Cancer on the inside, Leo on the way in.
Your sun in Cancer (water, cardinal) is the engine — what feels at the centre, what starts when you are at home in yourself. Your Leo rising (fire, fixed, ruled by Sun) is the door — the way you arrive in a room, the first read the world takes of you, the body you walk in.
Strangers tend to assume you are fast and bold — that is the Leo arriving first. Then they get to know you and discover the Cancer water underneath, which can be a surprise — the bold surface hid a tender core.
Reads as Leo until you trust them; then Cancer comes through. The cardinal-fixed mix means you starts on the inside while holds on the outside — internal and external rhythms are different, which is its own work.