The Cold and the Cardcaptor
Chapter One: Winter Wonderland
^grins evilly then takes deep breathe ^…IIIIIIIII'MMMMM BAAAAAAAACCCCKKKKK!!!! YAY!! Aren't you all just soooo lucky? Anywho, I thought it was about time I started writing again, I've got all these ideas firing around in the little cesspool of my mind that just have to come out! SO, first things first, why 'The Cold and The Cardcaptor'? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Anywho, the cc cast are all going to be about 16 years old (make 'em teenagers. I can relate then : P)which means I can do lots of evil things…mainly to Syaoran, coz he's the most fun to torture…eh he he he (evil grin), so it shall be fun. As is my usual style of things, it's going to (hopefully, I dunno, I might just be getting ahead of myself) be funny, have a bit of S + S & E + T romance and a bit of action/adventure to liven things up a bit. So if I haven't managed to bore/scare you off, read on and enjoy the insanity!!!
And the disclaimer…::sighs dejectedly and whines:: Do I have to do it? I don't wannnaaaaaaaa…
::gets surrounded by tall authority type people with baseball bats:: eep okay…I'll be good…
I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!! ::sniff:: NOTHING! ABSOLUTLY NOTHING! ::bursts into tears::
IT'S JUST NOT FAIIIIRRRRRRR! WAAAAAAAAAAA…::gets dragged away kicking and screaming:
::Cough cough:: ahem…yes anyway, on with the story
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Syaoron's POV:
It was the middle of winter, nearing the end of math's…and I was seriously beginning to suspect that my butt had frozen to my chair. Nothing short of unusual if you took into consideration that the chair in question was actually hard plastic.
I stared idly out the window to the snow covered landscape outside, completely bored. I had finished the math work a while ago and was just waiting for the end of class. I glanced back up to the clock and quietly sighed.
10 minutes to go.
Looking back out the window I noticed the reflection of a person on its' clear surface, or to be more specific, the reflection of a girl.
Sakura.
She had really grown up in the last 6 or so years. We all had. Sakura had grown her hair out a bit, the same style, it was now reached her shoulders. She was taller, even more athletic…and drop-dead gorgeous. If Eriol had been tramping his way through my thoughts when Sakura was on the brain, he'd have enough dirt to tease/blackmail me for months. But it was true, I saw the way the other guys looked at her, but she never seemed to notice. Or she just ignored it. Anyway, one thing was for sure, Sakura was something special and it would be one very lucky guy whom she chose to be with.
I just wish it could be me.
Tomoyo and Eriol hadn't changed much, apart from obviously looking older. And me…well I got a lot taller, and that made my numerous arguments with Touya a lot more interesting. I think the fact that I could now glare at him eye to eye kinda threw him off a bit.
The Clow cards had all been caught, sealed and transformed years ago, and not much had really happened since then. There was the occasional person or thing that would come along to challenge her for the cards but nothing that we couldn't handle.
Yet.
Cross fingers.
Sakura was chewing on the end of her pencil, a tiny frown wrinkling her brow as she mulled over one of the math's problems. Some things never change I suppose, math's was still one of her weakest subjects.
I dragged my attention away from the virtual goddess in front of me when I heard the sound of someone quietly yet deliberately clearing their throat.
I turned to the source of the interruption.
Surprise surprise.
It was Eriol.
I scowled when he glanced at Sakura, back at me, then raised his eyebrows and smiled that oh-so-annoying mysterious little smile of his.
I hate that smile.
Just another one of his not-so-subtle hints for me to make a move on Sakura. You'd think that for such a smart guy he'd have realized by now that Sakura has more important things to do in her life right now than to be with a guy like me more than she needs to. I'd probably just get in the way. {AN: wow, he's just brimming with confidence isn't he?}
Getting back to the physical manifestation of all things evil, he had simply chuckled softly at my scowl and turned back to his work. I sighed again and looked back at the clock.
8 minutes to go.
Damn.
I was contemplating whether or not it would be a good idea to throw something at Eriol's annoying little head when the teacher asked Rika to hand out some papers and told the rest of us to put down our pens…
We were going on a ski trip.
* Oh great, a higher altitude, so it's going to be even colder. *
Excited chatter broke out, but before it got out of hand Mr. Terada {AN: Is that spelt right? And I'm making it so that both Ms. Mizuki and Mr. Terada are teaching high school now. Mr. Terada is the maths teacher…coz I said…just to clear that up for ya…} spoke up, "The trip is in a month, so you have a few weeks to pay. We'll discuss it more after lunch but I just need to clear something up. The main lodge were we'll be staying doesn't have enough room for the whole class, but we have booked a smaller lodge nearby." There were a few moans from somewhere in the class, but Mr. Terada just smiled and continued, "it's actually not bad, better than the main one actually. Now to make things fair, we decided to draw the names out of a bucket to see who gets to stay in the cabin..."
~~~~~~~~~~TIME GAP!~~~~~~~~
"You know, it's not really fair on everyone else if you tamper with the draw."
Not really surprisingly, Eriol had used his magic so that Sakura, Tomoyo, him and I would be staying in the smaller lodge. He didn't see it as a problem. "It's just a precaution, dear descendant, if we have to use our magic, then there won't be other people around."
*…Great, now that he's said that, we'll probably be jinxed…*
"Yeah whatever…and drop the descendant bit okay."
"But it suits you so well…dear descendant"
Sometimes, I don't know why I even bother.
For such a serious guy like Eriol, he can be amazingly childish at times. {AN: ^evil cackle ^ eh hehehe sorry Syaoran, but you have no idea what I have planned….}
I ignored the evil one's smug smile when a screech behind us caught our attention.
"WHAT?!"
CRASH!
We simultaneously spun around.
Sakura, who appeared to have fallen off her blades because of the sheer volume of the yell, was sprawled on the ground, fingers held like a cross towards a visibly steaming Tomoyo.
I blinked at the odd scene and hesitantly questioned, "umm…what happened…?"
Tomoyo, drama queen extraordinaire, pointed a finger accusingly at Sakura, who cowered, before replying "She-she-she said that she didn't want me to make her any clothes for the trip…" She pouted, tears started to gather in her eyes. "She-she said that she was going to get…" she visibly shuddered "store clothes," before bursting into tears.
*uh boy…*
A few years ago Tomoyo decided that she completely disagrees with any item of store brought clothing. Since the cards had all been changed, the need for battle costumes had ceased, so to make up for that everything that she and Sakura now wear's is made by the Tomoyo.
Well, almost everything.
After what is now only referred to as 'The Incident', she had let a few things slide…
We had been walking around the shopping mall, wasting time until our movie started when Tomoyo had sucked in a breath and stopped dead in her tracks. A new store had opened up, which apparently went against her every belief.
It just had to be Victoria's Secret didn't it?
Much to the shock of the other shoppers, assistants and us, Tomoyo had stormed up to a nearby rack and brandished an item for all to see.
"Look! Look at this! This costs $80 dollars! I can make something like this for a fraction this price! It barely covers anything! What's the point of that, a bra is supposed to support." She spun around at that point, said undergarment shoved in the face of the nearest person.
Unfortunately, that nearest person was me.
"Would you pay $80 for something like this Syaoran? Hmm? hmm?!"
I had found it rather hard to answer at that point, too much blood rushing to my face, making me blush like a complete dolt, and start to stutter.
Hey, it's not ever day a girl stuffs a bra in your face.
Eriol had of course come up with a witty little comment, which I'm probably never ever going to forgive him for.
"I don't know about that one Tomoyo, I've always seen Syaoran as a 'Wonderbra' man myself…"
Long story short, Tomoyo went on a rampage, things got a little out of hand, and somehow I got stuck with the bill.
My sister's are still teasing me about why $300 dollar bill from Victoria's Secret suddenly came up on our family account.
Anyway, back to the crisis at hand, Sakura had managed to get back on her feet. "But Tomoyo, I just thought it would be easier for you, we've only got a month…that's not enough time for you to make a whole wardrobe for the ski trip…"
Tomoyo sniffled then replied, "but I've already made most of your clothes, I just need to get some measurements from you guys to make sure everything fits…"
I froze, then muttered before Sakura could reply, "wait…what did you mean by you guys…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura's POV:
"Tomoyo?"
"…mmm?"
"Could you explain something to me…"
Tomoyo pushed another pin into the cuff of the snow pants that Eriol was trying on, and turned around to me. "Of course…go ahead."
"Okay, it's cold in the hills were we're going to right…like colder than it is here?"
"yeah…"
"And the point if snow clothes is to keep you warm right?"
"Of course"
"okay…then why is my top midriff?"
Tomoyo blinked at me as if it was some sort of trick question.
* uh boy *
It seemed that fake fur was the trend of the season. It lined everything, from the hats and hoods to the edge of my boots.
* Oh well, at least I won't get cold. *
Tomoyo finished the adjustments on the last item of Eriols new wardrobe and ushered him into the spare room to get changed, then picked up the last piece of clothing on the 'adjustments pile'. "Oh there it is…Syaoran could you come here please…"
Syaoran, who had long ago retreated to the couch after his clothes had been fixed, scowled and replied, "please tell me I don't have to try anything else on…"
Tomoyo looked hurt then pouted, "But Syaoran…I couldn't find this before…and it's the last one I promise…pretty please?"
Syaoran grimaced…but stood up and reluctantly replied, "okay fine, if it's the last one."
He never could say no to a puppy-dog face.
I should remember that, might come in handy.
Tomoyo grinned and giggled then handed the garment to Syaoran, who gave the mostly green coloured item; a coat, a wary look before slipping it on. Tomoyo stood back, then rubbed her chin. "Hmm…I dunno, there's something not quite right about it…what do you think Sakura?"
I looked at the long dark green coat and just shrugged, but Eriol wandered out, having changed back into his uniform, took one look at Syaoran and replied, "Makes him look like a pimp."
Ahh, that's it.
I suppose the fur on the collar was a bit much.
Syaoran just shot Eriol one of his patented death glares and muttered, "Shut up Eriol"
~~~~~~~~~~TIME GAP!!~~~~~~~~~~~
"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap…"
I glanced down at my wristwatch again, but that hadn't made the time go any slower.
"crapcraprapcrapcrap…"
* CRAP…why can't I wake up on time…I bet they've already left…I've so missed the bus…why didn't Kero wake me? *
I was sprinting down the street, everything around me a blur. Thankfully I didn't have to take a big suitcase with me. Tomoyo was taking that to school for me as she had made most of it at her home, all I had was my backpack filled with the essentials; junk food, CD player and assorted CD's, junk food, Sakura Cards, junk food…. I'm just surprised Kero hadn't gotten into my stash, I guess hiding it in Touya's room must've scared him off.
I didn't have my blades on either and it was hard enough to get to school on time when I actually had them. So I had to run. At least all those years of sports have paid off. I skidded around a corner and glanced at my watch. The bus was scheduled to leave at 8 am, and according to my watch, it was already 15 minutes past. "crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap…they've already left…I've missed it…I've missed the only chance I'll ever get to be staying in a cabin almost alone with Syaoran…crapcrapcrapcrap…"
It figures that the day before, Dad had left on an expedition and Touya was on the other side of town studying something for university, so I had no choice but to walk or as is the case, run. They had warned me to get up early. But noo I just had to sleep in again didn't I?
Hurling myself aside to avoid a pedestrian-shaped blur, I skidded around yet another corner and my high school came into view. My stomach sank when I noticed that there wasn't a bus in sight.
*…no…wait…maybe they're parked around the side…I think Mr. Terada mentioned something about parking the buses around the side…*
Clinging to my last vain hope I changed direction mid-sprint and made a beeline for the side of the school…and rammed right into someone walking in the same direction. There was a flurry of limbs and bags and I ended up sprawled on top of the afore-mentioned person. I tried to get up, but I was dizzy from the fall, stuck my hand out to balance and ended up grabbing the person's arm. An arm of someone who obviously worked out. My hand sprang back as if burned and I stumbled off, looked guiltily down at my feet and tried to get out and apology. "I'm soo sorry I'm supposed to be on a bus and.."
"Sakura…"
"I'm late and…"
"Sakura"
"and I wasn't really looking where I was going and…"
"Sakura"
I'm so sorry for banging into you and…"
"SAKURA"
"Huh?"
I paused, the familiarity of the voice finally sinking in.
*…oh no…*
I hesitantly looked up and into a pair of instantly recognizable warm brown eyes.
*ohh…shit*
My voice squeaked "SyAOran!". I coughed to try and get it back to its' normal pitch, "Uh…Syaoran…er..hi…um…sorry for running into you like that and landing on you and grabbing your arm…you've got really muscle-y arms by the way…not that that's the point but I guess all that sword work has really paid off…but that's still not the point, I mean shouldn't just grope err grab your arm like that…"
I know I was babbling…but I couldn't help it. It was like a Syaoran overload had opened a floodgate and I just couldn't shut up…
Syaoran was staring at me blank faced. He probably didn't think it was possible for so many words to come out in such a small amount of time.
"I mean I know I should look were I'm going but I was running late and I was really worried that I was going to miss the bus for the camp and I was really looking forward to going and mmmfmmmm…(major blush)." The last bit was muffled as Syaoran strategically covered my mouth with his {AN: I could have just left it at that…you know make it seem like they're making out in the middle of the street. But where's the fun in that?! I still have to torture Syaoran some more (evil snicker) ehehhehehe} hand.
"It's okay Sakura, just slow down…"
He pulled his hand away and I smiled apologetically. " (nervous laugh) he he err sorry about that…" His mouth twitched up in a bit of a grin, then he bent down to retrieve our wayward bags. He was handing me mine when I realized something. "Wait a minute, were you late too?"
"Late? Sakura it's only 7: 30 am." He pointed to the big clock in the tower of our old school, it was a little hard to miss the giant hands indeed pointing out the earlier hour.
I blanched. "Huh?" A glance at my watch just got me even more confused.
It read 8: 24 am. "okay now I'm confused."
* My watch can't be that out of time…unless…*
I scowled, then muttered, "Kero, he must have wound my watch forward…"I sighed, "remind me to thank him when we get back…"
As it turned out, we were the first to arrive...the buses hadn't even gotten here yet. Syaoran was just early out of habit. By 7: 50 most of our class had arrived, the buses pulled up and Mr. Terada and Ms. Muzuki started to organize our luggage into the coaches. I stayed with Syaoran chatting as we waited for Eriol and Tomoyo to arrive. Syaoran, despite his often grumpy closed-off exterior, was a really nice guy to talk to, and besides Tomoyo and Eriol, was one of my closest friends. I just wish it could be more. I'm pretty sure he likes me more than a friend, but he just never seems to want to do anything about it. It's beginning to look like a lost cause.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Syaoran's POV:
It had just started to snow again when we were finally allowed onto the buses. Tomoyo was the first on, followed by Eriol, Sakura and me, and headed straight for the back seat. Eriol, no surprise, took the seat next to her. Me, being ever the chivalrous one offered Sakura the remaining window seat, which she gleefully accepted. It wasn't until I sat in the remaining space that I realized that for the next 5 or so hours I would be occupying this very spot.
That's 5 hours close to Sakura.
5 hours very close to Sakura.
These seats weren't exactly designed for 4 teenagers to be seated with ample space to spare.
And to make things worse, Eriol was on my other side, and from the smirk on his face, he was going to make sure these next 5 hours were going to be a living hell.
I would be lucky if I could just pass out now and sleep for the whole trip.
~~~~~~~Approx. 1 hour and 34 minutes later~~~~~~~~~
"okay okay, I've got another one…why did the girl fall off the swing?"
I very unenthusiastic reply drifted up from somewhere in the front of the bus. I guess I wasn't the only one getting bored of Yamazaki's bad jokes, "I dunno…why"
"coz she had no arms or legs!" The collective groan didn't discourage him at all as Yamazaki enthusiastically continued, "Why did the boy fall off his bike?"
The same bored tone replied, "I dunno, coz he had no arms or legs…"
"nope, he was hit by a fridge!" not missing a beat, "what's brown and sticky?"
"(sigh) I dunno…"
"…a stick!…and what do you call…"
He was interrupted mid sentence by the same bored tone of Chiharu from before, "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think I preferred your lies…"
It was going to be a long long bus trip.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomoyo's POV:
Halfway through the trip, we were allowed a 10-minute break to stretch our legs and get a bite to eat at a small town at the base of the mountain on which our camp was being held. Sakura and Syaoran had wandered off to get some food, leaving Eriol and I to ourselves. The perfect opportunity for some planning. Matchmaking was harder than people think, especially when it comes to Eriol's 'dear descendent'.
I watched silently as the hopefully-soon-to-be-couple strode together to the small café to get us all some drinks. "Do you think they actually realize that most of the time, they act like a couple anyway?"
Eriol grinned slightly and replied, "probably not my dear Tomoyo, but as they say love is blind"
I snorted, "that's the understatement of the century, with Syaoran love is not only blind but it's deaf and has a speech impediment…"
"Touché Tomoyo, touché…" He leaned back on the park bench before continuing, "so, what do you suppose we do about my precious daughter and 'tweedledum'?" This is the conundrum, and the subject of many a discussion between us.
"Well, we know that Sakura is willing…" His eyebrow rose up in interest. "We do?"
*…that's strange, he usually notices these things before anyone else does…oh well…*
I nodded and continued, "yeah, she said that she really likes him, but she wants him to make the first move…"
"So much for woman's liberation…"
"Not exactly, she just believes a few things should still be left to the men…which just makes our job that much harder…"
"yes, my dear descendent still believes that they are nothing more than good friends…he keeps saying he doesn't want to get in the way…"
I chewed on my bottom lip in thought, "have you tried telling him?"
He grinned ruefully, "I think I lost his trust a long time ago when I was helping Sakura change the Clow Cards, I think he still believes I'm up to something…and generally doesn't listen to a word I say"
I sighed, somewhat defeated, "no chance he'll figure it out himself?"
"Don't get me wrong, he's smart…but when it comes to relationships, he pretty much runs on empty."
I chuckled, keeping an eye on the door of the café, "so what do you have planned? Lock them in our cabin for a while and hope that Syaoran will listen to his hormones instead of his head and make a move or what?"
"I don't think that'll work, to many places for him to hide…I think we have to be more subtle…" He paused, his gaze fixed, "But we'll have to discuss this later…" I followed his gaze, as our favorite to-be-couple came towards us, bearing food.
Something was for certain, if Eriol and I can pull a few strings, this is going to be one camp that Sakura and Syaoran will never forget.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syaoran's POV: Approx. 3 hours, 24 minutes into the trip.
I'm not really sure who brought it up, but somewhere along the way someone came up with the bright idea of partaking in some time wasting bus games. 'I spy' and several rounds of annoying bus songs had been done to death, so next on the agenda was 'whispers'. {AN: I can't remember if that was the actual name….But basically the gist of it (if you've never heard of it before) is one person makes up a short message and whispers it to the person next to them, who then whispers whatever they heard to the next person, and so on and so on. Hell of a fun game if: a) people screw up the message and come up with something in say, a different language to what was originally said b) you purposely screw it up to make things more interesting, embarrass the hell outta someone, yadda yadda. I think the teachers just like it coz it shuts everyone up for a good 20 minutes.} As luck would have it, Yamazaki was the first, and he had to make up the message.
This should be interesting.
Chiharu gave him a funny look when he whispered the message to her, but just shook her head and passed it on. I watched, slightly bored, at the numerous expressions on the faces of the people as the message was passed on, most people just looked confused. But that would have been nothing compared to the look on my face when it was Eriol's turn to give the message to me.
His smirk wasn't exactly reassuring when he leant over to give it to me…"…Sakura is hot stuff…"
I felt my face go red hot as Eriol's voice filtered into my mind. Damn him and his telepathy.
*Go on dear descendant, you don't want to be a party pooper do you?*
*I am not telling Sakura that…*
The evil little bastard changed the message. Well two can play at that game.
I leant over to Sakura, trying to ignore the little voice in my head (strangely enough not Eriol) telling me that I was giving myself the perfect opportunity to 'take it to the next level' wink wink then passed the 'message' on.
"…Eriol is a transvestite…"
Sakura actually snorted trying to stop herself from laughing, however, for some reason I don't think I'll ever know, actually considers Eriol as a friend, and glared playfully at me, before passing on a message which she probably changed.
Just goes to show the listening capabilities/imagination of the people in our class. Originally the message was 'Yamazaki is a legend', and ended up being 'Quack says Mr. Purple Chicken'.
Hmm.
Kinda makes you feel a bit worried doesn't it.
Made the time go a bit faster I suppose.
~~~~~~~~TIME GAP!~~~~~~
It was fairly late in the afternoon when we finally arrived at the snow covered peak of Mt. Persun {AN: I just made that up, so it doesn't actually exist, unless by some completely freaky coincidence…}
The quaint little village hugged the base of the ski fields, barely visible through the snow and mist. We were told to wait on the bus as our teachers went out to the main building to get the keys and the directions to our lodges. Using the brief break I rummaged through my backpack for the beanie Tomoyo had so generously provided for the trip. It was a bit more outrageous than what I would usually wear, but my ears felt like they were about to drop off due to frostbite, so I slipped it on anyway. It was designed to have a sort of long tail, if I stood up, it would probably go past my waist. I probably looked ridiculous in it, but at least my head was warm. Sakura dragging her attention away from the goings on outside, looked at me, smiled and giggled, "That's such a cute beanie Syaoran, it looks good on you…" as if I wasn't blushing enough, a majority of the bus heard, setting off most of the girls giggling. I hated being the centre of attention.
A few minutes later we had made our way to our home for the next 10 days. The main lodge where a majority of our class was staying was built into the side of a small valley. A ramp lead up into the wet area and drying room, were you could take off our shoes and jackets etc. and keep your boards and skies. This led into a large living area, with a big central fireplace. A staircase on the left led into the dorm rooms, which basically consisted of a few bunk beds and a small bathroom in each. Two rooms at the far end belonged to the teachers. The other staircase from the living area lead down into the kitchen and into another slightly larger living area, and the floor under that was the laundry, spare showers and sauna. Ms. Mizuki got the rest of the class settled in, as Mr. Terada led us to the cabin that we had to stay in, about a five minute walk from the main one.
He wasn't joking when he said it was nicer than the main cabin. It was basically a smaller copy of it, but ours had a better view, and looked like it had recently been refurbished. It was obviously designed for a family holiday, not for school camps, as the two bedrooms both had two double beds, and the bathrooms were bigger and nicer. It was completely self contained, but unless we got hungry in between all our meals were to be had in the main cabin. He told us to be over to the main cabin in 10 minutes so we could go hire our gear, then left us to get ourselves unpacked.
Sakura and Tomoyo bounded inside and claimed the bedroom that had the best view and before Eriol and I had even started our argument of who slept were, had already gotten unpacked and changed. And to think, I had always assumed he was above petty arguments, but apparently not. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was just doing it to annoy me. My suspicions were proved correct when he replied, "If you don't want to share a room with me, why don't you go share a bed with Sakura…." He feigned a fake look of surprise, as my response was to splutter and blush, and replied, "oops, did I say bed? I meant room…"
This was going to be the longest 10 days of my life.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Damn straight. Sorry for all you people out there who disagree with pointless Syaoran Torture, but…IT'S JUST SO MUCH FUN!! (Read 'The Science of Torturing Syaoran' by SyaoranSword…hehehe helluva funny fic…and gives proof that torturing Syaoran is a well known and loved tactic…EVERYONE DOES IT DAMMIT!!!) Anywho…um next chapter…umm they'll be getting equipment and stuff, starting lessons...and having fun with board games…and I don't mean Monopoly…(snicker) think more along the lines of 'twister' and a game called 'Taboo'. (And as a bit of a teaser, as part of the game, Syaoran has to explain what 'adultery' is without actually saying the word. {there's more to it than that, but I'll explain how you play it later…} hehehe Loads of fun for everyone!!
Ooh, AND PLEASE REVIEW!! I'd really really really appreciate some feedback! Thanx muchly! ^ _ ^