Author's Note: Written for L-chan's "Games" challenge on Tsukimine Shrine. I went way over on my word count, but I'm submitting it anyway. This is what happens when you get Tam the nerd to talk about chess. ~hides~

Warnings include Tam being herself...which includes strangeness and hints of relationships that ~gasp~ might not be straight. Really though, it's mild...but may offend some people. If that is true of you, feel free to hit the "back" button on your browser now.

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Check Mate

I. Pieces

"Do I have to be king?" Sakura blushed, looking down at the square. "Can't I be queen instead?"

"The king leads the battle, Sakura-san. If you won't be king, we can't play against each other." Eriol pouted cutely to make his point.

"Oh." She stepped forward, and across the field Eriol mirrored her action. "I can pick anyone I want to be my queen?"

"Yes, and you pick first. Anyone you've ever met. Anyone you want."

Sakura blushed softly, clasping her hands together in front of her. "I pick Syaoran."

He appeared before her, and Eriol smirked. "Interesting choice. Kaho shall be my queen."

Syaoran looked around, blinking. "What's going on around here?"

"Eriol and I are playing a game of chess. Uh...you're my queen." Sakura swallowed, a faint dusting of rose appearing on her cheeks. "I-is that okay with you?"

Syaoran was blushing as well. He nodded. "Will I get to help you at all? Or just...uh...do what you tell me to do?"

She turned to Eriol, who was across the field talking to their old teacher. When Sakura caught his eye he nodded. "The two of you may consult each other."

They both looked relieved, clasping hands automatically. It made them both blush a little bit more, but it was comforting to have each other there.

Eriol looked over at them again. "I think it's safe to assume we each want our own guardians as the cornerstones of our protection?"

Sakura wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but it sounded right. She nodded.

Kero appeared in the corner square to Sakura's right, and Yue on the one on the left. Directly across from Kero, Spinel Sun appeared, and Ruby Moon filled the last corner. Yue and Kero looked startled, but Eriol's guardians seemed prepared for this. Sakura smiled, opening her mouth to reassure her guardians, but no sound came out. Startled, she looked to Eriol for an answer.

"Sorry," he said. "You can only consult the pieces adjacent to you. You will be able to give them commands in the course of the game, but that is all."

"He doesn't have to look so smug about it," Syaoran grumbled.

Sakura bit her lower lip, thinking about what that would mean. She wasn't great at chess, but she'd learned a little bit lately. Eriol had told her she'd be able to ask for help though--he just hadn't specified this little rule. She'd have to pick carefully.

"Pick your Queen's Bishop, Sakura-san," Eriol instructed with a grin.

"Who would you want at your side in a battle?" she asked softly, looking at her boyfriend in concern.

Syaoran appeared to think about that for a while, looking across from them warily, then looking down at his hands and numbering possibilities on his fingers. He finally nodded and looked her directly in the eye. "Mother knows how to play chess well."

"Oh! Good!" She clapped her hands together excitedly. "I choose Li Yelan to be my Queen's Bishop."

Kaho bent toward Eriol momentarily, and he nodded. "Kinomoto Touya."

"Onii-chan? You can't do that!"

"I can pick anyone you've ever met who hasn't already been taken," he said simply, cocking his head to the side.

"Fine. King's Bishop will be Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said immediately, defiance flashing in her eyes.

Eriol just nodded calmly, even as Sakura's best friend appeared beside her. "Kinomoto Fujitaka."

Sakura turned pink. "Otou-san?"

Her father was looking around, startled, but Eriol calmly began talking to the older man and things were sorted out.

"Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo was looking around with an equally confused look on her face.

"I challenged Eriol to a game of chess," Sakura said softly. "I was hoping he would help me learn to play better, since he knows so much. He pointed out that since I made the challenge, he could set the conditions, and I agreed. Then this happened." She spread her hands, indicating everything around them currently. "Do you know how to play chess, Tomoyo-chan?"

Tomoyo nodded, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll help you as much as I can. You'll do fine."

Spirits bolstered, Sakura looked back across the field where Eriol was waiting. "Who will be your Queen's Knight, Sakura-san?"

She turned to Syaoran for his input. He grinned at her, leaning close to whisper in her ear, "You'll be fine, I promise." Louder he said, "Meilin would be a good knight."

Sakura agreed, and the girl immediately appeared between her aunt and Yue. Yelan turned to explain things quickly, and Meilin caught on immediately, giving Sakura a thumbs up signal.

"Nakuru," Eriol's voice rang out.

Everyone jumped, looking at him in surprise. Sure enough, the false form of his moon guardian appeared next to her true form, and the two grinned at each other.

"How?" Sakura said, eyes wide and confused. "You can do that? Really?"

Eriol nodded, smiling patiently.

Sakura grew thoughtful. It only made sense to use Yukito to fill the last spot before filling in the pawns. Is that what Eriol expected from her? That would make sense, and he was still trying to teach her lessons every time they saw each other. This could be another lesson--

But this time the student wanted more than just a passing grade. If Eriol wanted her to think outside the box, she would think as outside the box as she could.

"For my King's Knight, I want Clow Reed!"

This actually set Eriol aback. His face went completely blank, and he stared at the spot where the dead mage suddenly appeared. Sakura beamed in triumph.

"Well. This makes things more interesting," Eriol finally murmured. By some trick of magic, it seemed Sakura was the only person who could hear him. Did that mean--? "Very well. Yukito shall be mine."

Sakura nodded, having expected that. "My pawns shall be Mirror."

The row in front of Sakura's "pieces" was filled with eight replicas of the Mirror card. The one directly in front of Sakura turned and looked at the Card Mistress with a smile. "I shall do my best," she said softly.

"Thank you."

Eriol announced his choice next. "I shall have Shadow as my front line."

The board was set.

II. The Game

"I have one last condition to set, before we begin play," Eriol said, eyes glittering.

The entire field turned silent, waiting for this announcement.

"To capture a piece, you will not be fighting one another as I'm sure some of you might have assumed. A kiss must be exchanged." Everybody on the field turned and stared at him. Eriol just shrugged and waved it away negligently. "It will just make things more interesting," he said with a grin and a gleam in his eye.

Touya and Syaoran looked particularly mutinous, but Sakura just nodded at this new condition. She would try to make sure that things didn't get too awkward. She made a mental note to never put Syaoran into a position where he threatened or was threatened by Touya. Neither of them would ever forgive her.

"The pawn in front of me, forward two spaces."

Eriol nodded, and now when he spoke Sakura could not hear his words. The other chess pieces clearly could though. Yukito moved past the pawn in front of him and toward the center by one square, threatening her pawn. Two squares forward, one square over.

Sakura turned to Tomoyo. Her best friend looked at her with huge eyes. "I wish I'd known about this sooner. I could have made costumes for everyone."

She tried to smile, but really...couldn't Tomoyo have said something a little more helpful? Sakura twitched a little, thinking that her friend was just too strange sometimes. "Tomoyo-chan, please protect that pawn."

"Don't you want to have another pawn do that?"

Sakura shook her head. "Please trust me. I have an idea."

"Always," Tomoyo said, clasping her friend's hands before moving diagonally forward to stand near the pawn out front.

Eriol brought his other knight, Nakuru, into the field.

"Clow-san. Toward the center please." He smiled over at her, nodding, and performed his own "L" shaped move. Eriol responded by moving the Queen's Pawn forward one.

"You're going to castle so soon?" Syaoran asked beside her.

Sakura nodded.

"You're well protected even now, and when you castle you'll only have that stuffed toy's advice."

"I can't play defensively the whole game," she said simply. "Besides, Kero plays games all the time. I have faith he'll give me good advice."

"Good luck," he murmured, just before she moved. She walked two squares to the right, and Kero immediately moved to the other side of her.

"I never told you how wonderfully awesome I am at chess. How did you know?" Kero said, pride dripping from his words.

Sakura just laughed.

III. Conflict

From there the battle commenced, though possibly not in the way battle was usually heated in a game of chess. The first problem came when Touya was directed to capture Clow, and of course Sakura's brother balked. When Touya did make his move though, it was hard for Sakura to not notice the reaction of two other pieces on the field. Yue had started forward as if to break the two apart, though Sakura wasn't sure if it was Clow or Touya that Yue was more protective of. She was careful to see Yukito's reaction though, and saw him frown thoughtfully. Had he said anything yet? She now wished she had chosen Yukito to be on her side, just so she could have arranged to have the two of them kiss and she could see for herself if they had opened up to each other yet.

Sakura's next move was to have one of her Mirror Pawns move forward and capture her brother--and Mirror almost fainted. Well, this was something new! Even though the card had only managed to give Touya a quick peck on the cheek, it was enough to know that there was something going on there. Sakura glanced over at Eriol, but her opponent only shrugged.

A few moves later Yukito was finally directed to take the pawn he'd been threatening all along. Sakura had just moved Syaoran forward directly behind that pawn though. Syaoran had the look of a deer caught in the headlights, and he turned to look at Sakura, begging silently to not make him do that. Two other pieces could take that knight...could capture Yukito...and Sakura was having a hard time not wishing that she was one of those pieces. With a brilliant blush she finally directed a pawn to move forward, and with a guilty pleasure remembered all the times Mirror had taken her form, and she imagined that Yukito was kissing her so gently on the cheek.

Even as Sakura was recovering she heard Eriol's voice ring across the field. "Check!"

What? That couldn't be right! Already? Yes, already. Kaho stood directly in front of her, looking at her in the gap her capturing pawn had left earlier. Sakura was left with no choice but to move one step to the right, and wait to see where the opposing queen would go next. Eriol left her there though, and Sakura was forced to think of other ways to move, now without Kero's advice. A few moves later she managed to get Kaho to move, and brought Kero closer, but she'd worried for a while, and she couldn't help but wonder if it had been a bad choice to waste a move just bringing him closer to her.

It got more intense, and everyone got more relaxed about the kissing rule. It was still awkward in some cases, but it was handled quickly now so that they could get on with the game. Sakura quailed as one of the pawns got closer to her row, but at this point there was nothing she could do to stop it. What piece was Eriol going to bring back? No. It didn't matter. She still had both rooks on her home row, and she'd ask Yue to capture whatever Eriol could come up with.

Sakura was in for a shock when the piece Eriol brought back was Touya.

She looked around, scanning for reactions. Kaho was smiling placidly, watching Touya with expectant kindness. Yukito turned away, biting his lip, and though Sakura thought she saw envy there she thought she saw a hint of hope in his eyes as well. Ruby Moon and Nakuru were both staring with wide eyes and obvious envy--there was no chance at all that they'd sneak a kiss from him since they were all on the same side.

Eriol was just smiling his usual enigmatic smile and motioned for Sakura to go on.

"Y-Yue-san. Please move over and...and capture Onii-chan," she stuttered, blushing.

Yue walked forward, and both of them looked hesitant and eager at the same time. At the last minute though Sakura clearly heard him mutter "Otou-san is watching, and so is Yuki."

Sakura shot a glance at Eriol, but he just put a shushing finger to his lips and gestured for her to keep watching.

"So is Sakura," Yue added. "I'm perfectly aware that there is an audience." He looked completely unruffled.

"Yeah, but I really want to kiss you."

Sakura almost squealed in delight. Yue was blushing faintly and looking shocked. Yukito had stopped pretending that he wasn't interested, and was now looking eager. Was he hearing the exchange too? A glance toward Sakura's father revealed that he had no problems with what was going on. In fact, she thought she heard him mutter something along the lines of, "It's about time."

She looked away to give them privacy, not wanting to really see her brother kiss anyone at all. That was his business. She'd seen all she needed to. A moment later the game resumed.

IV. End

There were only a handful of pieces remaining on the board now. The game was getting close, but Sakura's eyes sparkled in triumph. Eriol only had Kaho with him now, but Sakura had Syaoran and Yue.

It was only a matter of time.

Sakura managed to get the upper hand, trapping Eriol neatly despite the power of his queen threatening her. With a happy cry she declared, "Check mate!"

"Such a sad fact that the King never gets kissed," Eriol said, bowing to formalize his defeat.

The landscape swirled around them.

Sakura found herself sitting across from Eriol once again, chess board on the floor between them, fireplace roaring off to the side. "Did you learn everything you came here to ask me about?" he murmured, putting the plain wooden pieces back in their ornate box. It was, indeed, a special chess set despite appearances.

"I think so, yes. Next time though, I think I will have Yukito-san on my side."

"Yes. You surprised me there. Thank you." He smiled. "In exchange though, I would like Tomoyo to be on my side."

"Hoe?" Sakura looked confused.

"There are still some lessons that Sakura-san must learn," he tilted his head to the side, looking at her through half-lidded eyes. "I will agree to your request however. Li Syaoran will return within a month."

Sakura jumped to her feet and tackled him with a hug. "Thank you!"

Eriol did not look happy however. He just stroked her hair, holding her close. "Be careful what you wish for, Sakura-san. You still have many lessons ahead," he whispered softly into her ear.

No matter how much she wanted to ask, the words would not come. It seemed some lessons must be learned the hard way.