CARD CAPTOR SAKURA
SAKURA KINOMOTO

English Name: Sakura Avalon
First Appearance: 1. Sakura and the Mysterious Magic Book (Japanese), 1. Sakura's Rival (American), 1. One Fateful Day (British/Canadian)

Sakura is the heroine of CCS. She was the one that opened the Clow Book and released all of the Clow Cards. Afterward, Cerberus was awoken and he appointed her to capture the cards. Although Sakura was reluctant to at first, she eventually took up her job as a Card Captor. Sakura has an older brother named Touya Kinomoto, who loves to tease her by calling her "monster" or telling her about ghosts. Sometimes, Sakura dreams of growing huge and stomping on her brother. But she still cares for him, nonetheless. Tsukishiro Yukito, her brother's best friend, is Sakura's first crush.

Things did not always go so smoothly for Sakura. A new student came from Hong Kong, Syaoran Li, and they both fought to capture the cards, even though sometimes Sakura would give him a card she received when she thought he deserved it. That is how Sakura is. She's sweet, generous, and can't think ill of anyone. Everyone is her friend. Unfortunately for her, she can be rather dense and doesn't see things right away. When Meiling Li came from Hong Kong, Meiling always competed against Sakura. Finally, though, Meiling and Sakura became friends. Sakura's best friend is Tomoyo Daidouji, also her second-cousin, through their mothers' side. After Sakura passed the final judgment by Yue, Cerberus and Yue became her guardians, but she stated she'd rather be their friends. She was greatly saddened when she knew she couldn't support Yue and change the Clow Cards since he depended on her power. She did not want him to disappear.

When Sakura finally got the courage to tell Yukito how she felt toward him, Yukito gently turned her down, saying she cared for him like she cared for her father. He also told her she would find the one she really loved and that person would love her in return. Sakura and Eriol Hiiragizawa became good friends right away, although Sakura had the feeling she's met him before. No one was more shocked than she when she found out that her father, Fujitaka Kinomoto, was half of Clow Read's incarnation. Eriol wanted her to help him split his power with Fujitaka.

Over time, Syaoran's attitude toward Sakura changed from distaste eventually to love. He realized he loved her and did whatever he could to protect her. He was the one to comfort Sakura after Yukito turned her down. When Syaoran told Sakura his feelings toward her, Sakura was shocked and didn't know what to say. When she heard he was leaving, she realized then that she loved him and hurried to the airport to say goodbye to him, where he gave her the bear he made. But it wasn't until four months after that she told him she loved him in return and both knew their love would last forever.