I've been given free rein to revamp this fic from one of the original writers known as PHOBOPHOBIA on this old account. The original plotline still somewhat remains, but the 2004 setting has been changed to 2013-2014. The antagonist has been changed from Fujitaka Kinomoto to Fei Wang Reed. The rating has been changed from [T] to [M].

Warnings:

Similar to the original BitS; Don't take this as a good story with a well laid out plot. It's meant to be reflective of the expendable romance e-books you can download for $0.99, provocative but totally benign. It's [AU] so characters related in CCS may be totally unrelated here and vice versa. There's extreme OOC, some adult situations, and no magic. Short fic, original BitS had a 20k word count.

Different to the original BitS; A non-CCS character Fei Wang Reed is the antagonist.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to CLAMP. Plotline concocted by PHOBOPHOBIA.

Chapter 1

June Year 2013

A towering individual stepped out of Haneda Airport, one luggage on his back and the other in his hand. Standing still, he breathed in deep and savoured the familiar air of Tokyo. It was laden with the excitement that constantly brewed in the Asian metropolis. He pointed his eyes towards the heavens. It was clear, cloudless, and chokingly humid. Yet, a smile carved his thin lips as his bronzed skin drank in the summer sun's rays.

He felt so liberated…

Japan. He had finally returned to the country he both loved and hated in equal measure; the country where all his years of repressed anger would be released, and his lust for vengeance would finally be fulfilled.

His heart and soul had hardened throughout the years, and his unbreakable will had been fervently fuelled by an insatiable hunger for retribution. His enemy was going down. Let a thousand obstacles stand in his way, he wasn't going to concede to the circumstance of history and leave his family's honour broken and abandoned.

Syaoran Li was back in town.

July Year 2013

"So, what are you planning?" The question emerged from the sensuous red lips of a bewitching woman.

There was no doubt that she was well-learned in the art of seduction. Every movement of her fingers, every well-timed lick of her lips, and every subtle flash of her satiny skin spoke of barely-restrained forbidden pleasure.

The man took his time answering her question and studied the femme fatale. Her face rivalled even the most beautiful of celebrities and her petite body was adorned with long arms and even longer legs, all covered in creamy, white skin. The woman seemed to possess a permanent flush on her face. A feature Syaoran was certain she wielded like a deadly weapon in driving even the most pious of men down to their knees, wild with desire.

Even now, when they were tucked in a corner of a dimly lit bar, she commanded the attention of many a leering eyes.

They were a happenstance of kindred spirits. Not borne of admiration nor respect, but one of mutual hatred. They had happened upon one another one night when he was ferreting around his enemy's luxurious residence.

A little investigation was all it took to learn that she was Meilin Rae, 24 years-old, a business graduate, and also had her own agenda. Slick, smart, and seductive; she was a dangerous siren he didn't want to be on any side other than his.

"A little too early to divulge all my plans to a perfect stranger now isn't it – Miss Rae?"

She gave just a hint of a smile and leaned in closer towards him. "So what you're saying is that you wouldn't mind letting me in on your grand scheme provided that we get better acquainted?"

Syaoran's gaze instinctively fell towards the ample cleft between her warm flesh. At this, Meilin Rae gave a fleeting little laugh. Was it sourced from amusement, or derision?

"I don't believe there's any detriment in us combining strengths. We have the same adversary, even if our reasons for wanting him dead differ. The fact is; you and I have the same, wicked goal."

"Do we? I don't just want him dead Miss Rae. I want him to suffer the exact atrocity he committed against my family," Syaoran's thoughts shifted to yet another beauty. Equivalent in loveliness to the woman in front of him, yet poles apart in character. "Even at the cost of innocents."

Meilin watched Syaoran keenly. She wasn't sure if she'd ever described any man's eyes as being 'stubborn', but Syaoran Li's were undeniably brown oculi's of tenacious recklessness. Her fingers subconsciously spun the straw in her cocktail.

"Innocents? Something related to that blackguard could hardly be described as innocent." She knew what – who – he was referring to, "But my, my, my…Using the daughter before destroying the father. You are far more sadistic than I gave you credit for."

Syaoran scoffed, "Then pray tell, what merciful death do you wish to grant him?"

"Oh you know, one that involves seduction, manipulation, exploitation…"

"The 'usual'."

"He's an old geezer, but his heart and loins are still young – figuratively speaking of course."

"What's your motivation, Miss Rae?" Syaoran asked. The woman in front of him spoke too confidently. There was a practised guise in her speech. It may be all too understated, but bit by bit, Meilin Rae was appearing to him to be nothing more than a mere girl hiding her nervous uncertainties behind a perfectly rehearsed persona. He couldn't have a nervous partner. What he was intending to do was dangerous. No weak links could be afforded.

"He beguiled my mother into leaving my father for his sick pleasure. Kept her as nothing more than a pet and showered her with empty promises that kept her in limbo for years while he paraded woman after woman in front of her. I had to watch her wither into an empty hull of a human being before she threw herself out the bedroom window. Her last words were exclamations of her love for him," Previously mirthful eyes were now razor sharped with killing intent. "Even till the very end, my own mother valued that lowlife more than her own husband –than me. How's that for motivation, Syaoran Li?"

Meilin Rae left the bar just shy of midnight. Syaoran remained and nursed his whisky. He exhaled his exhaustion and prayed to the universe that he wouldn't regret the pact he had made. The beautiful woman went from stranger to acquaintance, and straight to partner in crime in the timespan it took to finish one alcoholic beverage.

October 2013

Tonight, he had returned yet again to haunt her in her dreams. She could feel her eyes haphazardly moving beneath her eyelids. Her mind had awoken but her body was still trapped in sleep.

Sleep paralysis.

She should have been more than accustomed to the sensation of absolute irresponsiveness. But his ever nearing face drew out feelings of fear and helplessness so intense her confused mind could no longer register the difference between dream and memory.

The face grew into a man. Complete with terrifyingly strong arms that encased her, imprisoned her. There were phantom perceptions, false feelings. She was cold from the cold sweat which had sprung forth from being in close proximity with him. She was exhausted from her struggles to free herself and her throat was sore from shouting her resistance. Yet her screams were silent because she couldn't move, she couldn't yell, she couldn't wake her body up from her delirium.

"You're mine! Mine! Not Clow's or any other man's! Why?! Why did you go to him? Him of all people. What could that lowly, pathetic, self-effacing nuisance have provided for you that I couldn't have?! I would've protected you, held you in my arms every night, and given you all the luxuries a person could ever want for. But you went and bore that man's son. You whore!"

Why was he still here? Hadn't he done enough? Hadn't everyone suffered enough? Why was he still haunting her? She stared at his face. He looked down at her, just as he always did, his face contorted with fanatic madness.

"Please, leave me be! Clow's gone! I'm half the person I was and you! – You have pushed us all so far into damnation. Please, let this go. You've won. You've destroyed everything and stood victorious on your cesspool of a throne. Just release me, please…"

"Disrespectful bitch! You belong to me, no one – not even Clow Reed has the right to forbid me from having you!"

"Fei Wang, Clow's already gone! Please just stop!"

"Lies! You're still hiding from me, still keeping out of my reach even though you're mine! You are mine! And I'll kill Clow over and over again until you see that I'm the only man fit enough to possess you."

"No! No!" She doubled her efforts to free herself, but that only seemed to arouse him even further. He held her in an iron grip and began to rip her already dishevelled clothing away from her body.

"No! Stop!" She screamed over and over again.

"Mother, mother! Wake up, it's just a dream!" Relief spread through Syaoran's chest when his mother's eyes flew open; even though they were filled with panic and tears, at least she was awake now.

"Syaoran! Oh Syaoran!"

He had been shaking her for a while, trying to jostle her into consciousness. Her trembling body shuddered in the coolness of her own sweat and Syaoran wiped away the sweat concentrated on her brows with a gentle hand.

"You're safe now mother. Nothing can hurt you anymore. He can't hurt you anymore." Syaoran knew it was the same terror which invaded her dreams every other night and infested her mind with thoughts of his father's murderer. She was once one of the most respected and coveted women of her generation, but now she was paraplegic and clinging to her only son for comfort.

Syaoran couldn't bear it.

He had to put an end to Fei Wang Reed.

Otherwise he'd go mad himself.