Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle - the mystery (full of spoilers)
It all starts when Yuuko's life was about to expire: Clow, the greatest mage of his time, briefly wished for her to open her eyes once more. His powers were far too great though, and combined with his strong feelings, it was enough to bring her time to a halt. Fei Wong Reed tried to fulfill that wish with his own power, and that was the beginning of everything.
In the world ("The world, to those who know its existence, is not only one"), in a different dimension, we meet again with "Syaoran Li" and "Sakura", who are both the same as the Syaoran and Sakura from the "Card Captor Sakura" universe, but at the same time, they are not (they have the same appearance, but they have different lives). "Sakura" has a dream telling her that the one destined for her child is waiting for him. "Syaoran" then talks to his child and tells him about it. When the little boy decides to do what he is "meant" to do, he is given his father's sword (which, if I may state, is the one Li Syaoran carried in Cardcaptor Sakura), along with his name, "Syaoran Li" (which he had been given by his own father). At Yuuko's shop, he is sent to Clow Country (the price: Cardcaptor Sakura's magical rod, which was given to his mother through a dream), where he meets his destined Sakura during a purification ceremony, 7 days prior to her birthday, when she would become a priest candidate. However, at the end of this time, during which Syaoran falls in love and promises to protect Sakura, something tragic will happen.
Permission granted by the "holy water", Syaoran stays by Sakura's side during the last day's ceremony. However, the ceremony is disrupted by the intervention of Fei Wong Reed, who tries to abduct Sakura. The water tries to protect her, but in vain. As Sakura is "eaten" by Fei Wong's magic, Syaoran tries to grab her hand, to get her back, but a moment of hesitation "writes the entire future". He loses the girl to Fei Wong's hands, and when she appears once again in front of Syaoran, the Seal of Death had already been placed on her. Forced by his agreement with Yuuko, Syaoran returns immediately after to the shop he left from. Wounded almost to death from his "one-sided fight" with Fei Wong, Syaoran faints.
He decides then to return to Clow country in order to find a way to remove the seal from Sakura. With the price of never seeing his beloved ones ever again, Syaoran is sent back on a one-way journey. When he arrives, he is finally able to touch Sakura, but the Seal of Death on her is a painful reminder fo his choice. Only the Queen, also the Priest of the kingdom, and him can see it, and the King is the only other one who knows of it. In hope of finding a solution, Syaoran travels to different places, but with no success. On Sakura's birthday (they first met before her 7th birthday, and she says that they will have known each other for a little more than half of her life, so I suppose she is 14?), the Seal of Death takes effect. Before it destroys her, "Nadeshiko", her mother and a priest, stops her time for a few moments, giving Syaoran the chance to save her. He tells Yuuko, as his wish, to rewind time to the moment of her 7th birthday, the day he failed to take her hand. But that would be a grave sin, the breaking of a taboo, as that would influence all the others involved, especially those who knew of the Seal. His freedom would be stolen, his life would be placed in great danger and he would be forced to watch only. Despite all that he follows his wish.
At that moment, in order to fill the time turned back and to fill the "relationships" Syaoran had payed as price, Watanuki was created (as his parents' child). Because the time was wound back, "duality" was created ("One has become two."). Syaoran becomes Fei Wong Reed's prisoner. Fei Wong creates a clone of Syaoran, one that will one day embark on the journey for Sakura-hime's feathers, clone which receives half of the original Syaoran's soul before the original Syaoran is sealed and put to sleep. Fei Wong also creates a clone of the Sakura in his grasp, a clone with both the body and soul copied. Then, he lets things flow, according to his plan.
In the turned back time, Nadeshiko is no longer, while Fujitaka, Sakura's father last "time", has become clone Syaoran's foster parent. To fill the void left by this change, Clow himself left the ones dear to him and took his place, to watch over Sakura and guide her. The day in which the Seal had almost killed Sakura the last "time", clone Sakura is called to the ruins by a mysterious sound and has her feathers scattered through different dimensions. Then, the journey in search for the feathers starts.
Time Passes, and the original Syaoran (let's just call him Syaoran, and call the clone Shaoran, okay?) manages to break the seal putting him to sleep, causing the seal on Shaoran, the one through which the half of Syaoran's soul was put into his body, to break, as well. The part returns to Syaoran, and Shaoran becomes just the puppet he was meant to be at first, the one who gathers the feathers without regard of who he hurts in the process. He takes away one of Fay's eyes, which enables him to cross dimensions, a bad thing which proves to be a good choice in the future.
When he sealed the half of his soul into Shaoran, Syaoran had bet on Shaoran acquiring, through the different people he met, a soul of his own. He thoguht he had been wrong, but the soul dormant in Shaoran was awakened by clone Sakura's soul (which she had separated from her body to prevent the murder of Syaoran). In the end, it was Shaoran who helped Syaoran stab Fei Wong Reed, who used Fay's eye endlessly in order to replenish his magic fully, which helped in the final battle. He disintegrated, having taken the stab from Fei Wong meant for Syaoran.
Fei Wong almost manages to destroy the logic of the world (the "the dead cannot returned back to life" law, as well), but Syaoran's parents, who had rewound their own time and sacrificed their ability to touch each other for the sake of the two futures, prevented that. They tried to restore it, and maybe they managed, maybe not. The scene changes to the two clones, Shaoran and Sakura, who have to make a decision: to be or not born once more. Time does not flow in one single direction anymore, the past and the present being entagled in each other: thus, the two of them would be reborn and time would flow toward THAT moment once again. They would also inevitably meet their other selves again. They accept, and they are reborn, their memories intact.
In the world ("The world, to those who know its existence, is not only one"), in a different dimension, we meet again with "Syaoran Li" and "Sakura", who are both the same as the Syaoran and Sakura from the "Card Captor Sakura" universe, but at the same time, they are not (they have the same appearance, but they have different lives). "Sakura" has a dream telling her that the one destined for her child is waiting for him. "Syaoran" then talks to his child and tells him about it. When the little boy decides to do what he is "meant" to do, he is given his father's sword (which, if I may state, is the one Li Syaoran carried in Cardcaptor Sakura), along with his name, "Syaoran Li" (which he had been given by his own father). At Yuuko's shop, he is sent to Clow Country (the price: Cardcaptor Sakura's magical rod, which was given to his mother through a dream), where he meets his destined Sakura during a purification ceremony, 7 days prior to her birthday, when she would become a priest candidate. However, at the end of this time, during which Syaoran falls in love and promises to protect Sakura, something tragic will happen.
Permission granted by the "holy water", Syaoran stays by Sakura's side during the last day's ceremony. However, the ceremony is disrupted by the intervention of Fei Wong Reed, who tries to abduct Sakura. The water tries to protect her, but in vain. As Sakura is "eaten" by Fei Wong's magic, Syaoran tries to grab her hand, to get her back, but a moment of hesitation "writes the entire future". He loses the girl to Fei Wong's hands, and when she appears once again in front of Syaoran, the Seal of Death had already been placed on her. Forced by his agreement with Yuuko, Syaoran returns immediately after to the shop he left from. Wounded almost to death from his "one-sided fight" with Fei Wong, Syaoran faints.
He decides then to return to Clow country in order to find a way to remove the seal from Sakura. With the price of never seeing his beloved ones ever again, Syaoran is sent back on a one-way journey. When he arrives, he is finally able to touch Sakura, but the Seal of Death on her is a painful reminder fo his choice. Only the Queen, also the Priest of the kingdom, and him can see it, and the King is the only other one who knows of it. In hope of finding a solution, Syaoran travels to different places, but with no success. On Sakura's birthday (they first met before her 7th birthday, and she says that they will have known each other for a little more than half of her life, so I suppose she is 14?), the Seal of Death takes effect. Before it destroys her, "Nadeshiko", her mother and a priest, stops her time for a few moments, giving Syaoran the chance to save her. He tells Yuuko, as his wish, to rewind time to the moment of her 7th birthday, the day he failed to take her hand. But that would be a grave sin, the breaking of a taboo, as that would influence all the others involved, especially those who knew of the Seal. His freedom would be stolen, his life would be placed in great danger and he would be forced to watch only. Despite all that he follows his wish.
At that moment, in order to fill the time turned back and to fill the "relationships" Syaoran had payed as price, Watanuki was created (as his parents' child). Because the time was wound back, "duality" was created ("One has become two."). Syaoran becomes Fei Wong Reed's prisoner. Fei Wong creates a clone of Syaoran, one that will one day embark on the journey for Sakura-hime's feathers, clone which receives half of the original Syaoran's soul before the original Syaoran is sealed and put to sleep. Fei Wong also creates a clone of the Sakura in his grasp, a clone with both the body and soul copied. Then, he lets things flow, according to his plan.
In the turned back time, Nadeshiko is no longer, while Fujitaka, Sakura's father last "time", has become clone Syaoran's foster parent. To fill the void left by this change, Clow himself left the ones dear to him and took his place, to watch over Sakura and guide her. The day in which the Seal had almost killed Sakura the last "time", clone Sakura is called to the ruins by a mysterious sound and has her feathers scattered through different dimensions. Then, the journey in search for the feathers starts.
Time Passes, and the original Syaoran (let's just call him Syaoran, and call the clone Shaoran, okay?) manages to break the seal putting him to sleep, causing the seal on Shaoran, the one through which the half of Syaoran's soul was put into his body, to break, as well. The part returns to Syaoran, and Shaoran becomes just the puppet he was meant to be at first, the one who gathers the feathers without regard of who he hurts in the process. He takes away one of Fay's eyes, which enables him to cross dimensions, a bad thing which proves to be a good choice in the future.
When he sealed the half of his soul into Shaoran, Syaoran had bet on Shaoran acquiring, through the different people he met, a soul of his own. He thoguht he had been wrong, but the soul dormant in Shaoran was awakened by clone Sakura's soul (which she had separated from her body to prevent the murder of Syaoran). In the end, it was Shaoran who helped Syaoran stab Fei Wong Reed, who used Fay's eye endlessly in order to replenish his magic fully, which helped in the final battle. He disintegrated, having taken the stab from Fei Wong meant for Syaoran.
Fei Wong almost manages to destroy the logic of the world (the "the dead cannot returned back to life" law, as well), but Syaoran's parents, who had rewound their own time and sacrificed their ability to touch each other for the sake of the two futures, prevented that. They tried to restore it, and maybe they managed, maybe not. The scene changes to the two clones, Shaoran and Sakura, who have to make a decision: to be or not born once more. Time does not flow in one single direction anymore, the past and the present being entagled in each other: thus, the two of them would be reborn and time would flow toward THAT moment once again. They would also inevitably meet their other selves again. They accept, and they are reborn, their memories intact.