Cardcaptor Nadeshiko

 by 

 Amazoness Duo

 and

 G.P.

 amazonessduo@hotmail.com

 pearsong1954@yahoo.com

 

 

 ‘My name is Amamiya Sonomi. I’m ten years old. I have brunette hair and dark blue eyes that I get

 from my mother. I like cute things a lot. I also like sports, especially track. I think it’s fun.

 But most of all, I like my cousin, Nadeshiko-chan. She’s my best friend and the most important 

 person in my life.’

 

 “Look, Sonomi-chan! A bouquet! This one’s for you.” Nadeshiko smilingly handed a large bouquet 

 of lillies to Sonomi, barging in on her still wet cousin. She hardly noticed Sonomi scramble for 

 a towel, simply holding the flowers out to the brunette. 

 

 “They’re beautiful, Nadeshiko-chan,” Sonomi said breathlessly, cinching up the large towel before

 taking the lovely flowers. Bringing them up to her nose, she sniffed the sweet perfume that 

 drifted from the bouquet. Brushing back some wet hair from her shoulder, the stormy blue eyed 

 girl smiled at her cousin. “Thank you.”

 

 “I made them with Flower-sama. She’s good at making all sorts of flowers. My room’s covered in 

 Sakura blossoms right now. It’s so pretty! You should see it when you’re done with your bath, 

 Sonomi-chan! I’m going to give these roses to mother real quick.” Waving cheerfully, the silver 

 haired girl made her way downstairs, just remembering to close the bathroom door before she did. 

 

 Sighing to herself, Sonomi let her towel drop to the floor before slipping back into the bathtub.

 Her heart fluttering, she held onto her precious gift from Nadeshiko. ‘Oh, I forgot to mention 

 that Nadeshiko-chan’s a magical girl now. She’s also accident-prone and not the most observant 

 person I know. How this is supposed to turn out, I hardly know. But I’ll protect her from the 

 whole world if I have to. And that stupid teddy bear.’ Closing her eyes, the brunette slipped 

 under the water, the warmth surrounding her, waking her up for school. As usual, her mind was 

 once again drawn back to a silver haired angel.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 “That is so cute!” Sonomi exclaimed, clasping her hands together. Her eyes shimmered as she 

 hurried to Nadeshiko’s side. Enthusiastic fingers brushed through long, gray locks of hair done 

 up in a beautiful ponytail, long strands falling in front of Nadeshiko as well. “It’s so pretty.

 I love your hair, Nadeshiko-chan! It’s prettier than any dolls.” Still delighting in her cousin’s

 current hairstyle, Sonomi didn’t notice her aunt’s approach.

 

 “You like it, Sonomi-chan? Nadeshiko-chan does have very pretty hair. It can be a lot of fun to 

 try out different styles on her. Now if only she would stay still when I did her hair, it 

 wouldn’t always be such a mess.” Nadeshiko’s mother let out a sigh, but she couldn’t help but 

 smile at the two girls despite it. 

 

 “Hai, it’s wonderful,” Sonomi replied, finally pulling her hands away from Nadeshiko’s beautiful 

 silver hair. She turned and bowed politely to her aunt, her own slightly shorter hair falling 

 past her shoulders as she did, done up with small yellow ribbons throughout it. “Thank you for 

 letting me spend the night.”

 

 The older woman laughed softly, shaking her head. “I should be thanking you, Sonomi-chan. You’re 

 the only one can keep Nadeshiko-chan in bed. Otherwise she’s likely to end up just about 

 anywhere. That’s probably why she falls asleep in such odd places all the time.”

 

 “That’s because there are too many things to do instead of going to sleep. It’s much better to 

 fall asleep when you find yourself sleepy instead of making yourself go to sleep at a certain 

 time,” Nadeshiko reasoned, putting a finger on her pale chin. It was true that she often didn’t 

 sleep at night, instead walking about or just lying in bed in fascination of the sounds of the 

 night. But it all made sense to her. She fell asleep when she fell asleep. What did it matter if 

 it was in bed or in a flower garden, at home or in the park? She was always so busy with things 

 that sleep was simply something that happened. And most of the time Sonomi would find her and 

 take her back to bed anyway. 

 

 Sonomi sweatdropped at her cousin’s odd logic, but nodded all the same. She had long ago learned 

 that sometimes it was just easier to humor Nadeshiko than to argue with her. The pale girl 

 wouldn’t listen anyway. She would smile sweetly and let you argue yourself hoarse and then she 

 would go off and do what she had wanted to do all along. Shaking her head, Sonomi took 

 Nadeshiko’s hand. “We have to get going or we’ll be late to school. Thank you again!” She waved 

 politely to her aunt as she hurried to the door, her navy blue pleated skirt shifting about her. 

 Her white blouse and blue bow rustled against her as they walked out into the always dangerous 

 world. Sonomi immediately began to feel the worry that she usually did whenever they would go 

 out, that paranoid feeling that something bad was going to happen. But with her flighty cousin 

 tagging along, that usually wasn’t far off.

 

 “I like your hair, too, Sonomi-chan. It’s so vibrant and fiery. I hope my daughter has hair like 

 yours,” Nadeshiko mentioned thoughtfully, playing with some stray strands of auburn hair behind 

 her cousin. The hair was still a bit damp, drying from her bath earlier. The green eyed girl 

 watched it sway, pawing at it almost like a curious kitten. 

 

 Blushing faintly, Sonomi didn’t attempt to stop her cousin. She really didn’t mind as it was. 

 Just being with her blissful cousin always made things feel special. Even school felt more like 

 an adventure than a chore when she was alongside Nadeshiko. Her younger cousin was a shimmering 

 angel that lit even the darkest recesses of Sonomi’s life. The brunette couldn’t quite 

 understand the depths of her feelings for Nadeshiko, simply that the other girl was always on 

 her mind, always dwelling in her heart. And Sonomi wanted to protect the younger girl. It was 

 frightening to see such a free spirit in such a scary world. She was always afraid that 

 something might happen to her beloved Nadeshiko. So all she could do was try her best to protect 

 her. “Arigato, Nadeshiko-chan. I can only hope my daughter would have beautiful hair like yours.

 I love your hair. It’s...” Sonomi trailed off, trying to force away a persistent blush from her 

 cheeks. She couldn’t think of words to describe it. She bit her lip in frustration, trying to 

 understand the myriad of feelings strangling her fluttering heart. Answers eluded her. Sighing, 

 the brunette changed the subject. “I need to get a haircut soon, though. Short hair is a lot 

 easier to manage. And it’s been windy lately so it’s been getting in my way at track.”

 

 “I could cut it for you,” Nadeshiko offered, still playing with the auburn hair before her. 

 “Then you wouldn’t have to wait to get your mom to take you.” 

 

 “You would? Thank you, Nadeshiko-chan. I’d like that. Could we do that after school?” Sonomi 

 asked excitedly. Her heartbeat quickened in her chest, sending a thrill throughout her. She 

 couldn’t exactly explain it, but it sounded like a much more enjoyable situation if Nadeshiko 

 would be doing it. Before it had sounded simply like something she needed to do, a chore that 

 needed to be dealt with. But now she was actually looking forward to it. She could already see 

 herself sitting before her smiling cousin. Even the thought of Nadeshiko with scissors failed to 

 alert Sonomi to the potential dangers of such a situation. But she was far too enraptured by the

 idea of her cousin’s fingers through her hair, cutting it all into a much shorter, neater style.

  

 “Un! It would be fun. Now we have something to do this afternoon, too.” Nadeshiko grinned 

 happily, walking alongside her auburn haired friend. Life was never boring for the gray haired 

 girl. There was always something fascinating going on, some little aspect of life that immersed 

 her attention. Every little thing was a work of wonder for Nadeshiko. She could only puzzle why 

 other people couldn’t see that. There was always something new to fathom. But the one constant 

 throughout it all, the single thing that was always a part of this wonder, was her big cousin 

 Sonomi. The older girl had been her best friend for as long as she could remember, had always 

 been there even as she would move from one thing to the next. So it always delighted her when 

 she could draw Sonomi into the fantastic world that she saw. An afternoon of cutting hair 

 sounded like an excellent time to Nadeshiko. She had never cut any hair before, but she was 

 eager to try. Even if it did mean getting rid of Sonomi’s pretty long hair. Oh well. She’d just 

 keep it in a box or something. 

 

 Reaching school, the two cousins entered their homeroom, sitting down in the large classroom. 

 Sonomi took her seat to Nadeshiko’s right, going through her backpack for what she would need 

 for class. Several cute keychains and buttons adorned Sonomi’s backpack, just a small sampling 

 of her large collection of toys and things back home. She loved cute things of all shapes and 

 sizes, finding herself always thrilled to get her hands on something new for her collection. But 

 the cutest thing she could think of was her smaller cousin. Nadeshiko was like the perfect doll. 

 She hadn’t a care in the world, was hardly ever sad or even worried. She was beautiful and 

 delicate, like a doll. She was such a cute little model, modeling for Sonomi’s camera whenever 

 she would ask. Her mother dressed her in such pretty clothes and always had new hairstyles to 

 try out on her only daughter. Sonomi was always happy to see what new look Nadeshiko would have. 

 She was already amassing a nice collection of photos. In fact, she would have to go get some 

 more film developed soon. Placing her chin in her hands, she glanced over at the silver haired 

 girl next to her. As she should have expected, Nadeshiko was looking out the window, her head 

 tilted to the side as she watched the birds fly by, listening to their gentle melody. The 

 brunette smiled to herself, her heart warming at the sight. 

 

 “Class, I would like to introduce you to my new assistant,” the teacher was saying. 

 

 Reluctantly pulling her attention away from her delicate cousin, Sonomi cast her eyes forward. 

 What she saw made her blood boil. At the front of the class, she could see an irritatingly 

 smiling face, glinting glasses, and chestnut hair. She had just managed to forget about the man 

 who had injured her dearest Nadeshiko. So what was he doing here? Was he trying to haunt her? It 

 sure felt like it. She couldn’t help but think he was here for Nadeshiko, for some reason or 

 another. Of course, that was ridiculous. But Sonomi didn’t always care for logic. What she did 

 know was that this man had already hurt her cousin once. She didn't intend to let him have a 

 second chance. 

 

 “This is Kinomoto Fujitaka. He will be my assistant while I recover. I may have some more 

 doctor’s appointments soon, so he will take care of things for me whenever I’m gone,” the 

 teacher explained.

 

 Smiling his omnipresent smile, the man bowed to the class. “Thank you. It will be a pleasure to 

 work with all of you.” His eyes caught sight of two familiar girls at the back and his smile 

 widened. How wonderful! Those were those two delightful girls from that weekend. He was relieved 

 to see that the gray haired girl seemed to be doing fine. 

 

 “Sonomi-chan!” Nadeshiko half-whispered, leaning out of her desk. “That’s the man who gave me 

 the book and Teddy-chan!” Several students looked her way, but Nadeshiko ignored them, still 

 leaning towards her cousin. It was a surprise to see the man here, but for Nadeshiko it was just 

 another of life’s many miracles. That he was there was just another amazing little tidbit. It 

 was nice to know that the man who gave her such a wonderful gift as Teddy and the Clow Book was 

 nearby. Maybe she could thank him someday. 

 

 “Un, I know,” Sonomi whispered back quietly. She glared at the man when he smiled their way. 

 Shaking her head, she sighed. He had hurt Nadeshiko on accident. And he had apologized. It was 

 probably nothing. She really shouldn’t be so angry with him. But still, she didn’t like him 

 around Nadeshiko. Not at all. But all the same, she dropped her glare. Maybe he’d learned his 

 lesson. It had just been an accident after all. Though Sonomi still didn’t trust him. She had a 

 bad temper at times and she wasn’t one to let things drop. ‘I’ll keep an eye on you, mister. And 

 you better stay away from my Nadeshiko-chan. I’m not going to give you another chance to hurt 

 her,’ she thought to herself.

 

 “This should be fun to have him in class. I hope he doesn’t feel bad about the baseball,” 

 Nadeshiko was saying.

 

 “Nadeshiko and Sonomi Amamiya! Was there something the two of you wanted to discuss?” The 

 teacher raised an eyebrow, staring at the two girls. 

 

 “No, we just...” Sonomi began.

 

 “We know your assistant. Hi, Kinomoto-san!” Nadeshiko waved to Fujitaka, eliciting some laughter 

 from several classmates. 

 

 “If you insist on talking in class, then I’ll have to ask you to leave. Please go to the 

 hallway.”

 

 “Hai, sensei!” Hardly fazed, Nadeshiko smiled to Sonomi before getting out of her desk. Nothing 

 seemed to get to the girl. But then, she was too busy with her own little world to concern 

 herself with the trivialities of this one. Or perhaps it was the trivialities that we take for 

 granted that held her so captivated. Whatever the case, the pale girl hurriedly made her way out 

 of the classroom. 

 

 Sonomi wasn’t quite as quick to leave as her cousin. Sighing inwardly, the auburn haired girl 

 followed Nadeshiko out of the room. She wasn’t happy about being kicked out of class, but what 

 could she do? Pushing back a slight urge to cry, she continued forward. This wasn’t a big deal. 

 It didn’t matter. She had been punished and she would take her punishment. And if her parents 

 found out, then she would deal with that when the time came. For a moment, her stormy blue eyes 

 locked with Fujitaka’s. He smiled at her apologetically. Breaking the gaze, Sonomi sped up to 

 reach her cousin. 

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 “Isn’t that nice that Kinomoto-san is helping out our teacher now? Sensei must be very happy 

 about it. And Kinomoto-san seems very smart.” Nadeshiko glanced around for which pair of 

 scissors she should use. Picking entirely at random, she turned back to Sonomi. The brunette 

 was sitting on the porch with her back to the gray haired girl, waiting to have her hair cut. 

 The yellow ribbons that had been in her hair earlier were now lying on the floor next to her. 

 “Hmm...” Nadeshiko stepped around Sonomi, trying to get some idea of what to do with her 

 cousin’s hair. She usually let her mother do her own hair, but she did see all of the styles it 

 was put in. She herself had had shorter hair not too long ago. So she wanted to have some idea 

 before starting on Sonomi’s hair. Tilting her head to the side, she rethought that. Why have 

 some initial goal? Why not wait and see what her hair became? Like a flower, she shouldn’t force 

 it to become something it wasn’t. She should help it grow into whatever hairstyle it wanted to 

 be. Satisfied with that line of thought, Nadeshiko began snipping away. 

 

 Taking a deep breath, Sonomi slowly let it filter out of her lips. Her cheeks were a rosy red, 

 her stormy blue eyes pointed straight ahead. She could feel Nadeshiko’s pale fingers through her 

 hair, the sound of scissors close behind. Her heart skipped a beat as Nadeshiko paused for a 

 moment, sniffing her hair as she would a flower. Like everything the green eyed girl did in 

 life, Nadeshiko seemed to move slowly from one part to the next, enjoying every little bit as 

 she did. There was something very... romantic about getting her hair cut by Nadeshiko? No, that 

 wasn’t the word. Was it? No, that couldn’t be it. But Sonomi couldn’t think up what exactly it 

 was to have her cousin cutting her hair. Whatever the feeling, it was nice. “Can we not talk 

 about him?”

 

 “Hm? Why not? You don’t like him?” Nadeshiko asked curiously. Feeling some more of Sonomi’s long 

 hair between her thumb and forefinger, she cut it away, watching intently as it lay between her 

 fingers. She set the lock of hair aside. She still needed to find a place to keep Sonomi’s hair. 

 It would just be a shame to throw it all away. Like she had said before, it was very pretty. 

 

 “Of course not. He hurt you.” Sonomi crossed her arms as she shifted her bare legs under 

 herself. They were still sore from track practice that afternoon. Just as she was still sore 

 about Nadeshiko getting hit by a baseball. Her frown fading, she tilted her head to the side 

 when Nadeshiko’s delicate hand pushed on the side of her head. 

 

 “Oh.” Nadeshiko considered that for a minute, pulling up Sonomi’s hair as she did to get an idea 

 of what to do next. Her cousin’s protective nature was something she had grown used to over the 

 years. After all, the crazy world didn’t always make sense, but Sonomi always did. Everyone else 

 hid how they felt or said things they didn’t mean. But Sonomi was almost always straightforward 

 about her feelings. When she was mad, you knew it. When she was happy, you felt it. It was 

 something that felt very refreshing for Nadeshiko. She was fascinated by the world, but the 

 people in it didn’t always make sense. At least she knew that Sonomi did. “But I hurt myself all 

 the time. And you don’t get mad at me,” she pointed out, snipping some more hair away.

 

 “But that’s different,” Sonomi protested, tilting her head the opposite way as her younger 

 cousin’s fingers pushed on her forehead again. She giggled a bit as she felt Nadeshiko rolling 

 her head around from side to side playfully.

 

 “How?”

 

 Sonomi bit her lip, still staring forward. “I can’t explain it. It just is. It’s different when 

 you hurt yourself than when someone else hurts you. Besides, I could never be angry with you.” 

 She felt Nadeshiko’s stomach on her head as the green eyed girl leant over her, her head in 

 front of Sonomi’s. Sonomi saw Nadeshiko’s upside down head lean into view, her long gray hair 

 spilling down in front of her. The brunette felt her cheeks burn as she watched her delicate 

 cousin’s smiling face in front of her. Her heart felt like it would give out at any moment. What 

 was going on? Why did she always feel like this around Nadeshiko? Sonomi felt her frustration 

 rising inside of herself, but it disappeared as Nadeshiko moved forward and kissed her nose. Her 

 cheeks darkened further as she watched pale skin move back ever so slightly. 

 

 “You’re so sweet, Sonomi-chan,” Nadeshiko said simply. Smiling cutely, she slowly got back to 

 her feet, leaving a blushing Sonomi sitting before her. Going back to work, the pale girl hummed 

 to herself. It took a while for her older cousin to relax again, the blush slowly fading from 

 her cheeks. She smiled as she watched. She didn’t know what she’d do without her best friend. 

 

 Waiting anxiously as Nadeshiko clipped her hair, Sonomi moved her palms across her thighs, hair 

 dropping down to them every so often. She idly wondered about the finished product, but she was 

 much more caught up in the moment to worry about what would come afterwards. ‘If only we could 

 stay like this,’ Sonomi thought blissfully. A sigh escaped her as Nadeshiko finally stepped 

 away. “Huh? Are you done?” Sonomi turned to find her cousin smiling at her. Her fingers went 

 quickly to her hair, feeling the freshly cut brunette hair much shorter than it had been.

 

 “Un! And it’s very cute. Let’s go see the mirror. I want you to see it, Sonomi-chan.” Taking the 

 brunette’s hand, Nadeshiko hurried up the stairs towards her room, a handful of Sonomi’s hair in 

 her other hand. She smiled prettily as she led Sonomi in, getting behind her and pushing her the 

 rest of the way towards the mirror. She couldn’t wait to see what her friend thought of the new 

 hairstyle. It had been much more fun than if Sonomi had simply gone to a barber shop. 

 

 Sonomi gazed into the mirror, her fingers following her new hairstyle as she watched. Her 

 brunette hair was cropped quite a bit shorter than she had ever had it before. The short strands 

 moved easily between her fingers. But oddly, the hair was cut at a slant. It was shorter on one 

 side than the other, making for an odd style. She ran her fingers through the longer hair on 

 the right, tilting her head experimentally. It seemed perfectly Nadeshiko, a strangely uneven 

 haircut. A smile spread across Sonomi’s lips as she moved her head from one side of the other. 

 Yes, it was definitely Nadeshiko’s handiwork. And that alone made her love it. “Thank you, 

 Nadeshiko-chan!” She turned swiftly, taking the pale girl’s hands in her own. “I love it. I 

 always will.”

 

 “I’m glad, Sonomi-chan. It looks very pretty on you,” Nadeshiko concluded, smiling brightly. She 

 brought a hand up to the side of Sonomi’s face, brushing back the short hair. Her cousin looked 

 very happy with the job she did. “Maybe I should become a barber,” she said thoughtfully.

 

 “I think you’d be better at other things, Nadeshiko-chan,” Sonomi said quickly. “But I’ll always 

 let you cut my hair when you want to.” Returning Nadeshiko’s smile, Sonomi hugged the smaller 

 girl. The rest of the trials of the day melted away. She forgot all about the trouble she had 

 gotten into and the smiling boy who had hurt Nadeshiko. She didn’t even think about what her 

 mother would say about her strange new haircut. None of it mattered while she was with her 

 cousin.