This is a complete revision. It may seem similar in the beginning, but I realized that my last version had too much of a deus ex machina feel, so this new version came about.

Disclaimer: I own neither Card Captor Sakura nor Fruits Basket.

ARRG! There be spoilers ahead!

Okay, so, this completely melds together CCS the manga (with Meiling added) and Furuba the anime. I prefer the manga, but the plot is only canon through what the anime covers, except for the fact that Akito is female. Syaoran and Meiling left for Hong Kong after the stuff with Eriol and never came back. Sakura takes the place of Tohru, acts very similarly, and has the same time line after the cards are captured.

A Sigh in the Breeze
Chapter 1: Calm Before the Storm

Kinomoto Sakura groaned and stretched in a most unladylike manner as her bubblegum pink alarm clock blared its honking wake-up call and murmured, "Hit the snooze for me, Kero-chan." Then, as though hit over the head with the Sword, she remembered where she was. Not at home with her doting and now magical father, Fujitaka, and her overprotective brother, Touya. She was not in her own room painted the same color as her alarm clock with an annoying stuffed animal to wake her up and a neighborhood where Yukito-san would be there to save her from his boyfriend. She did not attend a school with her best friend, Tomoyo, and the love of her life, Syaoran. She was not in Tomoeda with Eriol to guide her and with Meiling to keep her fighting abilities in shape. She was not even at her grandfather's home in the country.

Sakura lived with the Sohma family, which was more of a private club than a family – a club where membership is mandatory and the president's power absolute. A club with many members who did not care whether she lived or died.

'Well,' she reflected, 'maybe that's not true. Hiro-san and Akito-san are the only ones that really don't care, but Hiro wouldn't want me hurt because of Kisa-chan. Still, they would all be better off if I wasn't here to drag them down in life.' Sighing softly, Sakura pulled herself out of bed to prepare breakfast for the three ever-hungry men in the house.

Unknown to Sakura, a few days earlier, miles across the sea, the Elders of the Li Clan watched as Li Xiao Lang flawlessly completed the final test of his long trial and journey to becoming the leader of his clan. As he accepted the prestigious role, weighted down by his rich green and gold ceremonial robes, the young wolf thought only of returning to Japan to claim his prize – his bride.

In the present time, not far from Sakura's foreign bedroom, Sohma Akito, the head of the Sohma family, glanced down at the letter she had just received from the Li Clan in China. The letter itself was rigid, speaking in formula. The message contained within, however, said that the Elders had accepted Li Xiao Lang as their new leader.

The letter also requested that she meet with the new leader and the Elders of the clan soon. 'So now they want to talk. Well, if they want to see me so badly, they can come here themselves!' Fighting down a cough, Akito went about formulating her reply, which would be sent by phone, to the request. She then sent for her personal doctor; it seemed that she was getting sick again. 'Soon,' she thought grimly. 'Soon I won't have to deal with this curse any longer, and my family will be free. I only worry that if the curse is lifted, I will lose the hold I have on those pathetic Juunishi.' She shrugged. 'It makes no difference. I will be free.'

Yuki stumbled wordlessly into the kitchen with his head bowed, following the scent of the latest result of Sakura's culinary skills: chocolate-chip pancakes. 'He must still be asleep,' Sakura mused. She breathed in the scent of the cooking pancakes and with a sharp pang realized she wanted her brother to waltz into the room and say, "Oi, kaijuu, smells like you're burning whatever it is! Not that it would have been edible anyways." Then she would slam down hard on his toes with her tiny slippered feet, and everything would be okay between them.

Shigure walked in, looking like a puppy trying to coerce something out of a sympathetic old lady. "Good morning, everyone!" he chirped happily. Kyo turned his glare to him. "And what a wonderful morning it is!"

Sakura pasted a smile on her face, pushing Touya and his overwhelming "brotherliness" (as she called it) out of her mind. "Good morning, Shigure-san," she beamed up at him. "Do you mind pancakes this morning? I know it's not really traditional, but–"

"Whatever you're cooking is fine with him," Kyo growled, throwing a threatening look to Shigure. "Isn't that right?"

Shigure's eyes grew large with faux innocence. "Ah, Kyo-kun, you have so little faith in me. Why would you ever think I would doubt our dear Sakura-chan's cooking?"

"Just don't say anything stupid to her!" Kyo shouted. He opened his mouth to begin a new round of his tirade but was cut off by being thrown across the room courtesy of an uppercut.

"Shut up," Yuki growled.

Shigure laughed at their antics and looked at the mail. "Bill, coupons, bill, advertisement, political campaign junk, bill, letter from the main house, letter for Sakura-chan, bill--" he stopped suddenly. Sakura never received mail, not even from her grandfather in the country.

"Where's it from?" Yuki asked, trying to keep his calm exterior. Someone would have to know where Sakura was staying to send her mail to Shigure's house, and that list was very short.

"Uh... It's from Hong Kong." The three Sohmas glanced at each other. "It has some kind of a seal on it."

Before Shigure could scrutinize the wax seal too closely, however, Sakura spoke up. "I'll take it," she said, her voice thick, as though she was trying to talk through maple syrup. "It's mine."

"Do you even know who it's from?" Kyo snapped. Instead of looking stricken at his harsh tone like she usually did, Sakura bobbed her head a few times while staring at the letter. "Well, who's it from?" Sakura did not answer him, and Shigure handed her the expensive-looking cream envelope. She immediately left the room to read the first mail she had ever received while staying with the Sohma family.

Even Kyo noticed amongst his bickering with Yuki that Sakura was more spacey than usual at school. It was not until gym, however, that Kyo, Yuki, Uotani, and Hanajima began to realize that Sakura was not herself.

After everyone changed into their gym uniforms – with nearly the entire female population and some of the male, too, admiring Yuki's legs – the coach called everyone forward to a balance beam. "Now, I don't expect anyone except the cheerleaders and dancers and such to be any good at this – well, and Yuki too – but the government requires that all of you know how to walk across one of these things properly. Anyone ever used one of these before?"

As the coach said, cheerleaders and dancers, as well as a few twirlers, raised their hands. Sakura, however, also stuck an unwavering hand into the air.

"Sakura," Uotani hissed, "are you sure? I mean, even if you did this once in elementary school or something, you're more out of it than usual today. I mean, I love how you get loopy and all, but you could get hurt!"

Sakura smiled at her Uo-chan but wanted to wince at the thought of Tomoyo, who would be cheering her on while pulling a special outfit for the occasion out of her bag and turning on her camera to capture everything about the event.

Since it was a rare occasion for Sakura to volunteer anything in gym class, the coach picked her to go first. "Alright now, you can hold your arms out to balance yourself if you need to. Don't worry; it's not that far off the ground, and we've got gymnast mats covering the floor. Breathe in and out very evenly and try not to panic if you get stuck."

'Who's worrying?' Sakura mused as the coach shot off the speech before she covered half the distance to the beam. Breathing evenly like she remembered from so long ago, she walked across the narrow balance beam as though she was strolling down the street. Sakura had tried to keep in shape as much as possible over the years and never lost any of her tumbling abilities. As Sakura reached the end of her little road, the next girl, a cheerleader, moved to get on and show the Yuki-sama stealer the real meaning of grace. Before she could, however, Sakura zipped around and performed a flawless roundoff backhand spring, landing on the mats below and nearly hitting the frozen cheerleader.

Sakura's four friends glanced at each other and agreed: Time to talk with our girl, because something is not right.

"Are you going to work tonight, Kinomoto-san?" Yuki asked politely while Kyo fumed in the background.

"Aah, no, Yuki-kun. I have an important meeting tonight." Sakura tried to keep her explanation as short as possible, but Kyo would have none of it.

"Damn it! Where are you going and who are you meeting with? One of us should accompany you! Hell, five of us should accompany you! This has something to do with that damned letter, doesn't it?" Kyo growled at himself and quickly looked away from Sakura's face. "I mean, it's not safe for a girl to be wandering around alone to who-knows-where."

"Although I do not agree with Kyo's harsh manner, I do believe that you should have an escort," Yuki smoothed over.

"I'm sorry, everyone, but I really do need to go alone. I'll have someone drop me off at Shigure-san's house afterwards, okay?" Before they could answer, Sakura turned to walk down a different street, her long brown hair whispering against the middle of her back.

"Well," Kyo snorted, "that went well. Follow her?"

"Yeah."

Yuki remembered when he had first met Sakura during junior high. She and her father had moved into a smaller house in his school district so they could support someone in college. Was it for a family member? Saving for Sakura later on? Her father himself? Yuki could not remember. He could remember her nervous emerald eyes as she walked into class D for the first time. Her hair was cut rather short at the time; it was cute. It had made her appear younger than her true age.

The clearest memory he had of Kinomoto Sakura before she came to live at the Sohma house was on the day her father had died. The principal had walked into the room and asked if he could talk to her. The teacher consented -- not that he had much of a choice -- and they walked just outside the door. He could still see the shocked and horrified look on her angelic face before she ran down the hall. Her two friends, Hanajima and Uotani, went running after her. He did not think much of it at the time. He could recall thinking, 'Maybe someone in her family got hurt...' It had been so impersonal when he recalled the memory. She was just a presence barely at the edge of his perception; she meant nothing. Yuki still had trouble believing how callous he was at the time, during the years before he truly experienced Sakura's presence.

She was out of school for nearly a week, and he did not bother wondering where she was.

Yuki did not like admitting this, even to himself. He could not imagine trying to tell this to the baka neko or Shigure. He did not even want to think about mentioning his former lack of caring to Sakura herself. She had become a constant in his life. He now knew what had caused her to look for weeks like a zombie without any brains to munch. He now knew why Hanajima had mentioned "taking the couch and letting Sakura take the bed" everyday until the end of that school year.

Yuki still beat himself over the head (mentally) for being such an idiot. Had she known that he did not care? Had she known that no one other than her two friends had bothered remembering her first name until she gained the attention of his own fan club? Had she known that no one had cared enough to even wonder for more than a few meager seconds what had made her so upset? Had she known that no one other than her two friends (who were absent themselves) would have noticed she was gone for that almost-week if the sensei would not have called roll every morning?

Probably. She was a lot more perceptive than anyone gave her credit for.

In an attempt to make up his previous failures concerning Sakura, Yuki decided that he would always protect her, even if she became angry with him in the process – not that Sakura ever got angry. Even if it meant being around the Cat, even if Sakura did not choose him in the end, Yuki was still willing to give anything to keep her safe. Anything.

Sakura meandered through town, idly gazing through shop windows. She still had a large bit of time to waste before meeting Syaoran and Meiling at their hotel. A large part of Sakura wished that they were getting an apartment in town – one big enough to fit her as well. The part of her that loved the Sohma family, however, protested loudly, like a hungry half-grown cat. Still another minuscule portion of her heart wished desperately that Syaoran would sweep her off her feet and bring her to Hong Kong immediately. Torn at the possible futures, Sakura decided to wait until finding out Syaoran's plans before rushing into a new life.

A tingle of magic at the back of her neck warned Sakura that two Juunishi were following her. She smiled in anticipation. 'Let's see if you can outmaneuver the Mistress of the Cards, shall we?' Sakura berated herself for being so mischievous, but feeling Syaoran's presence nearby made her a little playful. Drawing confidence from that green aura, she began a chase that she knew would end with the cat and mouse lost and the cheese safely away.

Syaoran fidgeted in his chair. That is, Syaoran blinked very rapidly, and his thumbs twitched every few minutes. Meiling sighed and said, "Stop that; you're making me nervous!"

Syaoran snorted, "You're nervous?" His voice shook a bit towards the end, punctuating his point.

"Yes, and I shouldn't be! Just relax. Sakura-chan's just as anxious to see you as you are to see her; I know she is. You know she is. So just calm down so her first impression of you after so many years isn't the image of a complete wreck. Lovesick puppy, that I can handle. A boy about to fall apart at the seams is where I draw the line."

A knock at the door interrupted Meiling's preaching, and Syaoran bolted to the door only to slowly grasp the handle with sweaty hands and turn it gently. He had not seen Sakura in six years, and the green-eyed vision behind the door was worth the wait.

Okay, so, I promised this to you AGES ago. I promise that I'm not dead, just busy with college-y stuffs. Let me know what you think about it! It's about a thousand words longer than the original chapter one, so yays! No promises on anything else, just that I am working on things.