MajestLi
"The Li's are the rightful rulers of the world because," Sakura Avalon started, resisting the urge to add 'they are pompous jerks who abuse their power,' to her speech that she was practicing for her Japanese language class. "They have been given the ability to do what no one else can, making them uniquely qualified for leadership."
Sakura grimaced. She didn't like lying, and she knew that this was all false, or at least the message behind it was. It was just a rehash of the propaganda that had been distributed when she was eleven.
Four years had passed since the 'almighty' Syaoran Li had taken over the world. Her home town, Tomoeda, had quickly been renamed in honour of one of the most famous of the Li clan, Clow Reed.
Sakura paced back and forth as she studied her notes for her speech. It covered pretty much the entire history of the Li clan as it related to Reedington, including the founding of the clan by Clow Reed's mother, a brief explanation of Clow Reed, and a timeline of the almost overnight conquering of the world.
It had started the day that Li had been given the task of attempting to open the Clow Book. He was the first Li to be able to open Clow's legacy to the clan, and as such, he became master of its contents, the Clow Cards. They were magical artefacts that those with a magical heritage could use.
The next day, he had been placed as the ruler of the Li clan, replacing his father Li Xun. He had ordered the clan to reveal their governmental connections and use them to overthrow the Chinese government. By the end of the day, he had been crowned Emperor of China by divine right of ascension.
His next target was the United States. When a mysterious fire had burned down the congress building while the president was giving a congressional address in the presence of his vice-president and all his senior staff, which coincidentally related the new leadership of China, Li had stepped in and annexed the country into The Li Empire.
With the technological superiority of the Americans and the high population of China, no one stood a chance against the empire. Countries fell daily due to mutual agreement, or when that failed, horrible accidents that incapacitated their leadership. In this fashion, the entire world fell in only six months. Now every major city had a Li representative who spoke for the clan, and had power to stop any dissidents.
It was not that Syaoran Li was necessarily a bad ruler, in fact he was great improvement over what many of the countries used to have.
"Kaijyuu! Stop snoring, and get going or you'll be late for your daily indoctrination."
"Sakura wa kaijyuu janai!" Sakura yelled back to Tory who had just finished his breakfast. She raced downstairs, ensuring to hit her brother's foot as she turned the corner towards the kitchen and grabbed her breakfast off the table.
"Ohayo Okaa-san!" She smiled to the picture of her mother before rushing to the front hallway.
She was nowhere near being late for school, yet, but Tory, as usual, was going to school with Julien, her long time crush. It had become routine for Julien to drop her off at the high school before heading to the university with Tory, though if she did not hurry, Tory might convince him that she had left early for some sort of morning duty
"Ohayo, Sakura-chan!" Julien greeted with a smile that made Sakura's heart flutter.
"Ohayo, Julien!" She replied, hopping into the backseat of his blue and white car.
"How are you today?" Julien asked. "Ready for your big speech?"
"I'm great!" Sakura said. "As for the speech, I'm having trouble. I just can't quote off the propaganda and pretend I believe it."
"It will be fine Sakura, you'll see. Just look at the back wall and pretend no one is listening."
"Arigatou, Julien!" Sakura said, as they pulled up to the school. She jumped out of the car and went to speak with her cousin, and long-time best friend Madison Taylor.
"Sakura-chan!" Madison cried as she saw her best friend. "How's the most Kawaii girl in the world today?" Madison asked, giving Sakura a big hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek.
Sakura blushed, Madison had always been extremely friendly with her, and although she knew they were just best friends, Madison's excessive displays of affection were often embarrassing.
"Why don't we get to class? I will help you practice your speech."
"Arigatou," Sakura replied as Madison took her hand and began running towards their class.
Sakura was surprised to see that the teacher was waiting in the classroom. Usually he didn't show up until the class bell had rung. Today he was already there and pacing nervously.
"Avalon-san," The teacher addressed her the moment the walked in the door. "I am glad you are here early. I wanted to talk to you, since this is your presentation date. There has been a slight change in plans, while you are still to do your presentation, you will be doing it in the auditorium in front of the entire school."
"HOEE!" Sakura exclaimed.
"And Shu Tien Li will be in attendance," Sakura practically chocked when she heard this. Shu Tien Li, though not as important as a member of the main family, was still closely enough related to the Li Clan to have been appointed overseer for the city of Reedington.
"I can't do this!" she said as she started hyperventilating. "I am so gonna be put in prison for giving such a bad speech in front of him."
"Calm down, Sakura," Tomoyo said. "It won't be that bad, he's going to be begging you to write his speeches."
The teacher announced her name to the school and Sakura entered the stage area. Her hands were trembling and sweating on the printed copy of the speech. She began to fear that if she didn't calm down, she wouldn't even be able to read the speech, should she forget the words.
Shu Tien Li was seated at the back of the stage slightly to the right of the podium. Sakura turned and bowed to her overseer, causing catcalls to arise, as her uniform skirt rose slightly from the motion. She tried to ignore them, and they quieted down as she made her way to the podium.
As she looked across the assembled school, her mind froze. She couldn't think. She could hardly remember what she was there for. The paper began to crumple as she involuntarily made a fist of her hand from the fear of addressing everyone, especially in front of someone with such power.
Sakura closed her eyes for a second to forget about the people in the gym, but they were getting restless. 'Just do what Julien said, look at the wall, and forget about everyone.'
Looking at the wall did not help all that much. She could still see most of the crowd, and several of the latecomers were leaning against the wall, and these were the kind of guys that made her nervous, the ones who seemed to be in perpetual detention.
One of them was different. She didn't know what it was, but her eyes were drawn to him. He was a boy of average height and in very good physical condition. His uniform jacket was undone and his tie was wrapped around his head like a bandana. She was surprised that the teachers hadn't confronted him about his looks, but she supposed that he would be dressed normally by the time he got back to whatever class he had come from.
The boy yawned and smirked as he noticed her staring at him. He gave her a thumbs up and mouthed, 'go for it.'
Sakura realized that she had been standing there for a while and the crowd was getting restless.
"The L-Li C-Clan…" She stuttered, before catching the boy's eyes again. After that, she just pretended the speech was meant for him, and as long as she did, it went smoothly.
The school clapped politely. That was a good sign. They had obviously heard it all before, but she must have presented it well to get a favourable response. She sighed in relief and turned to head back off stage, but the overseer, indicated that she should take the seat beside him.
No one was saying anything. The people on the stage were just waiting, as if something was supposed to happen. Sakura looked around the auditorium. She noticed that the boy from the back was now making his way through the crowd of students. Another boy and a girl were doing the same, converging on the stage from various points in the gym.
The first one to arrive was a boy with glasses and navy hair. He took a place behind and to the left of the podium.
The girl who had long black hair and fiery reddish-brown eyes made her way up and stood level with the boy, but on the right of the podium.
The boy she had noticed at the back wall was the last to arrive. Instead of heading to the podium, he walked over to her. "Nice speech," He said, holding out his hand.
She politely stood and shook his hand, "Arigatou." She bowed slightly, not knowing who this guy was, it was better to be safe and show respect.
"Now, that won't be necessary," The boy said, smirking confidently. She felt a pair of eyes boring into her back and noticed the overseer was giving her a dirty look. The boy released his grip on her hand and she felt something small and metallic fall into it. Before she could protest, the boy had already walked over to the podium.
Sakura examined the item that the boy had slipped to her. It looked almost like a coin, only larger. It was about three inches in diameter. Except for the small hole in the middle, it was completely blank.
"Thank you for coming to my little assembly," The boy said. Whispers were heard all over the auditorium. It seemed like this boy needed detention for his failure to wear his uniform properly, rather than an assembly that he claimed was his. The whispers stopped immediately when the boy snapped his fingers, causing a puff of smoke that dissipated and revealed the three standing on stage to be wearing the royal garments of the main house of the Li Clan. All three were recognized at once now, their faces were known all over the world.
The boy with the glasses was Eli Moon, called Eriol by his friends, and was the chief advisor of the emperor. No one really knew much about him, except that he appeared a year after the Li's domination of the world, and no one dared question his origins.
The girl was Meiling Rae. She belonged to one of the lesser branches of the Li Clan. It was well known that she was Syaoran's childhood friend and fiancée.
The boy himself was one person Sakura never expected to see, Emperor Syaoran Li. When she realize who he was she practically fainted. She had given a speech, almost directly, to the Syaoran Li!
The gym was deathly silent as the emperor continued his speech. "I hope you all enjoyed that speech as much as I did, because you are going to be listening to her a lot more from now on. Let's hear a round of applause for your new overseer, Sakura Avalon." Everyone applauded, not the least of which was Madison who somehow managed to clap the loudest and still keep her video camera steady.
"HOEE!" Sakura exclaimed loud enough for the entire school to hear it, whether they were in the auditorium or not.
"Welcome to the family, Sakura," The Emperor said. At that moment, the disc or metal in her hand began to glow. Its surface evaporated away, revealing the mark of the Li Clan. Not just any mark, but it was engraved with the green and red of Syaoran's own house. As far as Sakura knew, the only people belonging to that house were Syaoran and his parents, his sisters, and soon Meiling would as well.
"This has to be a mistake," Sakura said, looking from the emperor to the medallion she held in her hand.
"Are you suggesting that I made a mistake?" Syaoran asked, putting a scowl on his face that scared even the toughest of men.
"No!" She replied frantically, "Of course not!"
"You know, since this was a special occasion, I made that medallion myself," He said.
"Arigatou," Sakura replied, giving him the deepest bow she could, which was quite deep considering that she was a cheerleader.
"Now what did I say about bowing to me?"
"Gomennasai."
"Now lift that up so everyone can see it," Sakura went over to podium and lifted
the medallion over her head.
"So anything interesting, happen at school today?" Julien asked, as he stopped to
pick Sakura up from school. Madison naturally joined her.
"Because we had the overseer over, I had to give my speech in front of the entire school. But thanks to your advice, I did well," She said, smiling at Julien.
"More than well, she was awesome, and I got the whole thing on tape!" Madison grinned, "I think it's my best film ever, I'll call it 'Sakura gets mmph'" Madison's movie's title was cut off by Sakura's hand covering the her mouth.
"Don't ruin the surprise," Sakura whispered to Tomoyo. "Also there was this boy and he gave me some jewellery." She said, making sure that her brother heard real well, and barely stifling the giggles that threatened to erupt and ruin the whole setup.
"What gaki gave a kaijyuu jewellery?", Tory asked, his eyebrow twitching spastically as he ground his fist into his palm, in anticipation of meeting this boy.
"You think a guy has to be a gaki to give me a present?" Sakura asked.
"That or a complete baka." Tory replied.
"Well, if you are going to say stuff like that, maybe you don't deserve to be driven home."
"What makes you think you can do anything to stop me?" Tory asked glaring back, only to have a medallion shoved in his face. "Whatever, I need more exercise anyway," He said. His face had blanched as soon as he had seen the symbol on the medallion. He hopped out as they pulled up to a stop sign.
"That was weird," Julien said, as Tory walked stiffly away, having not seen the medallion that Sakura had shown Tory.
"I know; how many other people would be dumb enough to call their emperor a a gaki and a baka in front of their overseer?" Tomoyo asked.
Exposition/Explanation:
In this dimension Julien is not the alternate form of Yue, someone close to Li was chosen as Yue's alternate form, coughmeilingcough.
Sakura may not particularly like the Li's methods, but she is not one to judge so thus, as Syaoran acted nice when he arrived, she is treating him as a nice person, not that she isn't nice to others.
Why does Sakura not burst out and say what happened? Sibling rivalry. She will feel plenty guilty later and probably do something really nice, like change those bad grades he got when FeiMei visited and joined his class for a year. (That was in my original idea for this story but I couldn't find a convenient place to put it.)
If you find anything else that appears to be a plot hole or mistake, feel free to mention it and I will make up some silly explanation for you that may be more or less lame than these.