Disclaimer: All characters belong to CLAMP.

Author's Note: Written for the St. Valentine's challenge from the Livejournal community "Tsukimine Shrine".

Kids Grow

Kero woke up with a yawn. He looked around and saw that Sakura was combing her hair as she hummed a song. What was she doing awake before him, on a Sunday? There was definitely something suspicious about all that.

Then he remembered the date. It was St. Valentine's day; that explained everything.

Kero would have liked to pretend that everything was just the same as before, but he couldn't help but see that the inevitable had happened. There was no need to be as perceptive as Tomoyo to realize that, since that kid had returned from Hong Kong, it took Sakura twice as long to comb her hair.

Of course that she had felt the same way for a long time. Everybody knew about it, after all, and she had told it to that unbearable kid herself. But one thing was to have them write to each other from afar, and a different one was... well, this. Sakura lived on a cloud since they had met each other again.

It was strange to have a Mistress who grew, he thought with a sigh. Sakura didn't notice it, but she was changing quickly. Kero had noticed that she wasn't a little girl anymore the day she stopped changing clothes in front of him. That had been the same day he stopped sleeping on her pillow... but she wasn't sure she had noticed it.

Suddenly he realized he was being unfair to Sakura. Of course she hadn't forgotten about him! She had even made him chocolate, like she had done to the rest of her family.

Oh, but that reminded him of his problem even further. He had seen those chocolates the previous night. There were the same five stars that Sakura had made the latest few years: for her dad, her brother, her great-grandfather, the snow bunny, and Kero himself. Except that this time there was one more. A heart-shaped chocolate, bigger than the rest, and with a disgusting phrase written on it:

For Shaoran, from Sakura.

Kero felt his stomach turn.

Tomoyo came to visit that morning, with chocolates for Sakura and one for Kero, too. Everything went fine for a while; it could have been a day like any other, and Kero was having fun. But soon the two friends unconsciously lowered their voices, as they always did when "girl talk" was about to begin.

"So? Are you going to visit him?" Tomoyo asked, as excited as if she was about to film another of her friend's adventures. Sakura blushed slightly.

"No," she answered, "he told me he would come here on the afternoon."

Kero made an effort not to scream in rage. On the afternoon, of course! On the afternoon, when Sakura's brother was going to be at the snow bunny's place, and her dad was going to leave to take her great-grandfather his present... He could almost hear Clow's voice in his head: There are no coincidences…

Only that Clow would have found the whole business extremely amusing, and Kero thought it was awful.

He was watching from a corner when the kid arrived. He had convinced himself that it was one of his duties as a Guardian to keep an eye on what was happening, so he technically wasn't spying. Of course, that didn't mean Sakura wouldn't get angry at him if she discovered him; but it was a risk he had to take.

In that moment, Sakura didn't seem capable of getting mad at anyone, anyway.

Both of them were standing at the entrance. He had chocolates for her, she had chocolates for him... It looked like a scene from a romantic movie. Horrible. It took them about a century to stop looking at each other and decide to come in.

They sat on the sofa, dangerously close to each other. They were talking in such a low voice that Kero couldn't hear what they were saying, but he reached the conclusion that it was better for his mental health if he didn't listen.

Suddenly the kid looked down and turned red. Kero became alert; that couldn't mean anything good, he was sure. The boy said something that made Sakura's face lighten up.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, stood up to hug him, and then...

How awful! He was kissing her! Kero wished Sakura's brother would arrive on that exact moment and rip that shameless kid's head off. But nothing happened, and all he could do was fly away to avoid seeing the show.

In Sakura's room, Kero flew restlessly to and fro, trying to spend his energy in something that didn't involve turning boys from Hong Kong into ashes.

The worst part was that, if he thought about it objectively, that annoying Shaoran Li was the best that Sakura could wish for. He was brave, intelligent, generous, and worshipped the ground she trod on...

But Kero didn't want to be objective. That would have forced him to admit that the time he had spent with his new Mistress had spoiled him. In the old times, when he lived with Clow, he had had to share his Master with Yue; and the wizard had always made sure to divide his time impartially between them. Perfect balance.

On the other hand, he had always had Sakura only for himself. The bad part was that he had gotten used to it. What was going to happen when she started paying more attention to the kid than to her Guardians?

Jealous of a human. He should have been ashamed...

Why wasn't he?

"Kero!"

The door opened all of a sudden. Sakura grabbed him in mid air and hugged him with all her might.

"Kero, you can't imagine what..." She suddenly seemed to realize that something was wrong. "Hoe? What is it?"

Kero tried to say something a bit more dignified, but he couldn't manage.

"I don't want you to abandon me for that kid!" he exclaimed.

At first Sakura seemed surprised, but soon she smiled. Sitting on the floor, she sat the small Guardian on her knees and looked into his eyes.

"I will never abandon you and Yue," she said seriously. "But you'll have to get used to the idea of my having a boyfriend."

"What?" Kero yelled. "Since when?"

"Fifteen minutes ago!" exclaimed Sakura. "Oh, Kero, I'm so happy..."

That was true, Kero had to admit. He had never seen her so cheerful. Deep down he knew that, if she was happy, he would be too.

"It's just that I really enjoy spending time with you, Sakura." He said. "I don't want that to change."

"Of course that it's not going to change," she promised him. "You're always going to be my friend, Kero. You're my favorite Sun Guardian!"

"Yeah, right, and you have loads of those..."

"Oh, come on," Sakura sighed. "Don't tell me you just want me to say that I prefer you over Yue."

"No, I want you to say that you prefer me over the kid!"

"Kero, you can't ask me that!" Sakura exclaimed. "It's like asking me if I prefer Shaoran over my dad or my brother. It's a very different feeling, but that doesn't mean it's stronger than what I feel for my family. Or for my Kero," she added, hugging him again. The Guardián let her hug him and smiled.

"So you're not going to leave me all lonely and abandoned?"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh.

"When you say those things, you remind me a bit of Yue..."

"What?"

"That I'll never leave you 'all lonely and abandoned', that's all," said Sakura. "You know, for a powerful Sun Guardian and everything, you need a lot of hugging."

"I'm a sensitive soul!" exclaimed Kero. "I need to be cuddled."

"That's good, because I really like cuddling you," Sakura told him, and kissed him on the top of his head.

Kero decided that he could find a way to stand that kid, after all.