other children
are right over here -- shall I introduce them to you?"
Sakura saw Meiling shake her head quickly -- she supposed the girl was just shy. That was
alright -- Sakura was a bit nervous of newcomers as well, though she almost never showed it.
"Actually, Daidouji-sama, Meiling and Xiao-Lang are to help me with my magic show," Clow Reed
explained, patting Meiling on the head briefly, to which she made a face. "Shall I begin it now?"
"Oh, would you?" Sonomi asked eagerly. "I'm sure everyone here is most excited." Indeed, a
circle had formed around the apparent magician and his niece and nephew, who were looking
around rather warily.
"Now, now, give me some space," Clow insisted, stepping back from the two children and
gesturing the rest of the crowd to spread out a bit.
Then he marched up to a woman in the crowd-- Sakura recognized her as one of Father's
fellow professors-- and before anyone could blink, pulled a bouquet of flowers out of her
ear. The crowd clapped appreciatively, before the bouquet suddenly exploded into a dazzling
shower of red, golden, green and silver stars. The applause became much more enthusiastic.
"You SHOULD know that Clow-sama never does things halfway," a voice piped from nearby.
Sakura turned in surprise to see the raven-haired Chinese girl standing a few feet away,
watching Clow Reed's magic display with the air of one who already knew what was about to
happen. Next to her stood her cousin, the boy Sakura had been speaking to earlier. Xiao-Lang..
that was his name, she remembered, smiling at him. He did not smile back.
She was curious as to what "Xiao-Lang" meant -- it didn't seem like a very common name.
The other children began speaking quietly to the two new children, while watching the show
at the same time. Meiling replied politely to all their questions, every inch the picture of proper
feminine ettiquette, even if she did seem a bit haughty at times. Xiao-Lang was much more
removed and stoic, letting Meiling do much of the talking. The two were incredibly close. It
was comfortable, however, for all of them just to sit and watch Clow Reed pull animals out of
teacups, turn long sticks into umbrellas, and make large dolls seem to come to life -- they were
all especially intrigued with this.
Clow Reed-san clapped his hands, calling the attention of anyone who hadn't been watching
him previously. "And now, if the children could please come up?" he asked with a kindhearted
smile which all of the elementary students trusted immediately. They ran up to him.
With what seemed to be only a wave of his hands, the previously life-sized toys suddenly
shrunk back to normal size. "For being such a captivated audience, you may each choose
one toy to keep as a Christmas present," he told them, pointing to the table where all the
toys had fallen.
There was an outcry of delighted squeals and cheers as the children rushed to the table; the
only ones who held back were Xiao-Lang and Meiling.
Sakura reached out, about to select a baby blue teddy bear which matched her dress and
was nearly identical to the one Tomoyo had just chosen. A pale hand suddenly took hers
gently, and she turned to look into Clow Reed's eyes, which were smiling back at her.
"I have the perfect toy for you, Sakura-san," he told her, pulling a doll out from behind his
back."
Sakura tilted her head to the side, wondering how on earth he had known her name, when
she suddenly focused on the doll in his arms.
It was a toy soldier, as big as one of her stuffed animals. He was dressed in a fine suit, with
a shiny red coat which had golden buttons, and smart dark pants and dark shoes. The only
thing that seemed slightly out of place was the tiny pendant that hung around his neck; it
looked like a crystal falcon's claw, only with wings attached to it. However, in Sakura's opinion,
it only added to the soldier's charm. He seemed so noble.
"It's a nutcracker," Clow told her. "A very special one."
Sakura beamed. She loved it immediately.
"Oh, it's absolutely beautiful," Tomoyo exclaimed, eyeing the doll appreciatively while holding her
own new, pale-pink teddy bear.
"I have always wanted a soldier doll," Sakura replied, her eyes glowing. "It's simply unfair that Touya
got one when we were younger, but I never did."
"Honestly, Kinomoto-san, it's not a doll," Meiling broke in, rather haughtily. "It's a nutcracker."
"A...nutcracker?" Sakura's eyes widened as she stared down at the toy soldier.
"Yes," Meiling explained. "It's used to crack nuts...although you CAN use it as a toy as well, if you
wish. This one is specially from China."
"Oh, how useful," Naoko sighed. "You're very lucky, Sakura-chan."
Sakura skipped over to show Yukito-san the nutcracker she had recieved from the wonderful
Clow Reed -- she did enjoy Yukito's company.
Yukito took it from her hand and examined it. "Nutcrackers are classic toys, you know," he told
her. "This could be an antique; or at least, it shall be someday. Have fun with it." He smiled and
was about to hand it back to her, when it was suddenly snatched out of his hand.
"Touya-kun!" Sakura cried, as her brother brought the nutcracker close to his face and inspected
it. "I don't see what on earth is so special about a little wooden toy. The toy soldiers I had as a
child were much better."
"Touya, you still ARE a child," Yukito rolled his eyes. Touya ignored him.
"This doll is MUCH better than all of yours put together," Sakura told him hotly. "It can crack nuts."
"Can I use it on you, then?"
"Ha, ha, ha, very funny indeed, Touya," she replied sarcastically, even though her father and Tomoyo
had both told her multiple times that sarcasm was not becoming of a lady. "Give me back my toy."
"When I've had a look," Touya responded, walking off with the nutcracker still in his hand.
"Touya!" Sakura chased him as he took off at a run, darting easily through the crowds of people --
Touya was athletic, but so was she.
This continued on for a while, with Touya always just barely out of reach of Sakura's fingers. But
then he got distracted by something -- perhaps it was the sight of his father and Sakura's teacher
sharing a dance. Whatever it was, it caused him to slow down nearly to a stop. It also caused Sakura
to run into him from behind, knocking the nutcracker out of his hands and sending it to the floor,
where it landed with a crack.
They both stared at it, now in two pieces, the head having been removed from the rest of the doll.
Sakura bent down and picked up the two parts of the nutcracker, her eyes rapidly filling with tears.
"You broke it," she whispered, before bursting into hysterical sobbing.
Her father was at her side a few seconds later, with a few other people behind him. "Sakura-chan!
What's wrong?"
Sakura flew into Fujitaka's arms, half-blinded by the water which filled her vision. "Onii-chan broke
my new nutcracker," she wailed. "It was already my favourite Christmas present, and he broke it!"
"It was an accident," Touya protested. "She bumped into me, and made me drop it. Sakura, I--"
"It never would have happened if you hadn't stolen it in the first place!" Sakura screamed back at
him, though her words were barely coherent through the tears. "It's all your fault, and I'm never
going to speak to you, ever, ever again!" With that, she whirled around and raced out of the living
room, past her teacher and her friends and the rest of the guests, still cradling the broken pieces
of her doll.
She ran through the kitchen, and out the back door -- luckily for her, she knew the Daidouji house
almost as well as her own, since it was like a third home for her.
The garden was icy and blanketed with powdery snow, which was only natural after all. Almost
instantly she felt the biting wind nip at her skin through the thin party dress she was wearing,
and the tears on her face froze to ice, leaving her even colder. She wiped them off the best she
could.
She began wandering quickly toward the rose garden -- of course, there would be no flowers
there, except for the few that could be made to survive in the wintertime. But she told herself
firmly that she was NOT going to go back in the house until the party was over and she did not
have to see Touya, or until Touya jumped off a cliff.
Sakura then heard voices from just up ahead, speaking quietly so the words were muffled. She
had barely begun to recognize them when she stumbled upon the speakers, nearly falling over
from skidding on the ice-- she had been moving rather quickly, and the ground was extremely
slippery with ice. Clow Reed and Li Xiao-Lang whirled to look at her in startled surprise.
"I'm sorry," she apologized for what felt to be the hundredth time that night. "I did not mean to
intrude, truly--"
"Oh, not to worry dear child, you haven't intruded on anything more than a little bit of friendly
debating between Xiao-Lang and myself." Xiao Lang seemed rather embarrased by the mention
of his name. "What's wrong?" Clow suddenly asked her, noticing the tears frozen on her face.
Sakura sniffled, holding up the nutcracker with shivering hands. "My baka brother ruined it,"
she whimpered. "I'm sorry -- Li-chan said that it was probably an antique, and...and..."
"May I see it?" Clow asked gently, taking the broken doll away from her. Sakura wrung her
fingers together as he examined it, partly from the cold, partly from anxiety.
"Hmmm...well, it is rather serious," she could hear him murmur as he turned away from her.
Tears once again sprung to her eyes. "You mean you cannot fix it?"
Clow smiled at her jovially. "Oh I never said that," he pointed out. "Just wait a minute, now..."
he trailed off, turning back to the doll.
Sakura was never very sure of what happened next -- all she saw was a swift, blinding flash
of blue light, and then Reed-san was showing the nutcracker to Li-kun, who handed it back to
her. It was good as new. Sakura looked at it carefully, eyes wide -- the only mark that betrayed
what had happened to it was a tiny crack on the side of the neck.
"Thank you," she breathed, taking it gently from Xiao-Lang's hands. As she did, her cold fingers
brushed his own, which were rather warm, despite the fact that he had been outside longer than
she had. Her jade eyes darted up to meet his, and only had time to register how very chocolate-
coloured they were before she hurriedly looked away, unexplicably shy all of a sudden. There was
certainly something strange about Xiao-Lang...
Reed-san smiled at the two. "Now, be careful with that doll, Sakura-san -- it is very special, more
so than you know."
"I shall be very careful, Reed-san," Sakura assured hastily, curtsying graciously. "Thank you SO much."
"'Twas nothing, my dear," Clow laughed. "Xiao-Lang, would you please walk Sakura-san back to the
house. I don't want you two catching cold. And there are some lovely buds here that Daidouji-san
mentioned, which I simply must see."
Xiao-Lang stared at Sakura a bit longer, forcing her to keep her eyes on the ground -- his gaze
was SO intense. But then he simply offered his arm, and she took it, relieved. They turned to walk
back to the house in surprisingly companionable silence.
Sakura finally felt the need to break the quiet. "So...whereabouts in China do you come from?" she
asked quietly.
Xiao-Lang turned to her, as if surprised that she had actually spoken up. "From Hong Kong," he
replied.
"Is it nice there?" Sakura wanted to know. "Does it get cold?"
"Yes, it is rather nice there. No, it does not get cold."
Sakura blinked, taken aback by his clipped responses. "Are you shy?" she suddenly asked.
Xiao-Lang was looking at her again, in a way that made it clear he thought that she was
the strangest girl in the world. "Excuse me?"
Sakura felt herself flush, and she quickly backtracked. "I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to be
rude at all--"
"That was a rather rude question, though," Li-kun pointed out. "You are a very strange girl."
"Well, that is a rather rude thing to say yourself," she answered primly, but then allowed
herself a small smile, shaking her head and making her curls fly all over. "However, it IS true,
Father says it all the time."
The conversation slowed to a stop then, and the only thing that could be heard was the
crunching of snow beneath their feet. Sakura wracked her mind desperately for something
to talk about -- she thoroughly disliked uneasy silences, and this was the most uneasy
silence she had ever experienced.
"Li-kun...what does your name mean?" she blurted, remembering the question she had
wanted to ask since the moment Clow Reed had annouced him.
Xiao-Lang glanced at her, surprised by the rather personal question. "Why do you want to
know?"
Sakura blushed again. "Well, if it offends you, then you don't have to tell me -- I was just
curious, is all."
There was another silence, and Sakura had become certain that he wouldn't answer, when
he spoke up again at last. "Little Wolf."
"That's very interesting," she said. "But whyever did your parents choose that name for
you? I mean--" she suddenly floundered, knowing that she had come off as rude this time
for certain.
Xiao-Lang was giving her the same look he had when he'd first met her, before rolling his
eyes and apparently deigning to put up with her. Well, there was no doubt that she now
WAS the strangest girl he had ever met. No other lady would phrase her questions so
bluntly. "It is the name of a warrior," he explained shortly.
Sakura turned to him, wide-eyed. "Are you a warrior, Li-kun?"
Now there was the tiniest hint of a smirk on his face -- the closest she had seen him
come to a real smile. "Perhaps." And he said nothing more.
There was also nothing more to be said, for by that time they had reached the
house, and it didn't matter anymore. She released his arm quickly, glanced back at him and
waved shyly with a tentative smile -- he may think her extremely eccentric, but he was
rather nice for someone who seemed to wear a permanent scowl. He didn't wave or smile
back, but that was fine.
Sakura then ran back over to the other girls, eager to show them her newly repaired,
extra-special nutcracker. On the dance floor, Grandfather had asked Sonomi to dance with
him, and the spirit of it all caught everyone, and many more joined in.
"But however did he fix it?" Tomoyo wondered, examining the nutcracker from all sides.
"Magic," Naoko told her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "One can do
anything with it."
Sakura took her doll back from the mauve-eyed girl and hugged it to her tightly, not
wanting to ever let go of it. Glancing across the room, her emerald eyes landed on the
young Chinese "warrior". He was now dancing to a rather lively tune with Meiling, who
seemed to be rather enjoying himself.
Xiao-Lang --Little Wolf, she thought to herself. The name is to symbolize a warrior... a
thoughtful frown crossed her face as she looked down at her doll curiously. The frown
soon melted into a bright smile. This soldier was definetly a warrior, if nothing else.
"Therefore, your name shall be Xiao-Lang, the brave little wolf warrior," she whispered,
holding it even tighter -- mostly making this decision simply because she didn't know the
names of any other soldier or fighter.
Only she couldn't pronounce the name properly, since it was a bit foreign to her.
It came out as "Syaoran."
And so this became the nutcracker's permanent name.
The party lasted a few more hours before the crowd began to thin, sometime near midnight.
It was the latest Sakura had ever been allowed to stay up. But she and her family had been
invited to spend the night at the Daidouji Manor, since a blizzard had sprung up during the
night, and it would be dreadful to travel in this weather. Briefly, she wondered where the
magician and his niece and nephew would be staying the night, but then Miss Nakuru
Akizuki called the children over to read from a favourite book of theirs --A Christmas
Carol --, and the thought quickly slipped her mind.
Finally, all of the guests had gone, and Touya, Tomoyo and Sakura were ushered upstairs
by the maid. Sakura separated herself briefly from the others to put her nutcracker under
the Christmas tree with great care, hating to seperate with it, but soon following the others
up the stairs without it all the same. She avoided Touya's glance; though she had forgiven
him since her precious nutcracker had been saved, she refused to give him the satisfaction
of letting him know, until tomorrow at least. She couldn't be mad at her brother on Christmas
Day.
As the children all dashed up the winding staircase to their respective rooms, the maid tidied
up much of the living room, as the darkness rapidly grew deeper. Finally done, she gave the
room an extra sweep, before turning off the lights and slipping quietly away. As the moon rose
through the glass of the window, it bathed the room in a silver glow which gave it an air of
mystery. The grandfather clock passed the eleven o' clock point, and the hands crept slowly
and steadily toward midnight.
Barely less than an hour had passed since Sakura had gone to bed, yet here she was,
wandering down the wide staircase in her light, pink nightdress, the pink bow still in her
hair. She simply couldn't fall asleep, and that was a pity, for Father Christmas would surely
be coming along soon and she couldn't be caught awake. Or...perhaps she COULD wait up
for him. Chiharu-chan had done so once before, although she admitted to falling asleep before
he came. Yamazaki had told the same tale, only he had actually MET Santa Claus... "And a
very jolly chap he was at that, too!" she remembered him exclaiming.
She curled up in an armchair in the living room, but not before reaching under the Christmas
tree and retrieving her nutcracker, Syaoran. The room was still warm, despite the fact that
there was no fire. She hugged the nutcracker to her chest, then marched him across her lap,
giggling lightly. "Oh, I DO wish you could talk," she whispered dreamily. "You look so noble and
brave, I am sure you would have such interesting things to say, and tales to tell."
This continued on for a little while, and Sakura contentedly whispered to her favourite Christmas
present, not paying attention to anything else...including what was taking place behind her.
A group of rats had congregated near a hole in the wall, not far from the grandfather clock.
More and more rats steadily joined the pack, and they crept closer and closer to the chair in
which the little girl was sitting in.
Sakura was startled by a strange sound, a type of scuffling noise. She froze -- she had been
positive that everyone was asleep upstairs, she had even heard Touya snoring from his own
guest room. She turned around in her chair, and thought she saw a shadow; this alarmed her,
and she quickly sprang up from the chair, the nutcracker clutched tightly in her hands.
She finally saw the rats, and realized that it was not an intruder. But this did not exactly give
her relief -- next to ghosts, rats were one of her biggest fears. And she had never known
the Daidouji Manor to hold rats. All the times she had been here, she had never once seen
one.
And these rats were acting rather peculiarly...almost intelligently. They were all huddled
together, and their beady eyes were all fixed directly at her. Or so she thought at first...then
she realized that they were actually looking at the nutcracker in her arms. And though she
thought herself silly for this, she couldn't help but think that there was something in their gazes
that she just didn't trust, a sinister type of glint in their eyes.
Then suddenly, the entire pack turned away from her and moved closer to the window, staring
up at the glowing moon. This was very strange behaviour as well, but Sakura didn't stop to
think about it; she turned and ran to hide behind another large chair, wishing that she could
only make it upstairs, but the rats were blocking the way.
The clock began to chime, once, twice, three times...
Midnight. It was not Sakura's favourite time of the night anymore.
She stifled a scream as her gaze snapped back to the rats and she noticed what seemed to
be happening to them. They were all looking steadfastly at the moon, and their bodies had
stiffened...Sakura rubbed her eyes, not quite believing what she was seeing, and yet feeling
terrified all the same.
Five...Six.. chimes from the clock.
The rats were growing. They were expanding, slowly, but surely, and the process was speeding
up. They were almost tall enough to reach the base of the Christmas tree now.
Eight...Nine...Ten...
They were as tall as her, and now looked much more aware than they had been when they
were so small. Sakura shuddered -- rats seemed to be all the more unpleasant the bigger they
got.
The rats began a strange, swaying type of swaying dance as the chimes rang in midnight --
when the clock struck twelve, the dance became much more lively, as they skipped and
scampered all over the place. They now looked as aware as any normal human being.
Sakura stood up carefully, her eyes wide with fear, and decided to make a run for the stairs,
thinking that if she could only get to Father's or Touya's or even Tomoyo-chan's room..
But at the sign of movement, all of the rats suddenly froze and swung around to stare at
her with their little scarlet eyes. Sakura hurriedly jumped back against the wall, but this
proved to be useless -- two of the rats were coming after her. She ran for a short while,
at least trying to make it to the kitchen, but then she soon felt a furry and surprisingly strong
grip on her arm yank her back, almost making her drop her nutcracker, Syaoran.
The other rat came forward and grabbed her other arm, and both began to march her back
to the rest of the pack, while she struggled unceasingly, not at all willing to get closer to
any of the other rats -- these two were bad enough. She was about to let out a scream,
when an equally strong furry paw was suddenly clamped across her mouth, making her choke
and almost throw up in disgust.
But then all the parties in the room were disrupted by a sudden bang and burst of light from
the direction of the window. As Sakura and the rats stood by and stared, a hairy figure
seemed to materialize from almost out of nowhere, though it was obviously what had caused
the sudden disruption.
Once it had fully materialized, Sakura realized that it was another rat -- only this one was even
bigger than the rest, and more sinister than the whole lot put together. But this wasn't what
caused her mouth to drop open in shock; the furry creature was wearing a long purple cloak
with a scepter in his paw and a golden crown on his head. And what put the puzzle together
in Sakura's mind was the reaction of the other rats. All of them dropped to their knees in
deep bows, including the ones who were holding her, although they were doing it rather
awkwardly because she refused to bow down to this... their Royal King.
The King of Rats wasted no time whatsoever -- his eyes immediately lighted on her, then
travelled to Syaoran, and Sakura gripped the nutcracker even tighter than ever. This did not
seem to faze the King. He gestured for the rats to bring her to him, a sinister smirk appearing
on his face.
Sakura began to struggle harder than ever, managing to break the grip on her and run toward
the stairs. Again, she didn't get far, because the entire swarm had now surrounded her, but
she was fighting tooth and nail to get away from them, and it was all such a big commotion,
complete with the loud squeaks of the animals.
And so naturally, Syaoran dropped from her arms.
Sakura turned on her heels and began searching for the nutcracker through all the confusion,
and at first the rats were all grabbing at her to pull her back and restrain her, but strangely
enough, they soon left her alone. She was dropped to the floor, and so began searching it for
her doll, but it was nowhere to be seen...and she began to notice that all of the rat feet were
suddenly scuffling, the squeaks were louder than ever, and she realized that something else was
going on...
Then a rat dropped to the floor next to her, letting out a huff of air. Sakura let out a
terrified whimper, once again thinking of how horrible rats were up close and so big, when
she remembered that the rat couldn't have fallen on its own. Then another pair of furry
legs appeared in her line of vision, only these ones were pale pink, and seemed to be
strangely made of satin.
Sakura froze: what could she expect now? Her eyes travelled slowly up, and then her jaw
dropped open from pure shock, and surprised disbelief.
She was staring up at Tomoyo's stuffed teddy bear, which she had gotten from the magician,
and which had been previously left under the Christmas tree along with all of the other
toys. But now...it was enormous! Almost a head taller than herself. Sakura at first thought
this was rather eerie, but the ever-present smlie on the bear's face put her much more at
ease than the rats had.
And speaking of which...
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped even more as she took in what was happening around
the living room. The Christmas tree had grown to a gigantic size, almost the size of a
mountain. And all of the toys which had been underneath it were now so large as well, and
it was them fighting with the rats, who were looking rather fearful. And the one leading all
of this...
He was wearing the smart dark pants, she was sure. She could see the bright red jacket, and
the shiny buttons, and the outline of the tall soldier hat. There was a crystal glow from
something which hung around his neck. He was just a bit taller than her now, and it was too
dark to see his face, but she was certain all the same.
It was her Nutcracker. Syaoran.
The fight had at first been rather comical, all of the rats being taken down by the toys,
because of their surprise at the sudden appearance of them and the Nutcracker. Of course,
the King looked as though he'd been expecting this.
But the surprise was now over, and the rats WERE much more skilled fighters than the
Christmas toys, and the fight was starting to turn. Trains and jack-in-the-boxes
certainly couldn't stand up to an army, and so the toys were now falling, and the battle was
nearly lost.
Then Syaoran raised something into the air, which gave off a loud crack -- a pistol. Sakura
jumped and rubbed her eyes when she looked at the tree and saw what was happening there.
An entire army of toy soldiers, complete with cannons and rifles and swords and battle cries,
were teeming out of the evergreen branches, working their way gracefully through the
decorations, and throwing themselves valiantly onto the rats.
Sakura, her eyes wide, had gone silent in shock, and she merely crept backwards into a chair
and watched the now-fiercer-than-ever battle unfold from around her. Rats and soldiers alike
were falling all over, dead -- she shuddered. As much as she hated rats, she found that they
were more unpleasant than ever when dead, especially after having been caught in a rat-trap.
During the wild battle, Sakura suddenly caught sight of Syaoran --easily the most elegant toy
there. He was approaching the King of the Rats, and the King was obviously meeting his
challenge. They stared each other down for a moment, before each pulled out a long, sharp
sword, and they began to duel. Sakura's heart leapt into her throat. Oh, the Nutcracker was
SO brave...but he could get hurt, and that caused an even greater fear to grow in the pit
of her stomach.
And get hurt he did, eventually. He had been fighting wonderfully, and causing many blows
to the King, but then the Rat King did something to him with his sword -- Sakura wasn't
exactly sure what. All she registered was Syaoran falling to the ground.
"No!" she screamed out, racing through the temporary-battlefield, to the side of the Nutcracker
and the King. She took one look at Syaoran, then turned to the King, her eyes blazing with
jade fury and bright tears. The King actually backed up a step, no longer looking composed, but
rather fearful -- Sakura didn't realize it, but she was glowing with an unnatural pink light.
Yet she WAS only a little girl, and she reacted completely on instinct, doing the only thing
she could think of to HURT the King, as he had hurt her nutcracker... yanking off her slipper,
she hurled it at the King of Rats.
Certainly, that shouldn't have done much damage -- the slipper wasn't even as hard as her
regular day-time shoes. But all the same, the King suddenly fell to the ground with a groan,
clutching his chest -- curling up in a ball, he was suddenly enveloped into a whitish-blue
light and vanished.
The rats took a single look at the scene, and at their fallen King..and they fled, faster than
Sakura could even blink. The other toy soldiers didn't even allow themselves a moment of
triumph -- they gathered their wounded comrades, and marched steadily back into the
Christmas tree, while Sakura turned back to Syaoran, her face tight with concern. One of
the soldiers tapped her on the shoulder in an oddly comforting sort of way -- glancing up
at him, Sakura thought that if she tried hard enough, she could almost swear by her life
that it was Touya.
The room became still once again, and she buried her head in the Nutcracker's chest,
sobs breaking out from her. He was too still. She wasn't sure what to do at all, or what
she should check for -- although she was distantly aware that perhaps the reason he
wasn't breathing was because he was technically only a doll, all she could think of right
now were the even grimmer possibilites. Besides, he didn't FEEL like he was made of
plastic and wood -- he seemed so real.
"Please don't die, Syaoran, please don't die," she begged in a whisper. "You can't, not
now -- You just came to life, I DO still need to get to know you." Her face still buried
in his chest, she reached out and gripped his hand. Again, she didn't notice this, but
once more she had begun to glow...and the glow transferred from herself to Syaoran
in a healing touch, as the pendant around his neck shone with a white light.
She was startled, yet happy, when the Nutcracker moved from beneath her, stirring
slightly. She jumped up and scrambled back a bit as he sat up, his eyes still closed --
yes, she was extremely happy that he was obviously well now, but...she wasn't
sure at all of what to expect.
His eyes opened. He turned to her with a small smile. And Sakura felt her breath catch
in her throat as her eyes went huge for the umpteenth time. Well, certainly this night
was just one surprise after another.
The face she was staring into belonged to Li Xiao-Lang.
To Be Continued...
End of Act 1.
A/N: Okay come on, who DIDN'T see that last part coming? This isn't really where the
first act ends in the real play, but I thought I could just leave it here for a little while.
First, before anyone jumps on me about Sakura's hair, just let me say that I SO didn't want
to do that to her hair. I really do love Sakura's hair just the way it is, because it is very
cute, but someone told me that girls didn't have hair that short back in the 1800s, and I
DID want to make this as accurate as possible. The reason it's curly is because I just did
the next best thing; I gave her Sophia's/Clara's hair (that's the real girl from "The Nutcracker")
Just ignore it if it bothers you a lot. *sighs*
But aside from this, did I do alright? Please email me at [email protected], or if you're
reading this at FF.Net, please leave a review. I REALLY want to know if I can still write or
not ^^.
If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading this fic! Also, if anyone has any
questions about the story, or the play in general (like whose playing what part) I'll gladly
clear it up for you ^_^. Once more, Merry Christmas everybody! ^_^
P.P.S -- Lately, I've been VERY much into the Harry Potter book series, and I made just
the tiniest reference to this in the fanfic, which I didn't notice till I reread it. Whoever can
catch it first gets the next and last part of this fic dedicated to them. ^^