Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is not in any way, shape, or form, a property of mine, but otherwise rightfully belongs to Clamp.
Author's Notes: Solely dedicated to yue's lady. Happy Birthday YL-neechan! There is a complete change in plot although the Cinderella concept is not entirely lost. Happy reading.
By the way, a book I have just started reading inspired concerning the teeny part about the cockroaches. Supposed to be longer but I fell asleep...
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Chapter One
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"Ran… Ran…"
A delicate frown made its way upon the fairy apprentice's lips. A dark gloved hand unconsciously sought out for a piece of crimson curl.
Twinkling bells echoed against the fresh morning air, while sunlight fought to stream from a small window noticeably in poor condition.
Poking her bocchama with the somewhat pointed tip of her rather—ahem—sparkly wand, Ruby Moon set out to do the most important (and enjoyable) part of her daily morning ritual.
She twirled her wand. Or rather, attempted to do so. From the middle finger of both hands dangled an ebony black bell each attached to red strips of satin cloth. They were quite the hindrance but Ruby Moon had learned to love them when she found out her bocchama abhorred them.
"Why must you always be so hard to wake up in the morning? I hate doing this but…"
Her lips formed into a mischievous smile.
Striking a pose, the fairy apprentice paused for effect. With a wave and the sweet tinkling of bells that accompanied it, she conjured a bucket of iced cold water.
It hovered on the air for a few seconds.
Ran-chan would be very displeased…
And promptly the contents of the said bucket spilled upon a head comprising of tangled chestnut curls.
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He was dreaming.
In his dream he had perfected a special art of killing cockroaches.
Swift and effective… the way he liked it without random disgusting body parts beings sprayed over the immaculate floor he had just scrubbed.
He was about to emerge victorious against a rather fierce opponent (with WINGS!) when suddenly things turned for a worse.
About to deliver a deadly blow with his trusty worn sandal when…
… The cockroach suddenly took out a garden host from nowhere and aimed it at him.
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"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
If there was anything that Syaoran hated it was cold water.
And his fairy godmother knew it all too well.
Hair flat against his head, he turned to glare at his supposed guardian.
Placing her hands in prayer position (with those damnable bells ringing, Syaoran noted with a cringe), and widening her startling crimson eyes, she almost looked innocent.
Of course there is a reason why almost and looked came before innocent.
He glared harder.
Ruby Moon took the cue.
"You're late Ran-chama! Run now before your evil stepfamily forces you yet to another grueling day of manual labor!"
Sniffling she added, "Oh, if only I could do something to ease your pain. But, alas, oh cruel, cruel Faith! She wishes to condemn you to serve such a detestable, vile, loathsome, pathetic excuse of a—"
By now Ruby Moon was on her knees sobbing rather convincingly.
This did not faze our young hero.
Instead, he marched to his cabinet—if you could call it one, that is—and dressed.
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She could never understand her Ran-chama.
Here he was with a beautiful, and talented fairy godmother that would be more than willing to find him a ball he could attend, conjure him a nice pair of glass shoes—err whatever that is that men wear—and find him a nice, loving princess to settle with, as they conquered the all the odds with the strength of love.
For once, Ruby Moon was quite ready to admit that she would've sucked as a romance novelist.
Her eyes landed upon the tangled mess that was her Ran-chama's bed, and the small puddle of water by her feet.
With a wave of her wand accompanied by the crystal chime of her bells the sheets folded themselves and she lazily motioned for the mop that was innocently sitting in a corner of Syaoran's room.
Sniffling in disdain she found herself eyeing the quarters of her bocchama for the past four, which had once served as an attic.
Cleaning equipment was scattered all over the room. A mop (that was currently fixing her mess), a broom with a broken handle, and dirty rags. A rickety old stool stood beside an equally rickety study table. Sitting upon it was an old cookbook bound in leather, tattered quills, old pieces of parchment in odd shapes, and an empty bottle of ink. And the most cheerful piece of furniture in the whole room was a simple tall, glass vase bearing a single red rose.
A bed was pushed into another side of Syaoran's room. Ruby Moon smiled fleetingly when she remembered the state of the bed when they first encountered it.
So instead of planning weddings she was fixing broken furniture. Instead of thinking of baby names she was forced to join her charge in his mission against household insects.
Ruby Moon sighed a long-suffering sigh.
Syaoran was the problem.
It would've been fairly easy to get him out of this.
But no… There were times when she swore he enjoyed his work. Cleaning the house, doing errands, cooking, having those maddening people insult him.
She understood if he did enjoy the work.
The boy lived to be clean. A neat freak if there was one, in fact his tendencies bordered on obsessive.
But the verbal abuse he received was a whole different story.
Ruby Moon wanted to pull at her hair.
She wondered how many more days she had to count off 'til Syaoran found the one.
Hopefully it would all be over soon.
Because if not…
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Slender ivory fingers ran through knotted auburn tresses. Tried that is.
"Okami, just where have you been?"
Silence met Yue's inquiry.
"Well, whatever you are doing I would highly recommend it that you stop it. I have broken five combs and their valiant sacrifices are still not enough."
The silver-haired man was not by any chance exaggerating. Extracting another fine toothcomb, he, once again, attempted to brush his mistress' hair.
"Sakura-sama would it not be easier if you just get handmaidens?"
Startled green met his gaze.
"But—!"
Arching a fine eyebrow, "But?"
"You have better fashion taste than all of the women in this kingdom!"
Keroberus will have a field day when he hears of this…
Letting out a tired sigh he continued in his attempt at taming his mistress' hair.
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Tsuzuku
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