RECAP: Last chapter like nothing happened, it was all the day before Sakura’s birthday. Meilin left for Hong Kong, Syaoran wants to give Moondust to Sakura because he has to leave in a while and someone needs to take care of her. Chindra gives Sakura a crystal necklace, Tomoyo got Chindra and Sakura and herself tickets to a popular band’s concert. Syaoran suspects the Voice or Song card is being used on this band, he’s going to try and seal the card by himself. That’s where this takes off!

Chapter 22

Syaoran opened his eyes to the dark dawn. His room had a grey glow to it, letting him know the sun was going to rise in an hour or so He looked at the clock next to him, seeing that it was five till five. Syaoran forced his tired body out of bed and stumbled his way over to the closet, looking through clothes. I am going to be seeing a bunch of famous people. Maybe I should try a little harder with my clothes. Syaoran pulled out a sweater and a pair of his nicer jeans, then quickly changed. He dragged himself into the kitchen, pulling the fridge open and yanking out the jug of milk.

Syaoran sloppily ate up a bowl of cereal just for the energy, then dumped the bowl into the sink, ignorant of the accumulating pile of dirty dishes. He walked over to the cabinent in the room and picked up the suitcase he had packed for himself the previous night. He walked over to the door and put on the heavy trenchcoat heavily armed with viles of magic. Syaoran grabbed the sunglasses out of his pocket that he had put in them last night, and stepped back, walking in front of their full length mirror.

Do I look old enough to get my own hotel room? Almost. Attitude is everything. Of course I am old enough to book a room, I am old enough to sneak into several hotels trying to break into a band’s hotel room. Syaoran grabbed his suitcase, got his keys out of his pocket, and stepped out of the his apartment, locking the door behind himself, and tromping down the stairs. His coat almost reached his feet, and Syaoran had to work on not tripping on it as he walked. Someone’s going to ask me for an autograph.

Syaoran was satisfied that he got a look from the girl working the lobby, and he continued cooly out of the apartment building onto the sidewalk, shivering a bit from the cool morning air. Syaoran stood only for a moment as a yellow car drove up to the sidewalk, and he quickly walked to it, throwing his suitcase in the backseat then sitting down after it.

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Syaoran stepped out of the taxi onto the busy sidewalk of northern Tokyo. He wasn’t in the city, but even the surrounding areas were busy, and this division of town had people walking on the sidewalks no matter what the time of morning. He looked around for a while, gathering his bearings. Presently he was standing in front of the dome that the band’s concert was going to be held at.

Now which of these thousand hotels are they staying at? Great, Syaoran gets to go hotel shopping. I’ll start with the expensive ones and work my way down. Wait, I could use my Lasin board. If there is a card being used, I’ll be able to find it. Syaoran walked his way to an alley, a pathway between two large buildings, somewhere desolate to use his board. This’ll work. Syaoran looked around to make sure no one was around, and pulled out his board. Just as he did, something grabbed his shoulder.

With catlike reflexes Syaoran whipped around, facing a scruffy older looking fellow dressed in rags. Syaoran put his free hand into a fist, glaring at the man. "Can I help you?" Syaoran asked coldly.

"How about your checker board there, sonny?" The man said, reaching for Syaoran’s lasin board.

Syaoran turned that side of him away defensively, about to turn and run, when the man got a strong hold on Syaoran’s arm. Syaoran pulled roughly, not wanting to hurt the man, but wanting to get away. "How about you let go of me." Syaoran said.

The man reached for Syaoran’s lasin board again. Syaoran swiftly swept his foot under the man’s feet, causing him to fall. Syaoran turned to run off before he’d have to really beat the guy up, but he found himself facing several other scruffy looking individuals. "Do you have a problem with our friend?" A particularly looking dirty one asked.

Syaoran quickly sized everyone up, combat thoughts running rapidly through his head. Syaoran charged the middle of the ground, throwing a roundhouse kick at a person on his left and following through with a powerful backwards kick that nailed the person to his right. Syaoran took off running, his trenchcoat flowing heavily behind him. Syaoran sprinted around the corner until he was walking nonchalantly with the rest of the busy people walking down the sidewalk.

Syaoran slowly caught his breath and shoved his lasin board under his coat, looking around from under his sun glasses at the sunrise painted buildings. People in business suits were rushing along, hurrying to work, talking on cell phones. Syaoran walked quietly until he came to a public building. I can use the lasin board in the bathroom, I guess. It figures, the one gang of homeless people and I run into them trying to use my lasin board. Rotten luck.

Syaoran walked into the doughnut shop, quickly finding the sign for the restroom. Syaoran hurried to it and was happy to see that no one was in there. He took his lasin board out and quietly said the words to release the light. It shot out to the north. Syaoran put his lasin board back into his coat and walked back into the doughnut shop. A little girl stared at him, he probably did look funny with his sun glasses on indoors.

"Mommy, mommy, it’s Komai!" The little girl tugged on her mom’s sleeves, then bravely rushed after Syaoran.

"Can I have your autograph? Oh please! I’m going to see you concert tonight! I’m so glad you’re not sick anymore!"

Syaoran looked dumbfounded down at the girl, clueless. That’s the guitarist of the band isn’t it? Crap. What do I tell her? "I’m not Komai." He said quickly, rushing out of the shop before the girl could put her two cents in.

Syaoran walked quickly down the sidewalk, concentrating to follow the direction the lasin board had set out. Syaoran walked around the corner of the sidewalk and found himself looking at a long street of hotels. Syaoran breathed in slowly. Well I’ve got the whole day to look through the hotels’ list of residents.

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Sakura raced around the living room. For the past two hours she had been listening to Shiro-Ame songs, singing along obnoxiously loud, and screaming at Touya to hurry up. Chindra was already wearing her concert outfit, a stunning shit that wasn’t really tight or see through, but very flattering. She Chindra and Tomoyo had all chosen the spring time sleeveless theme, despite Touya’s warning that at night the open stadium would be freezing cold.

"Onni-chan! Onni-chan! We’re gonna be late, onni-onni-chan!" Sakura sang breathlessly. So it was only two, oh well. She liked to be early to her events.

"Tomoyo isn’t even here yet." Touya spat at her, involved in a card game with his two friends.

Sakura sighed and sat down on the couch where Chindra was reading enthusiastically. "Can you beleive we’re actually going?" Sakura asked, her energy making her almost shake.

"I’m very very very excited!" Chindra said, beaming.

"Musical exstroidinaire is here." Touya called as Tomoyo stepped into the room.

"Hey guys!" Tomoyo said brightly. "I brought some extra clothes I worked on last night, if anyone wants them. Oh my, I forgot!" Tomoyo pulled out her camera, turning it on. "This is the morning of Sakura’s fourteenth. Everyone feels the excitement in the air as we prepare for the big concert. Some don’t know how to handle their energy..." She turned the camera to Sakura, whose leg had been shaking habitually. "While others contain themselves with a certain amount of reserve." She said, turning it to Touya, Yukito, and Ugati, all sitting with their poker faces.

"Tomoyo, come on, it’s a time to have fun, not tape." Sakura complained.

"But this is fun!" Tomoyo contended.

Sakura sighed but quickly shook it away, starting to sing solo her favorite song off the album they were listening to. "If you were my kinggggggggggg...!"

Tomoyo smiled behind her camera, zooming in. Chindra shook her head and couldn’t help but singing along. "Be your queeeeen!" She sang, and she and Sakura started a duet, Sakura holding a very lousy and weak harmony, but enjoying it all the same. Touya looked up exasperated from his game.

"Hey, you can sing as loud as you can when we get there. For now, shut up."

"Onni-onni-onni-channiiii!" Sakura sang, taking off running as Touya lept at her.

Chindra and Tomoyo followed after this pursuit, watching with a smile as Touya tackled her halfway up the stairs. Sakura giggled and pulled, still holding a laughing melody of ‘onni-channi’. Touya put his hand over her mouth and pulled her to her feet. He guided her along into Chindra’s room, the only room that had a lock on the outside, throwing the door shut behind her and locking it.

Sakura banged on the door, pulling at the handle. "Come on! Touya! Onni-chan this isn’t fair! Come on! Lemme out! I’ll stop, I promise!"

Chindra and Tomoyo watched him go down the stairs, then walked to the door for Sakura’s aid. Chindra opened the door and let Sakura out. She stormed into the hallway, looking down the stairs after her brother with a look of death. "He’s so lucky he’s taking us to the concert, or else I’d kill him!"

"Go play outside." Touya called from the kitchen.

Sakura stomped her foot and led the two girls into her room. Kero and Bob came flying up to see her. Kero smiled happily. "Tomoyo! Bring anything for me??" He asked, smiling.

Chindra stared at the flying yellow bear with wide eyes, then at the butterfly that didn’t seem like your average arthropod. Sakura noticed quickly. "Chindra this is Kero, Kero this is Chindra."

Chindra and Kero stared at each other with surprise. "Is-is this- Clow Reed gaurdian?" Chindra asked.

"That’s me." Kero said back.

Chindra forced a smile. "Oh, I see. He living here all this time?"

"Yeah! You’ve just never came in my room when they were flying around before, I guess." Sakura said, wondering why Chindra looked so nervous and why Kero looked a bit surprised, but she shook it away. Chindra’s probably just nervous around anything related to Clow Reed.

"I think I’m going to try to play Zelda." Sakura announced, looking at the ninendo with determination.

"We’ll grab your arm if it starts to pull you in!" Tomoyo said.

Sakura nodded, then turned to Chindra, who was confused. "Last time I was playing some type of magic pulled the main character out, and then when we tried to send him back, the spell sent me into the game. Very strange."

"Oh my." Chindra said, looking at the black box curiously.

Sakura walked over and turned on the television, then to the nintendo, slowly reaching for the power button. She flicked it on then jumped back, causing a gasp from Tomoyo and Chindra, who weren’t sure what happened. The game started just like normal, and Sakura smiled weakly. "It’s working fine." She said, picking up a controller.

Chindra and Tomoyo sat down next to her and watched with a certain amount of boredom as Sakura played, wanting to be doing something themselves.

Sakura played for about an hour, then realized she had been an awful hostess, so she apologetically turned it off. "Maybe we can convince Touya to leave now?"

Sakura turned everything off and headed out her door. "Shiro-Ame! Onni-onni-channi! Let’s go to see Shiro-Ame!" Sakura called, cantering down the stairs.

She, Chindra, and Tomoyo stood around the table they were playing on, trying to make use of strength in numbers. Touya looked up at the clock. "We’ll leave in fifteen. We can get something to eat when we get there, I guess."

"You’re very excited about this, Sakura-chan?" Yukito asked, smiling.

Sakura looked at him with surprise. I need to talk to Yue! "Y-yes!"

"How could you tell?" Touya asked dryly.

Sakura glared and walked over to the couch, sitting with Chindra and Tomoyo. Tomoyo took out her camera. "It is fifteen minutes until departure, and things are starting to wind down. Sakura’s energy is temporarily decreased, but energy levels are sure to jump once we hit the road."

Sakura shook her head and good naturedly accepted the camera recording her. She glanced at it. "Tomoyo still seems very excited about the documentary she is starting."

Tomoyo grinned and shut the camera off for that moment.

__________________________________________________________________

Syaoran kept his back flat against the wall. He had been standing in this hotel lobby for the past half hour waiting for the desk receptionist to take a break so he could get to the computer. He heard her heels going by right now, and the second he saw her round the corner he’d have to sprint around behind the desk and start clicking away. Thanks to the recent after school computer classes he’d been talking, he could understand the basic fundamentals of the networking programs they had. The only problem was each hotel chain had a different set up, and it took him a good five minutes to figure it out, and it was rare the desk was left open that long.

Syaoran swung around the wall and rushed behind the desk to the main computer, immediatly starting to click buttons. After opening the networking system Syaoran typed in a command and opened the list of booked rooms. He quickly searched through the listings, not seeing any promising names. Syaoran quickly got out from behind the desk and out of the danger zone. He walked out of the lobby with his long heavy coat dragging behind him and stepped back into the spring afternoon. He had been doing this all day; checking through hotels, looking for any sign of the band’s presence.

Not one of these fifteen hotels. Not one. I only have three hotels left in this area, if I don’t find them, I’m gonna have to find my way into the concert, pull them off stage when the card starts working, and capture the card in front of thousands of people, one being Sakura. Syaoran looked down the road to the next hotel. He exhaled slowly, then walked forward, walking through the sea of busy people flooding the sidewalks.

I wonder what time it is? Maybe I should take a food break, I haven’t eaten yet, it feels like it’s almost six in the evening. Syaoran took a detour and headed to a Japanese steakhouse, contemplating what he wanted to get to eat. He stepped in and found that it was a sit down resteraunt. Syaoran was about to turn around and leave when he heard two girls in front of him say something like "...Shiro-Ame tonight! They might postpone to tommorrow!"

Syaoran immediatly pulled off his sun glasses, stepping to the waitor in front of him, waiting for a seat. The waitor smiled politely and led him to a table. Syaoran watched the two teenage girls sit down only a few tables down. Syaoran was a bit annoyed that he was set so far away. The waitor had to address him three times before Syaoran realized he was staring at the other girls.

"What can I get for your drink?"

Syaoran looked down at his menu. "Water’s fine." He said, keeping a watchful eye on the girls talking about the band.

The waitor walked away, and Syaoran had his radar ears listening in on the two girl’s conversation. "I hope it isn’t postponed, we won’t be able to drive out here again tommorrow after school!"

"Yeah, but if we could manage to get a hotel room, I mean think about it, we could end up staying at the same one they’re at!"

"That’s really likely." The other girl said sarcastically. "But I doubt we could do that, we’d have to miss school tommorrow."

"I don’t care, one day off isn’t that big of a deal, especially when the stupid tickets spent up all of our savings."

One girl glanced up at Syaoran, noticing him staring. Syaoran calmly looked at his menu, easily evading any suspicion. The girl started talking, though more quietly, and Syaoran couldn’t hear her. He glanced over his menu as he heard seats moving, and saw that they were going up to the salad bar.

"How sure are you that they’re going to postpone?" Asked one as they walked up to the bar.

Syaoran looked around wildly for his waitor, needing to go after them so he could hear what they were saying. The waitor wasn’t anywhere in sight, so Syaoran got up himself and walked over to the sidebar, casting a sideglance at the girls as he started piling some lettuce into a bowl.

"Well I don’t know if all this ‘Komai’s sick’ stuff is completly true, it seems pretty weird that that and the whole adventure of them singing other songs all the sudden happened at the same time." The girl looked sideways at Syaoran, meeting his eyes for a second before he viciously went back to scooping up lettuce.

"Yeah, it’s pretty weird." Said the other one, looking up and noticing Syaoran as well.

Syaoran glared furiously at his bowl and figured that their conversation of his interest was over, so he turned and headed back to his seat. Syaoran stopped as he felt a hand grab his arm. He turned around, glaring.

The girl holding on to his arm looked startled. "I’m sorry, but, but, are you...are you Komai?"

Syaoran was getting annoyed. He’d have to see a picture of this ‘Komai’ and see just how much he looked like him. "I don’t know who you’re talking about." He said bitterly, turning and walking to his seat.

The girl walked quickly back over to her friend, indifferent. "He looks sooo much like him!" She said excitedly.

Syaoran sighed as he sat back down in his seat. I try and spy on someone and it ends up getting turned around. Syaoran chewed on his salad and glared at his bowl, seeing the girls watching him out of the corner of his eye.

"Alot of stars just want to keep their identity under wraps." One girl said loudly.

Syaoran rolled his eyes and continued eating his salad. The waitor came with his water, a bit surprised to see Syaoran eating salad already, but he didn’t say anything. "Would you like to place your order?"

"Yeah, I want....the teriyaki, to go if I can."

"Of course. It will be ready in ten to fifteen minutes."

Syaoran nodded and sat calmly, keeping his eyes down to avoid his new sprung fans that were cooing at him only three tables down. I hate eating in these places by myself. I wonder if Sakura is in Tokyo yet? Probably, the concert starts in... Syaoran looked up at the clock on the wall, his eyes just passing the two girls that were waving at him. In three and a half hours. I better eat this fast while I am walking, I’ve gotta hurry and find that band before they head off to the concert. They’d go really early, I imagine.

________

Syaoran was back out on the street with his sun glasses on, looking very business like and a whole lot older, despite the fact that he was still a head shorter then the normal businessmen that were walking along the sidewalk. He had devoured the hard to eat on the go food long ago, and was happily full.

Syaoran walked into the lobby of this hotel, releived to find it empty of any people aside from the receptionist. This hotel was fairly simple and commercial, he doubted any bands would stay here, but he’d kick himself if they were staying in the one hotel he skipped. Syaoran walked past the receptionist casually, heading down the hall that the elevator was on. Instead of continuing like a staying guest would have, he flattened himself to the wall, waiting for the receptionist would leave.

Syaoran stood and waited, and waited, and waited, and, well, you get the picture. His legs started to get tired of being cramped in the same position for the past half hour, and time was starting to run out. Syaoran picked through his pockets for anything that would be a good distraction. Syaoran pulled out a receipt, some other crumpled wrappers, and a half eaten candy bar he had completly forgotten about that was at least a good few months old. I wonder how long it has been since I wore this coat? Syaoran picked his suitcase up and dug through, pulling out some rocks that were amo for his slingshot. He wanted to come completly prepared, right?

Syaoran zipped his suitcase shut again, then gather the stone in his hand, aiming at the doors across the lobby. With his strong and conditioned arm Syaoran threw it with all the speed he could manage, and the rock hit the door with a loud bang. It crashed through the glass, leaving a hole about twice the size of the stone, along with several cracks branching around it. Syaoran soon heard the sound of hurrying heels on the tile floor, and the receptionist was at the door.

She looked at it with distress, then gently touched it. The whole door made a horrible creaking sound, and the seven foot door of glass came crashing down, small chards of glass littering the floor. Syaoran cringed, he hadn’t intended that to happen, but it was too late to be apologetic now. The woman gasp and hurried back to her desk. Syaoran heard her pick up the phone and punch in numbers, soon hearing her talk.

"Hello, yes, management? We have a door, it’s completly broken, I’m not sure how it happened. No-no sir, not like that, it will still open, but all the glass is shattered...I understand. Thank you. Good bye." Her heels clunked away from the desk, and Syaoran slowly crept around the corner and hurried behind the desk.

Syaoran started clicking with the mouse. He didn’t understand this program, and he had to look it over a couple times before he saw where he should go next. Syaoran quickly clicked into the next step. Syaoran opened the list of guests and quickly started scanning through. Midway through the list, several footsteps caught his attention.

Syaoran looked up from the computer just in time to see the receptionist, along with two security looking people, all of which had just noticed Syaoran and his look of deer-in-the-headlights. The receptionist ran at him. "You shouldn’t be looking at that! What do you think you are doing!?"

Syaoran clenched his fists nervously, grabbed his suitcase, and acted the only action that came to mind. Syaoran was running down the hall to the door. Thudding footsteps were after him, the two guards. Syaoran pushed into the door with his shoulder, trying to open it, but it was locked. Only guests with a key may use. Syaoran quickly turned to his left and sprinted up the stairs, quickly going onto the second floor.

This hall was straight, there were no exits, and it had a wall at the end that followed to other stairs. Syaoran knew any second the guards would be coming into the hall, trapping him from both sides. Syaoran ran down a few rooms, then banged on the first door he noticed. He glanced frantically at the door to the stairs, starting to see movement. Any second the guard would be coming through, trapping Syaoran and his illegal actions. Syaoran banged once more on the door and his fist fell through the air as it opened and two blue eyes were looking at him curiously.

Syaoran didn’t bother to explain himself, he jumped into the room, practically knocking this girl over, and threw the door shut behind himself. He flattened himself against it and sighed with releif, breathing rapidly.

The blonde haired girl looked from him back to the room. "Hey Gatria, come look at this."

Another blonde girl, not resembling the other, but still around the same age, came from the room, looking wondrously at Syaoran. "What in the world-"

Syaoran cringed as he heard someone banging on the door further down the hall. The guards were looking for him. Syaoran looked pleadingly at the girls in front of him. "Please don’t tell him I’m here, I’ll leave once he’s gone, but they can’t find me."

A slow sly smiled went across the first girl’s face. "We’re hiding a con in our room!" She said excitedly. "What are you in for?"

Syaoran frowned, not wanting to take the time to answer.

The other blonde girl was walking a circle around him, apparently sizing him up. "Oh my gosh, K, look at this!" She said, standing back and staring with wonder at Syaoran as if he was some type of sign.

The girl stood back and looked at him. "Oh my gosh! It’s like Komai’s head with a better body! Who are you?"

Syaoran frowned, but was saved from answering as a fist knocked on their door. Syaoran gave them one more look of plead then he jumped into the bathroom on the side of him. The second blonde girl stepped forward and opened the door. "Can we help you?"

"I’m sorry to disturb you miss, but have you seen a boy a little older than you, about this tall-" (Syaoran was offended at the height the guard gave) "running around here?"

"Nope, we haven’t seen any boys except Komai and Rii today. I don’t think Komai would be running around."

The guard smiled. "I’m sorry to hear that, tell him I wish him well."

"Thanks, he’ll be glad to hear it."

Syaoran heard the door shut, and he slowly emerged. The two girls were smiling at him. "You now owe use a day of your life." She said, smiling.

"Heh, uh..." Syaoran was looking longingly at the door.

"Come, sit." Said the other one, guiding him by his shoulders despite Syaoran’s trying to squirm out. "This could take a while."

She sat him down on the end of one bed and Syaoran looked at the two girls nervously. "Hey, guys, I can pay you back sometime, I mean, I’m really busy, I’m looking for someone.."

"It seems like the guards were looking for you." Said one.

"Listen, don’t you know who we are?" Asked the other.

Syaoran looked blankly at them for a moment, then his brain started to work.Luck is on my side! They said they knew Komai, and they’re about the ages of the girls that are in that band.. "You are Kaoto?"

"I am. This is-"

"Gatria." Cut in the other one.

"Okay, we’ll cut straight to the point. Our lead guitarist is sick, and we are postponing our concert until tommorrow, but he’s not going to be better. The doctor actually said it’s gonna be a week before he’ll be able to preform. We need someone to fill in for him tommorrow. You look alot like him, all we’d need to do.." Kaoto stepped forward and started messing with his hair.

Syaoran was very intolerant to people messing with his physical appearance, aside from Sakura, and he swatted her away. "I am not going to fill in for your lead guitarist." He said.

"Come on! We’ll pay you! Are you afraid of missing school tommorrow? Do you even go to school? We can get a note written for an excuse. You won’t have to sing or play or anything, you can just lip sync and play to a track."

"I don’t want to, it’s not that I can’t." Syaoran said, glaring.

Gatria was watching him dreamily. "We really really need help! Come on, what have you got to lose? Or do you want us to go after the guard and tell him someone is barging into our room?"

Syaoran tightened up. "Only if you tell me what happened in your last concert, the one in Osaka?"

Kaoto rolled her eyes and stomped her foot. "Does everyone know about that? You, you don’t even recognize us and you heard about that? Gosh dang it Gatria, everyone probably hates us!"

"Come on, they’ll hate us even more if we cancel this gig. We’ve got to have it tommorrow night!"

"So could you say again exactly what happened in that concert?" Syaoran asked persistently.

"I don’t know what happened, okay?" Kaoto spat at him. "I was just singing Unfamiliarity- or wait no, it was Parachutes, well, that doesn’t matter, I was singing and all the sudden I just went out of control. I guess our music guys did too, Komai started singing along, it was so weird."

"I won’t have to sing?"

"No." Gatria said quickly, hoping to keep this track of thought.

"Will you pay me?"

Kaoto and Gatria looked at him closely. "Excuse us for a second, we’ve got to talk this over." Kaoto and Gatria walked over and huddled in the doorway, glancing up frequently at Syaoran, who was glowering back.

They walked back to him, their heads held high, looking down at him. "While Gatria and I are still mystified at the fact that most any resident of Japan would pay us to be able to go on stage with us-"

"We have decided that five thousand yen should be subsequent for you to endure the whole make up and dressing procedure to change you into Komai-" Kaoto cut in.

"But we will only pay you half before and half after, to ensure our temporary lead guitarist won’t get cold feet and run away." Gatria finished.

"Shake on it." Kaoto said, extending her arm.

Syaoran stood up, not liking the heigth advantage they had when he was sitting down and glared the blue eyed girl straight in her eyes. "For five thousand yen (and the Voice card)." He said, taking her soft and pink painted nailed hand and shaking firmly.

Kaoto had a slow smile going across her face, and she took her hand from his and put her hand on both of his cheeks. "He’s so cute!" She squealed, not noticing Syaoran’s look of panic as he tried yet again to squirm away.

Gatria’s hand went on his shoulder. "Maybe we should just switch him and Komai permanently."

Syaoran jumped out, finally freeing himself, and glared at the two girls as he recovered. It’s like being with two Meilins. "You aren’t having the concert tonight?" He asked.

"No, there’s no way we could get you ready in time. I know it’s gonna be a pain for anyone going to the concert, but there’s not much we can do. We’ll be lucky if we can have everything ready for tommorrow."

"Great. I have to stay here all night?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, we can’t let this secret out." Gatria said.

Kaoto looked to the door. "I suppose he could stay with Rii and Komai if he’s more comfortable staying with guys."

"Yeah, we should introduce Komai with his double anyway."

"Hopefully he stopped puking."

"Here, come on, come meet our friend." Gatria said, linking arms at the elbow with Syaoran.

Syaoran was getting very annoyed with these girls. He pulled his arm away. "I don’t want to interrupt some barfing guy and tell him I’m his double." Syaoran said.

"What’s your name, anyway?" Kaoto asked, looking curiously at him.

Syaoran didn’t want to tell them. "Li." He finally said.

Gatria looked skeptically at him. "There are alot of Li’s in Asia. If we say that name, probably a hundred people will answer to it."

"I doubt there’ll be more than one of my family on the stage, call me Li and leave it at that." He said.

"Well, off to see the sick boy, Li-kun." Kaoto said.

Syaoran reluctantly followed them out of the room, looking cautiously down the hall before walking to the next door. Gatria knocked on the door and smiled at the black haired boy that answered. His hair was styled much like Eriol’s, though he looked a little rougher than Eriol’s. "What’s up?" He asked, looking at Syaoran with his eyebrows tilted down.

"Can we come in?" Kaoto asked.

Rii looked back down the hall, waiting for someone else to respond. A rough voice called back "Go away, we don’t want any girl scout cookies."

"Watch it Komai, talking about cookies might make your stomach sick!" Kaoto called back, an evil smile on her face, satisfied that Komai was silent with mean comebacks for that.

They followed Rii into the room, and were quickly greeted by a brown haired boy sitting weakly in a chair. "Great, a guest." He said dryly, looking at Syaoran.

"Not just any guest." Said Gatria, plopping next to him. "Your copy."

"What?" Komai asked, looking with annoyance at Syaoran.

"This is your replacement for tommorrow night. Providing you’ll still be sick, of course." Kaoto said.

"I’ll be fine." Komai said confidently, clueless that his face was pale and blotchy, and that the whites of his eyes were more pink.

"Yeah right. The last time we saw a food commercial he looked like he was going to hurl." Rii said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Komai’s face went a little paler, a hint of a grimace starting to form. "I don’t think Komai is appreciating you saying the word ‘hurl’." Kaoto said, inspecting Komai.

He leaned over his stomach, squeezing his eyes shut. "Come on you guys! Shut up! This is the sick room, if you want to talk, go in your room."

"We just thought you’d want to see the guy who is playing you tommorrow night." Gatria said.

Komai glanced up from where he had been leaning and inspected Syaoran, who continued to hold his glower. "You have to put up with these psycho chicks for two days? I pity you."

Kaoto playfully slapped him. He glared at her. "Do you have any sympathy!?" He asked. He looked back to Syaoran. "You’re going to have thousands of teenage girls throwing candy and bras and God knows what else onto the stage, enjoy it while you can. It gets old."

Syaoran didn’t like this awkward situation. He just nodded and held his glare.

"Li the nameless is a very solemn fellow." Kaoto said.

"He looks like he’s going out to war." Gatria observed.

"Kind of like you, Rii." Kaoto said, giggling.

"It’s a common reaction when guys like us are forced to be around girls like you." Rii said dryly, easily keeping a straight face.

Kaoto shook her head. "Listen, we’ve gotta get this kid prepared. Give him some stage advice, so he doesn’t look like a stiff on stage."

"They’ll think we put Rii’s personality into Komai. You’re right, we’d better get him watching concerts." Gatria said, smiling. "Come along, nameless Li."

They walked to the door. "Have fun caring for Komai, Rii." Kaoto called as they quickly went into the hallway.

Syaoran followed them into their room, horrified to see what torture the two girls would come up with next time. "So I have to act all energetic on stage?" Syaoran asked.

"Not really, here, I’ll give you the 101 of Komai’s performing style. Komai is the athletic jock of the group. He plays his guitar likes it’s his life. He likes his fans, particularly the girl ones, he winks and stuff like that, but you can tell he puts them second to his guitar, like its his wife. I don’t think you’ll have a hard time getting that look of feirce concentration on your face, you look like that all the time."

"Thanks." Syaoran said, annoyedly.

"Now you’ll feel stupid strumming on a guitar that’s not really plugged in, but you’re going to have to deal with it. I don’t suppose you know how to play."

"I might." Syaoran said defensively.

"Do you really!?" Kaoto asked him, looking at him with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh, really? Can you?"

"A little..." Syaoran mumbled, his eyes darting around.

Gatria was very interested. "You mean! Oh my gosh! Quick, go get the chord charts from Komai!" She said excitedly.

Kaoto was already sprinting out of the room. Syaoran and Gatria were only alone for a few seconds when Kaoto stumbled noisily into the room with a guitar strap over her shoulder, holding a black case, with a pile of papers in her hand. She collapsed with everything in front of Syaoran, then quickly pulled stuff out.

"Can you play this?" She asked, pointing at a page of music. "Or this? Oh, this, this we really need some help on this one."

Syaoran looked over the music as quickly as he could, though Kaoto was flipping through them with rapid speed. "I, umm, I could..." Syaoran pulled a sheet from her.

"Here, this is his guitar. Try playing something!" Kaoto said, unclipping the case and pulling out the guitar.

Syaoran took it hesitantly. He adjusted it so he was holding it right and was about to play when Kaoto interrupted him yet again. "Do you need a pick? I know I need a pick when I play, but I play bass, so I dunno..."

Syaoran just ignored her and started strumming through the chords that were written out, only having to stop once and study the frets on the guitar to find the right chord. Kaoto and Gatria watched with dreamy eyes as he ran through the music. Once he finished that page, he looked up. "That’s pretty easy."

"Ohh!! You’re wonderful!" Kaoto said, clasping her hands together.

Gatria smiled with awe. "It’s like when we watched Komai play for the first time. Only this boy has rock star written all over him."

"Li nameless was born for stage preforming. He’s so composed, so feirce, such a hunk. Komai should take some tips from him."

Syaoran glared at them. "Can you give me some more?" He asked, looking at Kaoto’s handful of music.

"Oh, of course." Kaoto said, handing him the pile.

Syaoran exhaled and looked at the music in front of him. Why am I doing this? I never play in front of strangers. Syaoran started strumming on it again, his left fingers a little sore as they pushed on the strings having not played for a while, and his right thumb stinging as it hit the tight strings, but all in all, he was playing very well. He hit a solo part and played through it with relative ease, though the last chord he had to play five times before he found the flat note he had been hitting by accident.

Syaoran finished that song and looked up at Kaoto and Gatria that were looking at him with amazement. "Li you are amazing. It was just our luck we met up with a Komai look alike- which I still am curious to know what exactly the gaurds were after you for- but to find someone that can play the guitar so well...Gatria get your guitar out!" Kaoto said, walking over to her own guitar case and pulling out her four stringed base.

"Let’s play that one again, okay Li nameless?" She said, setting the music up on a stand so they could all see it.

Gatria walked over with her full electric guitar. "I play most of the harmony and back up for you. We follow your lead." She said, looking at Syaoran to start the song.

Syaoran looked slowly at the music. He hesitantly started the first chord, a bit annoyed with the two girls on each side crowding his space. Gatria came in with a harmonizing chord, Kaoto playing the strong bass. Now with all three parts the song sounded full and like an actual song. The solo Syaoran had played turned out to be a duet with Gatria’s single notes. Syaoran glanced up at the music and then down at the frets of this guitar frequently, not quite comfortable with the music yet. Once they played the last chord strongly, Kaoto squeaked happily.

"You are perfect!" She said. "Could you do that on stage? We’ll have a track behind us, of course, with all the keyboard and synthesizer fill ins, so you won’t have to worry about every note, but if you could fill in..."

"Komai would be surprised to see someone play his solo at first look!" Gatria said.

"Who says I will play this?"

Kaoto glared at him. "You said when you shook my hand."

Syaoran frowned back at his guitar.

"Here, come watch this." Kaoto said, setting her bass guitar down beside her on the bed. She walked over to her lap top and turned it on, quickly typing something in, opening up some video. "This is three concerts ago." She said, turning the laptop to him, getting up from the seat so Syaoran could sit down.

Syaoran set the guitar down beside him, noticing breifly the silver engravings on it, then walked over to the laptop, sitting down. Kaoto was running out on stage with a wide smile on her face, clapping her hands over her head as her guitar hung loosely off her shoulder. Her eyes were bright and highlighted with stage makeup, her large frayed jersey’s sequin lining sparkling in the stadium lights.

Gatria and Komai came running out after her, both doing some kind of artsy kick on either side of her, Komai looking full of energy. The front of the crowd was jumping crazily, throwing their hands on the stage, screaming words at Komai, though it was hard to tell what they were saying on the laptop’s small speakers. The camera switched to a closeup on Rii, scowling through his black hair as he drummed strongly, ignoring a flower that went sailing over his head.

They walked back to their microphone stands, belting lyrics into them. Syaoran saw with terror that Komai was adding extra harmony in some parts, while Gatria and Kaoto sang the majority of the song. Syaoran turned. "I will not sing." He said firmly.

Gatria grinned. "Does the big bad boy have a soft spot?"

"Not very confident in our singing ability? Can you even sing on key, or are you tone deaf?"

"I’m not tone deaf!" Syaoran shouted defensively.

"I think this follows our legal contract, don’t you Gatria? We never said he wouldn’t have to sing."

Syaoran glared. "I refuse!"

Kaoto held up five fingers, reminding him of the five thousand yen.

"What does he sing?" Syaoran finally asked.

"He fills in harmony whenever inspired. Can you harmonize?"

Syaoran glared back at the laptop, watching Komai wink and then wave at some girls on the right stage, and grimaced. "Maybe."

Kaoto pulled out her guitar and started picking the bass line, then began singing. "On the other side, things are better..." Gatria joined in with a beautiful and tight higher harmony. They both looked expectantly at Syaoran, waiting for him to join. Syaoran looked up uncomfortably at them, then shifted positions in his seat. He hated singing, he hated it more than anything, or at least he hated singing when other people were listening.

Five thousand yen. Five thousand yen. Five thousand yen. Syaoran forced himself to join in, singing the alto part naturally. The gap in the music sound was immediatly filled for the short moment Syaoran had joined in, though he stopped the second he felt his part was no longer needed.

"He can sing!" Kaoto said happily.

"Wonderful pitch! Are you in choir?"

"He could sing Komai’s solo, I bet! Can you read music and sing to it?"

Syaoran cringed. Why? Why, why? "No." He lied. If you grew up in a house full of women you wouldn’t have been able to be tone deaf either. They were always bugging me to fill in the alto part, being the ‘man’ I was. "You probably don’t want me singing during your concert. I will just get nervous and sing off."

Syaoran had already blown his cover, they were learning very quickly that he was not the type to get nervous. "Li the nameless, I’m sure you’re fully capable of handling yourself on stage. Please look through the rest of the music, we at least want your guitar part strong."

Syaoran made a scoffing noise, as if saying ‘of course it will be strong’, and turned to watch the rest of the movie clip on Kaoto’s laptop. Kaoto was standing back to back with Komai, both grinning as they played their guitar. Kaoto switched places with Gatria, letting them play the solo together. Komai was grinning in a way that was impossible for poor Syaoran to even comprehend the theory behind it, let alone carry out the facial expression. Komai then finished the solo and gave high fives to the close crowd, girls melting away as they met his brown eyes for that breif moment.

Syaoran sighed and shut out of the program, picking up his guitar. He began strumming on it again, playing most of the chords easily.

_________________

Sakura sat miserably on the seat next to Touya. They had been sitting in the buffet restaruant for the past two hours, and she was bored out of her mind. It was six thirty, but they found out they were no longer on a deadline, because they had heard on the television that the concert was postponed to tommorrow. Touya was saying he refused to lodge in northern Tokyo, and that they were just going to have to forget about the concert.

"Touya that’s ludicrous! Tomoyo spent tons of money on these tickets, we can’t just forget about it!"

"You just want to see your hearthrob." Touya said, glaring up from his fifth peice of ice cream cake.

"N-no. Onni-chan! You are being unfair!"

"Perhaps we could look around for a hotel, it couldn’t hurt." Yukito said gently.

Sakura beamed at him. "It’s four to one." Sakura said, looking unsurely at Touya’s new friend Ugati, who hadn’t said very much at all.

Touya sighed heavily. "Whatever."

"Come Touya! We better get looking! I’m sure hotels are filling up quick, people are staying overnight for the concert tommorrow."

Sakura led the way out of the restaraunt, and they made their way down the sidewalk to the closest hotel. Touya fell into the lead in the lobby of the hotel, walking up the receptionist. He spoke with her for a while, then turned around. "You owe me big time, squirt." He said to Sakura, pulling wads of money out of his wallet and handing them to the receptionist.

He handed Sakura a key. "All they had left was King suites. One of you is gonna have to sleep on the couch."

Sakura happily took the key from him. "No problem!" She handed the extra keys to Chindra and Tomoyo. "Room four eleven. Wow, fourth floor! Come on!" They jogged to the elevator, parting ways with Touya as he and his friends went to their room on the lobby floor.

Sakura ran down the hall, singing under her breath ‘four eleven, four eleven, we are staying at four eleven...’. Tomoyo shook her head. "This concert air is really making use of Sakura’s vocal chords."

"Maybe she plannning on getting on stage to sing." Chindra said reasonably.

Sakura put the key into the door and walked into the open room. The room was furnished with cherry oak furniture, the bed spreads matching accordingly. There was a large couch and a large bed in the room, along with a nice study area including a desk and an accompaning table. There was a large television set in the main bureau.

Sakura laughed just because she loved this freedom, and she jumped onto the bed, doing a warped roll and landing on the floor with a thud. Chindra smiled and hopped on the bed, jumping up and down a few times before collapsing. "I could go to sleep now." She said, gazing up at the ceiling.

"We should probably arrange sleeping orders. Who wants the couch?"

"I’ll take it." Chindra said, getting up off the bed.

"Are you sure?" Tomoyo asked.

Chindra nodded and pulled the couch cushions off, revealing a handle underneath. "Pull out bed, see?" She asked, pulling a table out of the way to make room for the bed.

Sakura nodded. "Cool! Alright, let’s see what’s on TV." She said, claiming her half of the bed and grabbing the remote, starting to search through the stations.

"Lemme see that!" Tomoyo said after Sakura had gone through all the stations twice and still not stopping on any one movie. Sakura handed it to her and Tomoyo pressed a button revealing the television listings.

"Ohh..." Sakura said, sitting back against the bed.

"Oo! Go to that channel five!" Chindra called from beneath her covers.

Tomoyo turned that channel on and they were watching some type of a comedy show. Sakura was laughing hysterically within minutes, and the night passed away quickly.

____________________________________________________________________

Syaoran cringed as he hit the wrong chord for the seventh time in a row. With furious concentration he strummed the strings again, but another awful offkey chord came out. Syaoran glared up from his guitar with frustration at Kaoto and Gatria who were playing cards on the closest bed. Kaoto shrugged with sympathy and held up five fingers. Syaoran looked back down at the guitar.

After finally realizing he had been holding his finger on the wrong fret, Syaoran angrily set it right, playing the smooth sounding chord. He played through the rest of the song, impressed with these young girl’s music writing abilities, then went to the next sheet of music.

Kaoto put the cards up and walked over to her bed. "You know it’s going to be hard trying to fall asleep while you’re practicing. Just wake up and finish in the morning."

Syaoran just continued working on the chords.

Kaoto shook her head and got under her covers, turning the main light off. Gatria got into her own bed and turned over, gazing at Syaoran. "We’ve got a battery run lamp if you wanna use it, I’m gonna turn this light off so I can get some sleep."

Syaoran looked up from the guitar. "Whatever." He mumbled, starting to think about himself sleeping. He should probably get some rest, it was pretty late, and it sounded like he’d have a rough day tommorrow. "Where am I gonna sleep?"

Gatria opened her eyes again. "Well, I’m sure Kaoto or I won’t mind if..." She stopped her joke at the death glare Syaoran was giving her. "There’s a couch you can have." She said, turning over and shutting off the light.

Syaoran sighed and turned the small battery run lamp on, holding it to the music and playing through the next song. It had lots of mistakes, Syaoran was getting sloppy, probably because he was so tired. I should probably try and conserve some energy, anyway. I lucked out, I am gonna be on the stage with a bird’s eye veiw for where the Song card might spring up, and I’ll be able to get to Kaoto or Gatria or whoever it possesses without any problems. Great luck. Syaoran set the guitar down and walked over to the couch, stumbling over some of the girl’s stuff in the dark. He sat down and grabbed the extra blanket they had set out for him, then tried to lay.

His sweater was really itchy, the room was pretty hot, so Syaoran pulled it off along with the short sleeve shirt that was under it and pulled the blanket over him. I better wake up and change before they see me.

______________________________________________________________________

"It’s almost only two more hours left!" Sakura said excitedly, pulling at some loose strands of hair she was looking at in the mirror.

"I am more excited than yesterday!" Chindra said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Tomoyo walked behind Sakura and began fixing some of the messed up peices of hair. "Can I curl your bangs?" She asked.

Sakura nodded. "I tried, but they all went to the side. Go for it."

Tomoyo took the curling iron from the counter and picked up some of Sakura’s bangs, clipping the iron around then. "You probably tried to do them all at once, right?" Tomoyo asked, letting the curling iron go and revealing perfectly curled bangs.

Sakura looked at them jealously. "Yeah." She admitted.

"Are you doing anything with your hair, Chindra?" Tomoyo asked.

Chindra looked at herself in the mirror beside Sakura’s space that was taken up. Her hair looked awesome in Sakura’s eyes, it was perfectly spiralled down, no frizz or messy off peices. "I don’t know. I might put,...uh...what’s that called...foam stuff...?"

"Mousse?" Sakura offered.

"Right. It makes hair hard, but it looks nicer." She said.

"Ooo can I do something with your hair?" Tomoyo asked.

"Uh, yes, of course." Chindra said.

Tomoyo finished Sakura’s bangs quickly, and Sakura looked at them with shock, quickly grabbing the bottle of hair spray beside her to preserve the miraculous curls. She sprayed them carefully then brushed them with a pick comb, getting a wonderful parted look. Sakrua smild at herself in the mirror. Wow. Tomoyo is amazing.

Sakura looked over at Tomoyo and Chindra as Tomoyo started working with Chindra’s hair. She fixed up the front curls first, twisting them around her fingers and letting them spring. But that wasn’t all.

Tomoyo began working on Chindra’s eyes, with her permission, of course, highlighting them with deep black eye liner, making her eyes stand out with her black curls, accenting the corners and bringing out some of her egyptian ancestry. Chindra looked with surprise at herself in the mirror. "That’s amazing, looks like I am pharoh’s daughter." She said.

Tomoyo smiled, happy with herself and the work she had done. "Can I keep going?" Tomoyo asked.

"Sure!" Chindra said.

Tomoyo worked with a metallic pink blush now, highlighting Chindra’s perfectly high cheekbones and her dark olive complexion with the beautiful pink color. Sakura tried to use the eye liner, but found that she was gouging her eyeball more than she was getting the edge of her eye. She sighed with frustration and took the eye shadow, using something she knew how to use. Sakura took the cherry blush from her side and worked with it. Her cheekbones were still set in a ways, and Sakura was upset to see that her baby cheeks wouldn’t allow the same sophisticated look Chindra had.

Sakura did what she could, taking a cherry lipstick to hightlight her lips, helping her pure white complexion stand out. Sakura looked over at Chindra once she was done, who looked positively stunning. "Chindra you look gorgeous!"

"Wow Sakura, you like nice as well!"

Tomoyo stood back proudly. "You both look wonderful! Hang on, I’ve gotta get this on tape!"

"At least wait for us to change first!" Sakura complained, not yet in her concert clothes.

"Oh, of course! Sakura you’ve got to see the outfit I came up with!" She said excitedly.

Sakura was dreading to see what Tomoyo would have come up with, but she followed Tomoyo over to the bag of stuff she had brought along. Tomoyo pulled out a shirt and then a pair of pants. "I’ve got a skirt outfit and a pant outfit."

"Pants. Definitely." Sakura said.

Tomoyo nodded and pulled out the exact same sleeveless shirt Sakura had brought for the concert, only it had lacing up the front that went a bit low, and the sleeves laced across the shoulders to the neckline, all with peices of green-yellow ribbon. "That’s pretty cool Tomoyo!" Sakura said.

"I knew you wanted to wear your new jeans, but these pants match that ribbon just perfect." Tomoyo said, pulling a pair of yellow and green striped pants out of the bag. She held it up for Sakura’s inspection.

Sakura looked down at her clothes, her fairly plain white sleeveless shirt, her new but plain jeans, then up at Tomoyo’s gorgeous revised versions. She quickly grabbed the clothes from Tomoyo, sitting down on the edge of her bed, and pulled at the jeans she was wearing. Sakura changed into the clothes quickly, finding Tomoyo’s shirt just a bit tighter, it’s neckline a bit lower with the lacing that went down it. The pants were comfortable and looser, a nylon type material. Sakura looked at herself in the full length mirror and was glad to see her eyes looked a little greener, they stood out a little more, and the makeup she had attempted to put on looked a little nicer with these clothes.

"Awesome!" Sakura said happily.

"I have a similar outfit for you, Chindra, if you don’t mind wearing a skirt." Tomoyo said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a white shirt with dark leather tying, along with a small skirt made out of the same type leather. "I made this one yesterday morning."

Chindra walked over to Tomoyo and picked the clothes up, quickly changing into them. Tomoyo smiled as Chindra dazzled at the clothes she was wearing. "I thought my other shirt was nice!" She said, amazed at the new clothes.

Tomoyo stepped back, looking at Chindra and Sakura with pride. "Lemme get my camera." She said, forcing her eyes away as she turned around to get into her suitcase.

Sakura sighed, she didn’t want to be taped. "I’m going to get a candy bar, Tomoyo, I’ll be right back!" Sakura said, quickly sweeping the change off the top of the television and hurrying out of the room. She heard Tomoyo’s protest just as she shut the door, but she didn’t stop, she hurried down the hall. Tomoyo can be too much sometimes. I know these clothes are really cool, but couldn’t she think of something else? When we were little she seemed like such a deep and understanding person. Now, it seems she has a one tract mind...Sakura waited patiently for the elevator to go down, then stepped out into the hall, hurrying down towards the vending machines.

------

"Damn thing." Syaoran said angrily, pounding the vending machine with his fist as it had just eaten more of his change. Syaoran sighed and shoved his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t slept very well that night, he had been having awful dreams about Hong Kong, about Sakura being alone, about his past. Then he had a wake up call around six when Kaoto and Gatria were noisily practicing one of their harder rock songs, in which he had accidentally fell off the side of the couch, loosing his blanket, revealing his shirtless self. Kaoto and Gatria had abruptly stopped singing and had chased him around the room with a camera, which Syaoran wasn’t sure if they had managed to get a picture or not.

Syaoran had eaten crappy room service at noon, but they wouldn’t let him eat very much, reasoning that he shouldn’t eat too much before a show. Syaoran had snuck out just before they were leaving to go to their ‘face people’ as Kaoto called it, which according to Rii, unbearable torture was in store. Now he was trying to buy a candy bar before Kaoto and the rest of them left without him.

He was wearing a Tshirt with numbers on the back and the band logo on the front, along with long pants that matched the rest of the band’s outfit. He had complained and said that the bottom of these pants would be demolished once he walked outside with them, but Kaoto and Gatria had waved that away.

Syaoran frowned, looking at the vending machine. He sensed something. No, not magic something, but something else, something that was very fimiliar to him, though he couldn’t place the feeling. Footsteps coming down the hallway caused further alarm. He had the strangest feeling he would know this person, and they wouldn’t understand why he was wearing the band’s clothes. Syaoran grit his teeth and pushed the refund button one more time, then swiftly swung around the wall. He peered carefully around it as a pretty girl rounded the corner.

Sakura was walking with a preoccupied look on her face, completly clueless to how nice she looked in her flattering clothes. Syaoran peered around the wall just a little more to get a better veiw of her, but to do this he had to lean his weight out, and he found himself falling, so Syaoran quickly threw himself the other way and out of danger zone. Unfortunately he crashed into several boxes that shouldn’t have been there. Syaoran cringed at all the noise they made, and knew Sakura would soon be looking around the corner curiously. Syaoran frantically got to his feet and opened the door next to him, jumping into a brightly lit room. Syaoran looked around with wide eyes and spotted a man in front of him, his back turned. It was a janitor, according to the uniform he wore.

Syaoran couldn’t stay in here, but he couldn’t leave. Thinking fast, Syaoran carefully stepped forward, grabbed the black and white striped hat right off the man’s head and turned before the man could get ahold of his shoulder. Syaoran swung the door open and sprinted into the hall, putting the hat on his head and pulling it low over his eyes. Syaoran slowed into a hurrying walk and rushed past Sakura, who glanced up from the vending machine to look at the noisy person causing such chaos. Syaoran kept his head bent low and hurried out of the vending machine hall and rushed through the lobby.

"Hey, you!" Syaoran heard the janitor call from behind, running at Syaoran. Syaoran looked with worried eyes behind himself, then saw the band parked outside the hotel, the engine running, the Shiro-Ame logo shining brightly with the afternoon light shining off it. Syaoran sprinted out the door, pushing the glass doors open (they got that fixed quick) and jumped to the van, pulling open a door.

Syaoran lept into the van, knowing that the janitor was hot on on his trail, and quickly threw it shut behind him. Syaoran pulled himself off of Gatria and Rii’s lap mumbling an apology, then sat in the seat, looking out at the confused janitor through the deeply tinted windows. Kaoto, sitting in front, looked out the window curiously. "Always in trouble with the law." She remarked, but said no more than that.

Figures. There’s a billion and one hotels here, and I manage to end up in the one with this obnoxious band and the one where Sakura’s at. Syaoran breathed out slowly, readying himself for his next task. Right now I should be concentrating on this card. If I’m able to seal any of these, I should be able to seal this one.

"Did you get your candy bar?" Gatria asked after they had been driving for a while.

Syaoran looked up from his thoughts. "Uh, no." He said, quickly looking back down.

"Probably better anyway. If our face people found out you have been eating chocolate within fourtyeight hours of a show...well...."

Syaoran’s thoughts shifted to these ‘face people’. Just what are they going to do? I understand most performers wear stage makeup, but I refused to be dressed up like some little girl. All they need to do is make me look like Komai, it won’t be that horribly hard. People in the stands won’t be able to see me very well since I’m on stage, I should be able to get away with this easily. Syaoran watched out the window as they were given clearance to drive in the back way to the stadium they were preforming at, and felt his nerves start to rise. This is stupid. I shouldn’t be nervous. Just because I am impersonating some guy in front of millions of adoring fans playing songs I still don’t even know, and singing (UGH) back up vocals, I shouldn’t be so nervous.

The van came to a stop, and Rii slowly opened his door. "Another day of torture." He complained, stepping out onto the gravel parking lot.

Syaoran got out of his door, looking around with his bright eyes. The back of the stadium looked huge, and Syaoran had a feeling this was going to be a top notch facility. He followed in the back of the line as the four of them dragged their feet into the building, then followed through an airy tile hallway to a large room filled with costumes, wigs, full length mirrors, and everything else you could think of.

"Oh, the four, the four! I haven’t seen you all for ages!" Came the voice of an older woman as she rounded the corner. She gave bright smiles to all of them, though a bit of suspicion was in her eyes as she looked at Syaoran. "Are my eyes playing tricks, or has Komai changed a bit?"

Kaoto looked at her with pleading puppy dog eyes. "Komai’s still sick. We beg, we grovel, we need you to make this guy Li here-" She turned and faced him. "Into our lead guitarist."

The woman started looking him over, and Syaoran just stood with a look of near death annoyance on his face. "Well he’s a bit slimmer than Komai, I’m sure no one would notice that....let’s see..." She peered at his face, and Syaoran stared intimidatingly into her eyes for a few moments, then sighed seeing it had no effect. "His eyes aren’t the right color, but I’m sure some contacts can fix that, we’ll have to fix his hair of course, and maybe do a little something to his eye brows, but his forehead...it’s not quite as long as Komai’s....we’ll have to cover it somehow...I don’t have any latex off hand."

Syaoran jumped, he wasn’t expecting full out latex to be used on him. "Can’t you just tie something around it?"

"Yes, Komai was always a fan of Rambo, that’s a great idea!"

"I’ll go look for some matching color cloth!" Said the woman, then she rushed away.

"Well, we better get to work on the rest of the basic stage esentials." Kaoto said, leading them to the seats that ran along a wall of mirrors.

Syaoran picked up some of the products and looked at them skeptically. "I am not wearing mascara." He said firmly.

Gatria peered at his eyes. "But your eye lashes aren’t even pure black. They’re ambery and black, that won’t work. Once we this stuff on you, your eyes will look one hundred percent better."

"I think I like them the way they are." Syaoran grumbled.

"Listen, they may look alright right now, but when someone’s standing twenty feet away, your face is just a peach blur." Gatria explained.

"With our team of professionals, when someone is standing twenty feet away they can still see your eyes and your lips and stuff." Kaoto said.

"Lipstick?" Syaoran asked, repulsed.

"Not to mention your cheekbones, with the amount of blush those two put on you could spot their cheek bones from sixty feet away." Rii said, sitting on a chair oblivious.

"I don’t think this was in our deal..." Syaoran started.

"Do you want the other twenty five hundred?" Kaoto asked sternly.

Syaoran sighed. I need to be on stage to get the card. "Yeah..." He said.

"What, they’re paying you for this?" Rii asked, outraged.

"Don’t you get paid for your concerts?" Syaoran asked him, trying to avoid confrontation for the moment.

"All our profits goes to the cause of ‘the band’. ‘The band’ gets money for more make up, more torture devices, not to mention more clothes." Rii grumbled, glaring at the two girls.

"Rii you know very well we bought your drum set out of that money! And Komai’s new guitar!"

They were silenced as a group of people walked into the room. They spread out across Syaoran and the rest of them, sitting them down in the chairs. "So you’re the one who has got to look like Komai?" The woman asked him.

"Yeah." Syaoran said, glaring at the woman through the mirror.

"Alright, let’s start with the eyes. Can you put these in?" She asked, holding out two clear contacts, though they were both tinted dark.

Syaoran hesitantly took them carefully off her finger, not sure if he could put these in or not. He knew how to, he had just never tried. "Uh, I’ll try." He said. Syaoran took the contacts up to his eye one at a time. He blinked once and held open one eye, then forced some bravery into his system. Syaoran slid the peice of floppy plastic stuff onto his eye, then sat back in his chair, blinking rapidly, not used to the feeling of something in his eye. "Are they gonna be like this the whole time?" Syaoran asked, his eye still not calming down.

"Oh dear, I think you may have sensitive eyes."

Sensitive my ass. Syaoran forced his eye to stay open, though he was blinking more than he normally did. Syaoran sighed slowly, preparing himself for the other one. He held open the eye, and only by the spur of the moment was he able to force himself to put another one in. Syaoran blinked for a while, but was able to keep them open without that much pain. In fact, he was surprised that after a while they hardly even bugged him. Syaoran looked at his eye color in the mirror and was surprised to find a chocolatey color, not the usual off red brown color they generally were.

"Alright, will you be able to deal with those?" The woman asked.

"Yeah." Syaoran said, as if it was a stupid question.

"Okay. Komai’s a little darker than you so..." She pulled out some darker foundation, much to Syaoran’s horror, and shook the bottle up, then put some into her hand. Syaoran squirmed to the back of his seat, not wanting this torture to start. She smeared the disgusting stuff all of his face, and Syaoran made horrible expressions the whole time, number one not liking the fact that some artificial coloring was being put on his face, and number two, not liking the woman’s rough hands rubbing all over his poor face. Syaoran sighed with releif after all the stuff was even and spread out, then quickly forgot about it, because she was preparing a second coat.

After this part was finally finished, blush was out, and Syaoran tried to close his eye and not think about how stupid this was as she brushed it on. Luckily, Syaoran thought, you couldn’t see the blush very well, he wasn’t even sure why she put it on, so at least he didn’t look like he had make up on.

But now the mascara was coming. Syaoran wasn’t sure if he could deal with this. He cast a sideways glance at Rii, who was glaring at his face person as she was getting some eye shadow out. Syaoran looked back to his own person.

"Look up, don’t blink." She ordered.

Syaoran could only console himself with images of large fields with horses in them, make up never touching the edges of these places. The woman roughly brushed the black stuff through his eye lashes, and Syaoran cringed at the effect. It might not look like he had any on, but he could tell those eye lashes were not his own. It’s true, his eyes stood out more than he though was possible, but he wasn’t sure if he liked the effect.

Syaoran endured more powder being thrown across his face, then chewed the inside of his lip as she put dark eye shadow across his eye lids. Once he saw the woman pick up a suspcious reddish tube, Syaoran jumped out of his seat. "That’s it! No more! I REFUSE to wear lipstick!"

"Please, you can’t go parading on stage and look like you don’t have any lips, this is an essential part of stage makeup-"

"I don’t care!" Syaoran reached in his pocket where he had some chapstick. "I’ll wear this." He offered.

Rii was watching with admiration, longing to evade his own lipstick torture. "Yeah, why can’t we just wear chapstick, anyway?"

"You guys!" Kaoto said, not moving as she had one person on her eye shadow and one person on her mascara.

"If you guys insist." Syaoran’s make up person said, shrugging. Syaoran sighed with releif. He reluctantly sat back down, and watched warily as the lipstick was set back on the counter. "Now we’ve got to get your hair right." She said, spraying a load of crap into her hands then dousing the front of Syaoran’s hair with it.

Syaoran could only cringe, but he stayed still, letting her glob his hair together as she pleased. No one will know it’s me. They all think I am Komai. I shouldn’t care what I look like, I’m not really me. Syaoran managed to keep this mentality as his usual hair that fell across his forehead was parted into Komai’s version, making his hair stay together in much bigger groups. She flattened it down a little, then stepped back with frustration. "Your hair has a mind of its own. Everyone’s just going to have to think Komai chose a different hair style."

Syaoran glared at himself and at the woman in the mirror. He still looked like himself, at least he thought, but the eye color change and the darker complexion definitely made him look different, he could almost pass as Komai. The older woman rushed in with several peices of cloth draped over her arm. She walked over to Syaoran and held them against the sleeve of his shirt. She looked up at Syaoran’s facial change in the mirror. "Amazing! You have such pretty eyes, you have very long eye lashes, you know?"

Syaoran cringed. Is that telling me I look like a girl? "Great." He said dryly.

"Okay, I think this white peice will contrast your color just right..." She pushed his hair off his forehead and tied it under his long bangs, hiding his forehead. "Now we can’t tell the difference. It’s so broad that it goes over your hair line a little bit, your hair is sticking up, you’ll have to fix that Di (Syaoran assumes that’s the name of his face person), but it makes you look like you have a higher forehead. Perfect."

Syaoran looked in the mirror. The peice of cloth had been expertly cut with sizzors to look like it had endured world war three, though it was obvious to him the cut marks were artificial. The older woman walked over to Kaoto and Gatria. "Now you all will have to match." Syaoran looked over, and saw that Kaoto’s apparently straight hair had been professionally curled and was now held high on her head with several different elastics. She looked up, her dark eye lashes flashing, her overdone eyeshadow standing out brightly on her light face.

"Tie this around your pony tail, you Gatria, we’ll weave it into your hair."

Gatria’s hair had been made messy, but in style, it was half between curls hanging down on her shoulders. Her make up was much the same as Kaoto, though she had went with the pink eye shadow theme instead of Kaoto’s bright blue. She took the strips of white cloth and began tying them into her hair. Kaoto tightened the knot in her hair and nodded, her springy curls bouncing with her head. "Cool."

"Do something with this, Rii." The older woman said, handing him a broader cloth.

Rii looked at the cloth skeptically then started positioning it on his head. He sighed and set it on the counter for later.

Syaoran got up, wanting to stretch his legs. I wonder if there’s anywhere to run? An excersize room or something? Syaoran walked over to Rii, who was face-personless at the moment. "Is there any excersize rooms in here?"

Rii looked up. "Do you think after all that make up they are going to let you go get sweaty?" He asked.

Syaoran glared. "I don’t like sitting around for hours, that’s all." He said through his teeth. He had a feeling that their similar quick tempered atitudes were going to have many a conflict before the night was over.

"We have to go out and tune our stuff in a little bit, anyway. Save your energy." Rii said, looking back to his tasks.

Syaoran sighed and walked around the large room, looking around for anything to do. He wandered down a small hall of the room into a smaller one, a room filled with manicans. They kind of put Syaoran’s nerves on end as he looked around at their lifeless faces, but he saw an opportunity. Syaoran kicked one in the head and spun around, back hand springing over one that was laying down. Syaoran grinned and swung his leg around into another one, knocking it over. Syaoran felt his chest rising and falling more quickly, and was happy to see that his lungs weren’t hurting. I am gonna have to sing tonight, too. Damn, that sucks. Syaoran heard footsteps coming.

Occasionally the kid inside Syaoran would win, and he would fall to his playful side, and this was one of those times. Syaoran darted behind one of the manicans and stood completly still, freezing himself to the same stone stature that the plastics beside him had. Syaoran watched carefully as a girl walked into the room, her heels rushing across the floor. She had high springy curls tied on her head, and Syaoran grinned at his chance for revenge. Syaoran watched her as she walked down the aisle where he was standing, preparing himself to leap out. She was walking completly oblivious, and Syaoran smiled to himself. He reached out and grabbed her arm just as she walked by.

Kaoto screamed the most horrible high pitched scream and jumped sideways, then looked at Syaoran with large eyes. "You jerk!" She shouted, pulling her arm from his hand, then whacking his arm with her backhand.

Syaoran could only smile inwardly, looking back at her with the most innocence he could muster. "You set yourself up."

Rii and Gatria came jogging around the corner, looking worriedly over at Kaoto. They looked from her to Syaoran, gathering up their own idea. Kaoto glared at him. "I was coming after you to tell you you better get your butt out on stage because we’ve got to get our guitars tuned. There’s some fans that paid to come out and watch, but it’s not really anything." She paused, grinning. "Or are you having fun with your new friends?" She asked, looking at the clotheless manican at their side.

"No!" Syaoran said defensively. Gatria and Rii walked over, both looking suspciously at Syaoran.

"Are we ready to go?" Gatria asked, flashing her grey blue eyes at Syaoran.

Syaoran glared at her for a second before brushing past them, charging out of the room. The rest of them followed a length away. Syaoran found his way to the stage and stepped outside, met by a few solitary screams from some girls standing on the grass in front of the stage. "Komai!" They screamed.

Syaoran looked down with disgust, looking around for his guitar. He found it center stage, and walked over to it, picking it up carefully. Kaoto walked over next to him and picked up her guitar, then picked a few bass scales. She walked to her microphone and tapped on it, then turned to the people backstage. "Hey can we get a mic check?" Kaoto called.

Gatria was playing the harmonizing part to the first song, and Syaoran pulled the folded music out of his pocket and set it on the ground in front of him, looking down then up, trying to play the music in front of him. Gatria caught up with him and played the second part, their guitars filling nicely. Kaoto wandered over from her mic and played bass with them, it hardly audible without being plugged in to an amp.

Rii walked out and sat down amidst his large drum set, banging on the snare a few times and then went into a full beat. He did a couple drum rolls, hitting all of the cymbals and seperate peices amazingly fast. No doubt about it, all these kids were talented.

Maybe if I knew the music I could play it better. "Hey can I get a music stand?" Syaoran called, sick of having to look all the way down at the floor just to play.

A music stand was abruptly brought from back stage, set in front of Syaoran next to his mic. He put the music across it, finding it much easier to play now.

"The mics are ready." Called a man from behind the curtain.

Kaoto nodded and walked over to her guitar chord, plugging it in. Gatria did the same, and Syaoran quickly fished his out of the sea of wires and plugged it into his guitar. Playing one chord, he found that his guitar was turned up very loud, it amplified through the huge stereo sound system, the larger than life stadium speakers, and echoed through the giant space. Great. Everyone can hear me mess up.

"Play number one!" Kaoto called.

A track started playing over the stereo system, synthesizers along with a vocorder part. Kaoto looked down at her bass and played along for a few minutes, then started singing the first of the lyrics, Gatria coming in with her higher harmony shortly after that.

Rii was playing his drums lightly, none of the music supposed to be coming in full force yet. Gatria’s guitar was silent, as was Syaoran’s. His first notes were a scale, something relatively easy. Just as Kaoto finished the verse Syaoran came in with his perfect timing, the stacked guitar’s gritty noise ringing through the stadium. The drums were very loud now, as was Gatria’s harmonizing guitar. Syaoran was glad his guitar was so loud, even now he could barely hear it.

How am I supposed to hear myself sing? Kaoto started singing the chorus and glanced back expentantly at Syaoran. He sighed and forced himself up to the mic, singing on perfect pitch, though he couldn’t hear himself. Kaoto signalled to stop for a second, and she looked over to Syaoran. "You’re gonna have to sing louder than that. Belt it out, no one cares if you sing off, it’s a concert, they’re just here to drool over you, ‘kay?"

Syaoran glared and nodded, not wanting her advice, though it made sense. "Pick it up on the second verse." Kaoto called. The track came back on, and Kaoto began singing and playing again. Syaoran went back to his guitar work. It’s pretty hard to sing and play at the same time if you don’t know the song. Syaoran got to his harmony part and sang it out like she said, finding amazingly that if he sang as hard as he could, he almost sounded like he had a good rock star voice. Satisfied with that, and then double satisfied when Kaoto grinned over her shoulder and gave him a quick thumbs up, Syaoran was finally finding some fun in this. Now I just have to be ready for that card to pop up. It’d be great if it appeared now and I could catch it and run off before the concert started.

More people were walking in, and Syaoran felt his nerves start to return. They’re hear to drool over you. Think like that. No one really cares what you sound like, at the volume they have this system cranked at, they probably only hear a blur of music, anyway. They finished that song, then Syaoran went to tightening some of the off strings on his guitar, getting it to perfect pitch. Gatria and Kaoto tuned theirs to his, then they considered themselves ready.

"What do we do now?" Syaoran asked.

"We drink five cups of expresso and get our energy up." Gatria said, setting her guitar down.

"Right." Syaoran said, following them off stage. Some girl screamed Komai so loud he had to stop and turn around for a second. He squinted, trying to make out the girl’s figure, but she definitely looked fimiliar. Her dark eyes stood out brightly, almost catlike, and her spiraling hair was very fimiliar looking. She waved at him, and was quickly accomponied by two other girls at her side, waving at him with both their arms.

Syaoran offered a small wave, though he still wasn’t sure if that was who he thought it was or not- the stage was huge, they were a long ways off, but...Kaoto pulled on his arm. "He’s going to fall in love with having fans and we’ll never get rid of him." She muttered, dragging him through backstage.

"We’ve got an hour at most to enjoy pre-showtime." Gatria said.

_____________________________________________________________________

Sakura smiled jealously at Chindra. "Of course he would have waved at you, you’re taller. Besides, you were the one that could scream the loudest."

Chindra smiled deviously. "During concert you get on my shoulders and we can take a good picture."

Tomoyo shook her head. "I think the drummer is rather handsome." She said, looking over a picture of the band they had bought from the gates, hoping to get it signed by the members before the night was over.

"I guess. He’s always frowning. Komai is so energetic, he always plays like...well look." Sakura said, pointing at a picture of him playing his guitar, a single shot she had bought with hopes to get it signed.

"He does have a spark in his eye." Chindra said, holding her own picture of him.

"I can’t wait for them to come out!" Sakura said excitedly. They were playing a CD over the soundsystem, and people were really starting to come in. Sakura had shed Touya and his friends at the food and concessions in the back of the stadium, and with all the people already in here, there was no way they’d find each other before the end of the concert. So she, Tomoyo, and Chindra were standing at the edge of the stage where Komai had last been practicing, standing so close that they could almost touch the edge of the stage.

The grassy stadium was really packing in, it was starting to really get crowded. Sakura was shaking with excitement, the whole place seemed to be buzzing with the incredible excitement. She looked to Chindra. "If he actually signs this for me, I don’t know if I’ll be able to deal with it, I mean, if we make eye contact, you may just have to catch me as I faint!" Sakura said, shaking from just the thought.

"I think the same for me!" Chindra said, smiling dreamily.

"I’m so glad he’s not sick anymore! I was so afraid when they postponed it..."

The song that was playing suddenly stopped, causing everyone to hush, waiting expectantly. The lights on stage started to swing around, flashing across the audience, across the stage, into the Tokyo sunset. Sakura was shaking horribly now, jumping up and down just to contain herself. "They’re gonna come out!" She said excitedly, gripping Chindra’s arm.

Chindra seemed just as excited. She looked about to burst. Sakura looked at Tomoyo, whose generally calm and composed face seemed a little bit affected by the buzzing activity. Fog spurted onto the stage, followed by a bass rumbling noise. The stage was foggy, Sakura couldn’t see, and then...drums started playing! Live drums! Sakura screamed along with the other thousand people as the bass guitar started playing strongly. Kaoto jumped out of the fog as it started to clear. People cheered, screeched, screamed, threw things into the air...and Kaoto took it all so well, smiling broadly, her bright eyes sparkling. She started belting out the first of the lyrics into the microphone, though Sakura couldn’t make out the words or even what song it was.

Sakura’s eyes searched for Komai and Gatria, who were playing, but the fog was still working its way off stage. Sakura’s fingers went into Chindra’s arm a little more as she saw Komai already playing his guitar. She and Chindra smiled hysterically at each other and jumped up and down, screaming their lungs out. The band had went along with some cloth theme, because each of them were wearing cloth around their heads somewhere, Komai’s looking the best hands down. Sakura gazed dreamily at him, amazed beyond beleif to be seeing him in real life.

"He looks lot like your friend!" Chindra shouted over the music.

Sakura couldn’t hear her. "What!?" She yelled back.

"Your friend! He looks like!" Chindra shouted.

Sakura just looked at her with a puzzled face.

"LI!" Chindra shouted, pointing at Komai.

Sakura looked up at Komai and turned very pale. There was some obvious differences, but yes, Komai did very strongly resemble Syaoran. Did that mean she was in love with Syaoran? She wasn’t sure. Should she quick fussing over him? No way! I came to enjoy this! "He does!" She shouted back, smiling.

They continued to jump up and down to their music happily, until the song ended. Sakura hadn’t looked at anyone but Komai through the whole song, even though all he did was play his guitar, he didn’t even have any singing parts. Kaoto smiled breathlessly, letting her bass guitar hang on her shoulder. "How is Tokyo tonight?" She shouted into the microphone.

She got a loud response of screaming, at which she just grinned more broadly. "We’ve had a horrible time finding a hotel! It seems all our fans booked rooms a bit more wisely than we did!"

Some of the audience laughed, while others just continued to scream. A group of girls wearing matching outfits standing near where Sakura and Chindra were screamed very loudly. "KOMAI! SIGN THIS!" They screamed, holding up several pictures.

The surprised look Komai gave them was scarily similar to a Syaoran expression, Sakura noted. Kaoto laughed and looked that way. "Well I see who gets all the attention." She said, laughing.

"WE LOVE YOU KAOTO!" Screamed a group of seventeen year old boys, standing center stage.

Kaoto only laughed into the microphone. "This next songs for you, my faithful fans!" She said, starting a punchy bass beat.

- - - - - - - - -

Syaoran couldn’t beleive how hot it was on stage, the lights were killing him, though he did have a great veiw. He was having a horrible time ignoring three very harmless girls standing at the edge of the stage, though he knew they were staring at him. I hope they don’t recognize me. No, of course they don’t. I look like Komai. They don’t even know I’m in Tokyo. No problem. Just keep playing.

This song he had the main melody line, it was a harder song, and he played it well. These harder rock songs more suited his taste, and he was able to put more energy into them. He sang out his first harmony into the microphone, thinking repeatedly; I’m Komai. I’m Komai. I’m- Syaoran couldn’t help but think that this was kind of fun, it was a pure adreniline rush being up here, especially with all these girl fans screaming at him. He wasn’t sure if he should sign everyone’s pictures, then he’d be there all night, he didn’t want to do that.

Syaoran glanced up at his music then back down at his fingers, determined not to make a mistake. Gatria and Kaoto were hopping around, and he had a feeling he was supposed to be acting Komai like right now. It was a musical bridge, he didn’t need to stand at his microphone, though it felt like his safety zone. Syaoran walked as best he could while still keeping a strong guitar. Gatria grinned at him and stood back to back with him, playing a scale in harmony with the one Syaoran was trying desperately to remember.

"Energy!" Kaoto yelled at him, smiling, jumping around with her nicely timed bass. "Smile! Komai always smiles! Wink! Do something!" She yelled.

Syaoran pasted a fake smile on his face, and she nodded with approval. Syaoran played through the repeating chords next to Gatria. "Why does it have to be so freaking hot?" Syaoran said through his teeth, keeping the permenant smile, ignoring his cheek’s pleas to relax.

"Sweat makes you look hot." She said, grinning and punching him in a shoulder, missing a chord but quickly catching up.

Syaoran shook his head and walked back over to his music stand, hurrying because he couldn’t remember the chords coming up. Syaoran watched his music for a while, then the song ended, and Kaoto started talking again, her and Gatria going through a planned dialogue. Syaoran let his guitar hang on the shoulder strap and wiped off some sweat from his forehead, glancing sideways as that action alone got a scream from a wide group of girls. Bringing his eyes around back to the stage, Syaoran couldn’t help but see Sakura watching him. She thinks I’m her idol. Syaoran suddenly realized the amazing amount of power he now had over her.

He was quickly brought to reality as she started the bass to his favorite song. You are Komai. Play with his energy. Syaoran pounded his sore fingers over the strings, putting all his feiry energy into it. Camera flashes would temporarily blind him, but that was okay, because in this short amount of time his better than average memory had memorized the chord line up to this song.

Syaoran had time to look around at the crowd as he played, though he preferred to keep his eyes glued in front of him. Syaoran looked to his right, getting a bunch of waves from those people, then dared to look to his left. Syaoran looked around at the people around Sakura, then a slow grin spread on his face, this one not fake. Syaoran met her eyes just for a second, those bright green eyes, highlighted with something, because they stood out much more than normal. Letting his inner rock star take over, Syaoran winked at her before returning his eyes to the music in front of him. Syaoran was dying to see the reaction it got, but he knew that would take the coolness out of it, so he looked forward, smiling genuinely.

They went right into the next song from there, and Syaoran was starting to get the hang of this fake identity. All he had to do was be energetic and smile, wink, and do all the things he was afraid to do normally, and he had it. "KOMAI SIGN IT!" Screamed the same bunch of girls. Syaoran made his way over, playing through the last of a set of chords before squatting down, and taking the pictures from them, along with the marker.

Syaoran had taken a quick autograph lesson from Kaoto, she told him Komai was notorious for signing autographs during concerts, so he had to learn. Syaoran quickly scribbled Komai across them, then handed the signed pictures back, smiling at the girls, getting a melted look from them. Syaoran jogged back to his music stand, well aware that his shirt was sticking to him from all the sweat accumulated from the awful stage lights. My face person’s hard work is going to melt off here in a little bit.

Syaoran glanced over in Sakura and Chindra’s direction, noticing that they were waving several pictures at him. I’ll have to sign those...A slow idea started in Syaoran’s mind, though he wasn’t sure if he had the guts to go through with it. Of course I do, I’m one of the most famous guys in Japan. Syaoran walked over to center stage, playing with Kaoto as Gatria was signing someone’s autograph.

"You’re getting it, kid!" She shouted.

Syaoran only half grinned, walking around a little bit and flashing a smile at the center crowd before heading back to his usual spot. Sakura and Chindra were still persistantly waving pictures at him, and Syaoran wasn’t sure how much longer he could resist the urge to follow through with his plan. Just do it, it’ll make her happy for a year or two. Think about how happy she’d be!

Syaoran walked their direction, meeting eyes with both of them, confident in the altering affects of the contacts in his eyes. Sakura was staring at him with a shocked fear that only made him smile, but she still held the picture up. But that wasn’t what he wanted. Syaoran grinned and held out his hand, causing Sakura’s eyes to enlargen past natural sizes, and her arm holding the picture out was starting to shake. Chindra nudged her with her elbow, and Sakura quickly remembered her manners.

She took his hand, though her face was an unhealthy shade of white, and her eyes were permanently staring at him. Syaoran gripped it tightly and with all the strength he had in his right arm he pulled her up, bringing her right on stage. Sakura stood up slowly, though her knees gave out. Syaoran quickly caught her with his free arm and helped her stand up.

"Are you scared?" He called, having full faith that the blaring music would disguise his voice enough.

Sakura stared at him for a few more seconds with sheer terror, then slowly her expression turned to a broad smile. "Will you sign this?" She asked, holding the picture out with the marker.

Syaoran smiled, Sakura was too adorable for words, and he took the picture and pen from her, scribbling down Komai’s name. I could do anything with her, she’d never know, to her knowledge I’m Komai... He glanced over his shoulder where Gatria was shaking her head and smiling at him.

"You’re on stage with me and all you can ask is for my autograph?" Syaoran asked, smiling of course, and handing it back to her.

Sakura took it, staring at him, then laughing to herself. "You play very well." She said shyly.

Syaoran was almost over the edge looking into her bright green eyes, reflecting the complimenting colors of her outfit, her innocence completly radiating in this situation. She would never know it was you....Syaoran sighed almost dreamily, loosing himself for a moment, then realizing they were still standing awkwardly close, he was supposed to be playing, and Sakura looked ready to pass out. "Thank you." He said sincerely, turning her with a hand on her shoulder and directing her to the edge of the stage where Chindra was staring at her with absolute shock and jealousy, and Tomoyo had illegaly been taping with a camera. Sakura jumped down with weak legs and landed next to Chindra, staring at her with a look that just said ‘oh my God’.

Syaoran went to playing music with even more energy. Life was wonderful as Komai, he had no troubling past, he was able to take Sakura without any hinderence, no one was trying to control him. Syaoran sighed as he played his guitar with lightening fingers. I am supposed to be catching a card. I am forgetting my mission. Syaoran looked up at Kaoto, who was singing with her eyes closed, and Syaoran realized what song they were at. This was the one he sang most in, he and Gatria had their own duet echo part, they followed Kaoto’s lead. Luckily Syaoran had noticed, because she was just at that part. He quickly sang, looking at the lyrics the whole time, not knowing the words. Komai’s voice was playing overhead on the track, but this was still playing through the speakers, so he couldn’t bail out.

Syaoran frowned, the energy he had felt so strongly was starting to run out of him. Maybe I just used it all up. Syaoran thought. No. This is something else....the card! The card is trying to make an appearance. Kaoto had her eyes open now, and her previous smile turned into one of perplexion, and she seemed to be having a hard time singing the words. Syaoran looked around the stage. It had finally turned dark outside...Syaoran thought fast. He had put some magic into himself just before the concert, and he needed every bit of it. Pulling out an ofuda and calling his sword with amazing speed, he called out Lightening. The stadium quickly turned dark, protecting Syaoran from anyone seeing him holding a sword or anything like that. Syaoran looked around the sword, forcing his eyes to adjust as fast as they could, then looked for the Song card.

Kaoto was still singing, though her microphone and guitar weren’t working because of the sudden power shortage. Syaoran quickly set his guitar down and ran over to her through the dark with his sword. "I command you to reveal yourself!" Syaoran shouted.

A whirlwind came around the stage, and the glowing figure of the Voice card and the Song card appeared together. Syaoran felt magic flowing through him and into the blade of his sword, so, praying that it would work, Syaoran swung his sword into both of them. "Return to your guise!" Syaoran yelled, holding it steadily on them, feeling their resistance.

The Song and the Voice card both spun away into paper, and Syaoran watched them float into his hands. He looked at them with amazement for a moment. They were his cards, not Clow cards, not Sakura’s Star cards, but his own, holding the markings of his family on them, some dim reminders of Clow Reed on the side. Syaoran knew he didn’t have time to waste, Kaoto and Gatria would be wondering what was going on, and the audience was starting to make a bunch of noise as they looked around at the stage and saw breif glowing lights.

Syaoran hurried back to his stand, sending his sword back, putting the cards between some sheets of music, and he picked up his guitar. The power! They need electricity. Syaoran sighed and called his sword out one more time, then sent Lightening out. He quickly put his sword away as the lights came back on, and put his guitar over his shoulder, doing his best to look just like everyone else; confused and thrown off guard. Kaoto adjusted her guitar on her shoulder and approached the mic, tapping on it for a second. "Uh...well, that was interesting. Our technical staff decided to get back at us for not sharing the pizza earlier, I guess."

The audience laughed lightly.

"Sorry Jerry!" She joked, waving at the lighting board that was at the top of the opposite stadium wall. "Alright, sorry about that, let’s get on with the show, shall we?"

Syaoran played absently along, no longer worrying about putting energy into it, only looking at the part of the card he could see between the pages of music. He strummed the guitar with a wrong chord once, then reminded himself he still had to finish his end of the deal. No clow card to worry about, I should enjoy myself while I can, no family problems, no magic problems. Just me on stage and Sakura being my adoring fan. Syaoran glanced over that way, where Sakura was smiling at him, and Chindra was looking hopefully.

Gatria temporarily left the stage and jogged backstage. When she returned, she had a bundle of wrapped up things under her arms. She handed a couple to Rii, then gave some to Syaoran, and ran to Kaoto. Kaoto let the music track play and let her hands off her guitar, gripping the Tshirt with her right arm, then pitching it softball style into the crowd.

Syaoran got the idea, and he and Gatria went to their sides of the stages and began dishing them out. A shirt went sailing over Syaoran’s head, and he ducked, getting some screams and some laughter from the crowd. Syaoran turned to see Rii was throwing the shirts from behind. Syaoran turned back around and threw one his hardest, the Tshirt flying to the back of the crowd. Some girls screamed something about his throwing skill, and Syaoran grinned. He tossed some closer in, tossing one to Chindra. She jumped and caught it out of the air, and she and Sakura screamed happily, untying the shirt quickly.

Though Sakura wasn’t looking at him, Syaoran couldn’t help but smile at her with softened eyes breifly, before some other jealous girls screamed for the shirt. Syaoran tossed the last one he had in that direction and then returned to his guitar. He wiped the edge of his sleeve over his forehead again, completely exhausted with heat. This should be over soon. You’ll get your money and you can leave, go back to Japan, to see Sakura, though you’re only going to be leaving again. I still haven’t given her anything for her birthday. Perhaps after this I’ll have the guts to bring her to Moondust again.

Syaoran finished the last chord of that song, then stood back with releif as Kaoto started closing up the concert. She called Komai and Gatria up for an encore, one that Syaoran was completly unprepared to do. Syaoran slowly walked up to the center stage with his guitar, looking questioningly at Gatria. She shrugged and walked up next to Kaoto. "The one we were singing the other night." She whispered.

Syaoran pulled the chord to his guitar a little so it wasn’t so tight, and racked his memory. That was a cool song. It started with an E chord...wait no, F... "A!" Gatria whispered harshly over to him.

Syaoran nodded and played a A chord, several times, not remembering the next. "F!" Kaoto said over her shoulder.

It came back to him with this chord change. Am, F, C, G, Am...Syaoran played them strongly now, and Kaoto and Gatria knew he remembered. Kaoto started singing softly, the sad lyrics of the song.

"Before I said goodbye to you..." Syaoran and Gatria joined in with her, though they were both occupied with the complex fingering they had in these chords. "To leave you is pure agony, tell me why again I left you anyway..."

Syaoran glanced suspciously at Kaoto as she sang, her beautiful soprano voice carrying over her bass notes, her emotions flooding into the words as she sang them. He hadn’t remembered these lyrics from the other night, but he had been so self conscious about his singing that he hadn’t noticed hardly anything. The words made his stomach sick, maybe because he thought they were stupid, but maybe because he felt this might become his theme song in Hong Kong. Syaoran glanced sideways at Sakura as he sang, which she, Tomoyo, and Chindra all had their elbows on the stage, leaning their head in the hands and watching him with dreamy tears in their eyes.

Syaoran looked back forward, looking at the sheet of lyrics in front of them. "But now all I wanna do is I wanna hold you, let me protect you, please let me guide you...again. I wanna tell you that I love you, honestly love you, shouldn’t have left you, before." She was hitting the climax of the chorus, singing with her eyes closed and her emotions on full force. Syaoran glanced over at her for a second as her voice seemed to change with the power she put into it, but quickly sang the last of his harmony. "So let me hold you, I’ll never leave you, I should have never done that, You always said that you’d always love me, but that was before goodbye. Before goodbye...." Kaoto finished the song and opened her eyes, looking out on the crowd and smiling.

"Goodbye, Tokyo!" She said, waving and then turning, walking to backstage with Syaoran and Gatria at her sides. Rii got up from his drums and walked with them. Syaoran stoppped momentarily to hurry over to his guitar to get the new cards along with the music, ignoring the last pleading screams of the fans.

"Got a little carried away there, didn’t you?" Rii asked Syaoran skeptically as he fell back in step with them.

"How so?" Syaoran asked, pushing aside the curtain and stepping in.

"Pulling a cute girl on stage from the crowd? That was typical Komai, pure genius." She said.

Syaoran was pleased to see that Gatria didn’t find it strange. "Can I leave now?" Syaoran asked.

Kaoto looked at him with amusement. "What, you’re not even going to hang out with us for a little while? And I thought we had become so close." She said, putting her arm around his shoulder.

"I just want to go home." Syaoran mumbled, ducking under her arm.

"Do you have a girlfriend at home, Li nameless?" Gatria asked curiously.

"No." Syaoran said firmly.

"I find that hard to beleive." Rii said.

"No special someone in your life?" Kaoto asked, leading them to the backstage room where they could sit.

"I..." I don’t have to answer them. But then again, what would it hurt? They don’t know me, they don’t know anything about me, and I’ll never see them again. "I am not sure." Syaoran finally said.

Gatria smiled sympathetically at him. "He’s a confused fellow. What is she like? Ooo does she have another boyfriend?" She guessed.

"No, she’s... it doesn’t matter. Listen, will you pay me now or not? I kept my side of the deal."

They stopped walking, Kaoto facing Syaoran. Gatria was on his other side, they both giving him the same look, and it made him a bit nervous. "I’m sure she would understand, but you are so cute.." Kaoto said, grinning at Gatria.

Syaoran could see where this was going, but he couldn’t get away in time. Within miliseconds he had their lips on either side of his face. Syaoran jumped back, hitting the wall of the narrow hall painfully with his back. Kaoto and Gatria were both grinning at him, and Rii had an annoyed and amused look on his face. Syaoran glared at both of them as he roughly ran his sleeve over his cheek, rubbing at the bright lipstick they both had been wearing. "That should make it three thousand more." Syaoran said, glaring.

Kaoto grabbed his arm, pulling him along with them into the room with couches and stuff. There was plenty of food and drink in there, though Syaoran didn’t feel very hungry. "Is there a sink where I can get this stuff off?" Syaoran asked, untying the cloth that was around his forehead.

"Of course." Gatria said, pointing to a bathroom connected with this lounge room.

Syaoran walked over to it, tipping the door shut and turning on the sink, cupping his hands and splashing the cool water onto his hot face. So what if I go to Hong Kong for a while. I’ll come back. I can’t ignore my mother, she’ll get better and I can come back here and help Sakura, now that I know I can seal cards too. How am I going to explain these cards? I never thought about that. Oh well, I can come up with something, sometimes Sakura’s gullibility comes in handy, though I try not to take advantage of it. Syaoran grinned as he wiped his face off with the towel, thinking of Sakura’s sparkling eyes as he pulled her on stage. She was beautiful. Syaoran thought.

He looked himself over in the mirror and found his face back to its normal color, maybe light compared to Komai’s complexion, but still a fairly healthy peach color. Syaoran fingered out what gel he could out of his hair, then let it stay as springy as it was. Syaoran hurriedly pulled out the contacts. blinking the tears that sprung into his eyes as he tried to handle them. He walked out of the bathroom. "Can I keep these clothes?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah. The guy over there in the blue coat has your suitcase." She said.

Syaoran nodded and walked over to the man in the blue coat, quickly taking his suitcase back, along with his coat. Syaoran pulled the heavy trench coat over his shoulders, looking at the magic viles with rememberance. I could use some energy right now. Syaoran thought. He walked over to Kaoto and Gatria. "Will you pay me?" Syaoran asked.

"Can we have your phone number?" Kaoto asked.

Syaoran looked skeptically at her. "What do you need that for?"

"Well in case we are recording a new album and need some extra music talent..." Gatria said.

Syaoran sighed. It wouldn’t be that bad to record, they’d keep him anyonomous and he would make some easy money. "Do you have a pen?" Syaoran asked.

Kaoto smiled and nodded, digging through her pockets and finally pulling out a pen. Syaoran took her arm, pushed her sleeve up, and wrote it across her arm. She smiled and looked over the number with satisfaction. "Maybe someday you’ll tell us your name, Li-kun?" Kaoto asked.

"Someday." Syaoran said mysteriously.

"Well, if this is all you want, fine, take it." Gatria said, sighing, handing him large amounts of wadded up money.

Syaoran took it and shoved it into the pockets with the other half of money they had given him before the concert. He looked up as Kaoto extended her hand. Syaoran shook it reluctantly. "You know, Li nameless, you are a jerk, but somewhere in there I’m sure you could be a very good person."

"Don’t give up on your someone." Gatria added.

"Love and success may follow you all the days of your life." Rii said mockingly. Kaoto slapped him on the shoulder scoldingly and smiled at Syaoran.

"Maybe we will see each other again, next album is sure to start recording soon."

Syaoran nodded then turned away, his coat dragging behind him, and walked confidently out of the room. Five thousand yen! Five thousand yen! Syaoran walked happily out down the stadium halls, heading for the exit he had come out of. What could I buy with five thousand yen? A whole lot of things. But maybe I should save it for my mother- she probably needs money for the medicine she is on. Of course. I can’t go spending this, I must save it.

Syaoran left the gates and found himself walking down the nothern suburb’s sidewalks. He flagged down a taxi and sat in the seat, holding his suitcase. I’m going to be so tired in school tommorrow.

______________________________________________________________________

Sakura laid back on her pillow, staring dreamingly up at the ceiling. "His eyes were just so...uhh...." She smiled.

"It’s not fair!" Chindra said for the eightieth time, though she was joking. "He winked at me."

"No, he was looking at me." Sakura said. "I think he liked me."

"He did seem partial to you, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo agreed. "Perhaps it was the bangs I curled for you, or your complimenting outfit."

Sakura shooked her head as she gazed at the ceiling. "I almost fell." She said, staring dreamily at the ceiling.

"Yes, yes, and he caught you. You tell us this a hundred times." Chindra said. She laughed. "Do not think I am serious, you see I am joking, of course?"

"Yes, I know!" Sakura said. "He was just so...ahh..." Almost like Syaoran, but happy and so...I don’t know. "I wish we could go to another concert. I wonder if he’d recognize me?"

"I imagine so. He was looking you with stars in his eyes. It doesn’t look like he’d forget you." Tomoyo said.

Tomoyo is finally talking like she use to. It’s so nice, today has been the best day of my life. "He had the nicest dark brown eyes, they stood out so well. And that thing he had tied around his head..."

"Did you hear the first things he played?" Chindra asked from her sleeping bag.

"Those awesome scales." Tomoyo said.

They all sighed in chorus. Sakura looked up at the ceiling for a while, then started to feel the effects of the late hour. "We’re going to be dead tired tommorrow, we should probably get to sleep." Sakura said. "You’re so lucky Chindra."

"Tommorrow I wake up with you to go to train station. Some family business."

"Oh." Sakura said, very curious. "Is...is everything alright?"

"That’s why I going. To fix somethings." Chindra sat up, her chocolate eyes reflecting some of the moonlight. "Your family will no longer suffer from my problems, tommorrow ends that."

Sakura knew this must be serious, but she wasn’t going to force any more information out of Chindra unless she offered it willingly. "Well good luck then." Sakura said, closing her eyes.

"He tried to become closer to her, you were there, and you permitted it."

"He is seeing that he is able to help his family, to get the cards back for themselves. She will see he cares more for himself than for her."

Sakura shot up in her bed and looked around. The room was filled with pale moonlight. Chindra lay quietly, breathing softly in her sleep. Tomoyo was sleeping just the same, a peaceful expression across her pretty face. Sakura looked around the room once more. Kero was sleeping in his drawer, and Bob was safely kept away in his jar again. Sakura sighed. What do these dreams mean? Is Syaoran...is he ‘this boy’? I don’t understand. If these people are against me, why are they letting me hear their talks? Sakura looked over as she saw Bob’s wings flutter against the glass. I wonder if butterflies have dreams? Sakura’s thoughts drifted back to her breif time on stage, and she quickly fell asleep to a dream of singing a solo with Komai’s guitar.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Wow that chapter’s long. Funny though, in my opinion. Syaoran, hiding all these talents. Who would have imagined, a guitar expert? Of course it makes sense, he seems like the hard rock guitar kind of person. My friend suggested I have him break the guitar on stage, but the opportunity just didn’t seem to come up. So sorry, no guitar bashing. Well I wrote all of this in a hotel room, it was easy to write about the hotel, I just looked around. This one’s really cool, we’ve got these long creepy hallways and, well nevermind. It’s really cool.

Next chapter should be funny, if I get to the stuff I wanna get to. COMMENTS at [email protected] and my site at geocities.com/KeanusHorseChic

JA MATA NI!

-Syaoran Fan 4 eva!