Sakura Kinomoto (meaning
Cherry Blossom) is our protagonist who is in 4th grade, later on 5th,
and this is the story of how she and her friends endeavor through hardships
and enlightenment to overcome the Clow Cards and later on, the unknown force
that seems to have Clow Reed's powers, aka. Clow Reed's reincarnation, Eriol
Hiiragizawa.
People tend to say she is an ordinary school
girl, however, I do not think so. On first looks, she is a bright, optimistic
girl with dazzling green eyes and cute, short light brownish (with golden
tints in the manga, auburn tints in the anime.) She is extremely athletic
and is in the cheerleading team. Like many people, she dislikes math and
tends to come to school "just on time," with the help of her rollerblades.
Sakura has a crush on her brother's best friends, Yukito. Sad to say, her
beautiful mother, Nakeshiko, is dead, and she lives with her well-rounded,
gregarious father and her bullying (however with a soft heart) brother, Touya.
Syaoran Li (meaning Little Wolf), otherwise called Li-kun, Shaolan, Xiao-lang, etc. (NO CERTAINLY NOT SHOWRAN!) is our male protagonist... cancel that. At first, we don't know what he is. He is from Hong Kong and comes from a line of blood, the Li's, who are related to Clow Reed's mother's side. Syaoran is a skilled magician and uses his sword and ward papers, incantation papers, ofuda, whatever, and his lasin board, a compass thingy to find the Clow Cards. He is disciplined in martial arts (drool,) has a strong sense in magic, and is good at math and soccer! (Slobber.) He has gorgeous, glossy dark brown hair (golden tinted in manga, dark chestnut in anime) which hangs into his eyes, and clear, deep, deep amber eyes, under dark level eyebrows~ (OHMYGOSH HE IS SO CUTE!!!) So, he may seem practically perfect, though he is only 10 later on 11 years old (and in the manga ending... ^_^) BUT then comes his personality. (Syao-chan: WHAT ABOUT MY PERSONALITY?)
******
When the responsibility to collect the Clow Cards is thrust upon Sakura, she carries it out courageously. Then comes along Syaoran, who criticizes her, calls her stupid, shoves her, etc. He becomes her rival for the Clow Cards and Yukito's affection. At first, Sakura is confused, baffled, dismayed, and uncertain of how to deal with things. She tries to be brave and be nice to Li-kun, thanks him whenever he helps (not intentionally), bandages his hand up with her handkerchief when he's hurt, and endure his death glares (furrowing those gorgeous dark eyebrows,) his crooked, mean comments, (such as "baka"-stupid-"you're so weak" "don't you even know that?") Eventually, especially in the anime, Sakura kinda gets annoyed, and instead of being meek, she stands up for herself.
So, isn't their case hopeless? All the same, Syaoran always does things to help Sakura (though he tries not to acknowledge it ^_^) such as helping her find her brother and numerous little things. I think the turning point in their relationship is from the Erase episode (volume 4 in manga.) Of course, things were building up till then, and were trialing afterwards, but I think from then on, something about Syaoran and Sakura changed. First of all, they got to talk to each other in depth, one on one, without really arguing, at the beach, in the night time... I'll stop. And when people start disappearing, Syaoran supports her and she runs into his arms, weeping! ~_~. Plus, Syaoran refuses to take the Erase, when Sakura offers it to him. Something changed~ In the manga, Syaoran gives his first blush for Sakura.
Gradually, something stirs in Syaoran's heart. He doesn't want to accept or acknowledge it at first. However, he realizes what his feelings are. Syaoran has a difficulty in expressing himself and also tends to either 1) run off 2) stutter 3) blush tomato red 4) or get interrupted when he is in a difficult situation. On first impression, he was a cold and hostile person. But as we get to know him, we get to see his warm, caring side, especially to Sakura. He never smiles, but gradually starts smiling a lot towards the end. When Meirin comes, he also shows a gentle, kind side, sorta brotherly, too. At first, he seemed really composed and staid, yet he is one confused guy. When he finally realizes he likes Sakura (took only how many episodes or volumes?) he can't confess cuz stupid, clueless Sakura is hung over Yukito. (Aww, how caring.)
From volume 1 to 10, Sakura is blinded by her "affection" for Yukito. Period. Though part of the reason both of 'em were attracted to Yukito was because of Yue's powers, Sakura genuinely cared something about Yukito. When he rejected her, she cried in Syaoran arms. *sob* Yukito told her that she will someday find her number one person. And she still had no clue that Syaoran cared for her. In the anime, Syaoran slightly smiles as Sakura weeps on his shoulders, and says her is sure that she will find the person. The thing is, all along, Sakura did feel something *special* about Syaoran. She always said that she doesn't feel like this with anyone else. She is kinda slow, I guess, especially with all things that Syaoran did for her. She also tried to do so many things for him, too, such as making a yukata. Maybe, the reason she never sensed it was because of their first meeting. (You knw, as rivals.) So she must have thought, "Wow, Syaoran-kun is so nice now. How much he changed. BUT WHY WOULD HE EVER CARE FOR ME?!" Sheesh. But I don't mind the prolonged realization. Cuz I knew that deep in her heart somewhere, where she didn't realize it, she must have always loved Syaoran.
MORE TO COME>>>