Disclaimer:I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura or Marvel's Spiderman or any other recognizable story arcs in this fiction. This fic is written for pure enjoyment of the author's imagination and the readers'. I make no money of this story. But please send some if you have any to spare. I'm poor.
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######The Web of Syaoran###
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by
Neohowler
Chapter one
Some of you think that you know me. You may even think I'm your average day kid. Going to school, part of a club, coming home with three to four hours of homework to do, eat, than sleep. If that's what you believe, then you couldn't be more wrong. True, I do all of the above, but I also do more. Much more. Who am I you ask? Well, I'm much more than just your average kid. I'm much more than your average student. Is that enough for you? Or do you want to know more? Should I even trust you? You think that you know me, but you don't know anything about me. You talk about my life as if you're living for me. You think you know me. You know nothing about me. So I'll ask again, do you really want to know who I am? You shouldn't ask for things you really don't want to know about you know. What you may find is not always what you want to find. Still want to know who I am? Still want to know how I came about? Very well...but where to start. Probably at the very start...at the very beginning of my story. |
Li Family Estate Hong Kong 1994
"Doctor, are you certain that..." the voice trailed off the question, recieving an answering look from the questionee. "So...will he live?"
"He'll pull through," the Doctor replied in a tired and drained voice. "He's a very strong will child. The T'sahng poisoning will run it's course through his body and disappear in a few day or so. At worse, expect a few nightmares and a couple of seizures. Other than that, the lad's as good as new."
Despite the news of recovery though, the room was filled with a grim air. All of the occupants in the room unaware that the patient, a young boy, laid wide awake in his bed. He'd been awake for quite sometime now. He had heard all of it. Of what had happened, the symptoms, the cures, and the...side effect. Though too young to identify the feeling at the time, the young boy felt as if he should've just died in the incident. It probably would've been much better.
Li Xiao Lang, youngest child and only son to the late Li Lang and his widowed wife Ye Lang, laid in the bed he was placed in. Running the incident over and over in his mind. Thinking about what went wrong and why.
It had all started out so easily. All he had to do was catch the dumb sparrow and return it to her. He had chased the dumb bird down into grandmother's room. It was always filled with odd smells, so Xiao Lang never took heed when he entered to find the bird. There it was too, sitting on the top corner of a self. All he had to do was climb the self and the bird was his.
It had seem so simple and harmless. He would catch the bird and the girl would stop crying and be happy again. Mother and the girls would want to tell him how nice he is if they ever hear about it, but it would pass in a few days. He can live through that, if he tried really really hard.
He didn't see the spider's web hidden in behind the self though. Nor did he see the spider that had wandered away from it's hiding place and into the opening. Just as he reached over to catch the bird, he felt a suddenly sharp prick on the back of his hand. It had caused him to fall back and hit the ground. But he'd at least caught the bird.
It wasn't till later that Xiao Lang got very very sick. It was worse than the fever that he had when he was younger. His body felt as if it was on fire. The room temperature seemed to drop to freezing to hot in seconds. His head felt light and delirious. That's when mama decided to call the family's 'special' doctor.
Everyone had thought it was just a minor fever. That he had been practicing magic alone again, of course he hadn't but they all thought that. But then the doctor found out something important...something that will change Xiao Lang's life forever. Xiao Lang's magical powers were quickly burning out. That was not the worse, though it had seemed like it was earlier. The worse was that, somehow, Xiao Lang had been poisoned by Alameda. A very potent, and one of the top three deadliest magical poison in its class, that begans to eat away the victims magical defenses then work its way to their natural defenses.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, Xiao Lang will be able to pull through with all limbs attached. But he had forever lost the ability to use magic.
At the time, I thought that losing my gift for magic was the worse thing in my life. Though it was law that we don't use magic openly, I did use it for little things. I never imagine how important using magic was to my everyday life until I couldn't do it anymore. I had to dry myself by hand after every bath. I had to make my own bed and clean my room with my hands. To you, this might sound like nothing different. But to me, it was something totally brand new. True I never used magic to cook for me or clean after every mess I saw, but you tend to miss the little things when they're gone. I had originally thought that this was a new low point in my life. That it couldn't possibly get anyworse...and I was right...for a while. After a while things started to happen to me. Weird things. I'll wake up in the middle of the night with my body shaking uncontrollably. At first, mother thought I was having nothing but seizures. But seizures don't wake you up in the middle of the night shaking like a bottle of soda. Believe or not, those were the normal things. It got even weirder. I started to stick to things. Well, technically, things started sticking to my hands. I accidentally tore off a lot of book pages that way. After a while, mother decided to just buy me audio books. That was how most of my childhood went. Things would happen around me and I would react by messing things up even worse. Until one night... |
Xaio Lang's eyes snapped opened. It was another one of those nights. He'd been having them a lot lately. He couldn't sleep, not even a wink. It felt as if he'd swallowed a large chunk of energy and it was building within his core. Screaming to be release.
Reaching over to the side of his bed, Syaoran turned on his night lamp. The light of lamp lite stretched weakly in an attempt to light up the room, but achieved only in illuminating a few good feet. But that was all Syaoran needed as he sat on his bed leaning his back against the wall.
The doctor suggested that Xiao Lang may have a case of insomnia, however, despite the medication he prescribed, Xiao Lany was still unable to fall asleep. While trying to think of a way to fall asleep, Syaoran's eyes caught sight of a small black spider racing up the side of his wall.
This is all your fault you know, Syaoran minded to the spider. If your friend never bit me, I wouldn't be in this mess.
The spider just continued to crawl up the wall, ignoring Xaio Lang's glare. Watching the spider trek up the side of his wall lightly, a small light bulb came on in Xiao Langs head.
Turning around to face the wall, Xiao Lang gently pressed his hands against it. Almost instantly, Xiao Lang felt the tip of his fingers 'grasp' on to something. When he felt that his hold was secure, Xiao Lang then placed both his feet quickly against the wall. As soon as his toes touched the wall, he felt another sensation at the face of his toes. Like tiny arms and hand reaching out and firmly holding on to something. Placing his other hand over the first, Xiao Lang started to slowly ascend the wall. From the side of the wall until he was hanging upside down from the ceiling.
I guess it wasn't the best thing that mom walked in right then. The look on her face was almost priceless. Mother wanted to keep this a hidden secret from everyone though. She said something about it protecting me from my father's and the family's reputation. I later found out that my dad had enemies, deadly enemies, that didn't exactly love the Li family as much as they would love to swim in a pool of magma. I guess that's why, when I was ten, mother sent me away to Japan to do some studying. Of course, I didn't go alone. Wei came along too. He was the only person aside from mother and my sisters who knew about my...special abilities. And here is where my story really starts. In Tokyo, in a ward call Tomoeda. This is where I first found my destiny. This was where Li Xiao Lang was reborn into |
It was a nice day today. It was the school's field day. Everyone, all the students and their respective parents, had turned up for the events. Competing against one another with pride. All except for one lone figure who stood on top of the bleachers, looking down at the group of people with a camera. His name was Li Syaoran. Anonymously named the school's lonewolf.
Syaoran, or Li to many of his peers(though very few even talked to him), stared down enviously at the children and their parents. Moments like these made him miss his own family. His mother and...his father, the ancestors guide his soul. Though he could've simply asked Wei to come along as a guardian, he didn't want to bother the old sorceror with such trivial events such as this. No doubt Wei would have more important matters at hand.
Though he hid it very well behind a facade of apathy and bitterness, Syaoran wanted to badly to take part of all the events below him. He wanted to race, jump, and compete with his fellow classmates. He knew he could've easily won all of those events hands down, but he would've hold back on purpose just so it seemed like he was normal...just like them. Normal.
Despite the fact that he didn't come from a normal family, he still wanted to be part of the in crowd. Like that red head that was out racing everyone on the track at the moment. Kinomoto wasn't it. She was in his class. She was also quite well known among most of the student body.
You really need to find a hobby Syaoran, Syaoran sighed as he took a snap shot of the red head running across the finish line with his camera. Not that I'm complaining about taking photographs, but someone might see it as odd for a boy to taking so many pictures.
"LI!" chimed a voice from below him. Pulling away from his camera for a moment, Syaoran caught sight of a young chestnut hair girl with shoulder length hair and large glasses. "Come one Li! The cheers are going to start! YOU PROMISE TO TAKE SOME PICTURES OF US FOR ME!"
Syaoran sighed as he remembered promising Yanagisawa and made his way down from the bleachers. Yanagisawa Naoko was probably Li's only friend at the foreign school. One reason was because she lives right next to the apartment building that Syaoran was receding in. Naoko was a cheerful girl who enjoyed reading her books and despite her book worm appearance, quite atheletic, though lacking in confidence of her abilities. However what Naoko lacked in self-confidence of her own physical prowess, no one doubted her own intelligence and kindness.
"So nice of you to finally join us back on Earth Li," Naoko chimed as she shook her poms infront of Li's face. She normally did the talking for the both of them. Syaoran returned her greeting with a curt nod. "Oh hurry, we're starting already!"
Once more, Syaoran gave his acknowledgement of her presence with another curt nod and steadily followed the over ethusiastic girl. Reaching the other side of the bleachers stiffly, Syaoran placed himself inself into position where he could get the best possible pictures without the sun's glare ruining the shots. Aligned just a few feet from him were the Tomoeda Primary School's girl pep squad. All of them dressed in their short complimenting skirts, each sporting either a pair of pompoms or a baton.
"READY!" shouted one of the girls at the center of the squad as a last minute member hurriedly joined the squad. It was the red head that was just running a moment ago. Naoko, who was second from the left end, gave Syaoran a quick smile and nodded. Syaoran in turn nodded back and took a quick shot at the glassed girl's smiling face. It was then that the entire cheer started.
Syaoran tried his best to get the entire squad from his position. He was able to manage a few quick shots of the girls doing their choreographed dances. Several shots of them showing off their gymnastic prowess and abilities. Then it was too the batons. Syaoran was able to take a quick shot of Naoko taking the lead with the batons,when something happened. Something that had never happened before in Syaoran's life.
Everything slowed down, as if someone was watching a movie and pressed the slow button. The colors became inverted and burnt, similar to what pictures in the negitives of a film appeared to be. All the shadows were outline by strips on neon ribbons. The hair on Syaoran's arms started to stand; the hackles behind Syaoran's neck stiffened and began to tingle as an icy trickle slid down Syaoran's spine to his heels. It lasted only for a slight moment. Less than a heartbeat. Had Syaoran not tried to keep his focus on taking pictures so strongly, he would've never even took notice the interuption.
I really didn't really know what was going on. One minute, everything was fine and suddenly, it wasn't. Then, like magic, it was again. But part of me, some buried distant part of me, knew it wasn't over. Not yet. And you know what...I was actually right. |
What in the world was that?! Syaoran quickly lowered his camera, nearly dropping the thing, and took a quick glance at everything around. Everything was just fine now. The colors were as they should be. Everyone was watching the cheerings of the pepsquad on, as if nothing had every happen. Did it even really happen? Nothing was out of the ordinary. Everything was just as it was before. My imagination...?
Seeing that he wasn't receiving an answer from neither himself or from anybody else, Syaoran quickly return his attention back to the pep squad. Behind his head though, a small pink rose petal paracuted downwards and landed softly on the green grass. Followed by two more petals. Then four, then eight, then twelve...
"Did you take a lot of pictures of us Li?" Naoko said as she invited Syaoran to join her family and friends for the lunch picnic. "I hope you got one of me leading the twirls with the baton..."
Naoko finished her sentence with a blush as she tried her best to hide her face from Syaoran. Syaoran, however, only signal his answer of her question by another of his curt silent nods. As Naoko's mother hands Syaoran a sandwich she'd prepared earlier, she could not help but smile at her daughter's attempt to catch the boy's attention. Naoko's mother had first meet Syaoran when he first moved into one of the apartments next door to their home. Her opinion of Syaoran was that he was a painfully shy boy who tended to resort to going off into his own little world to avoid people. Very much like Naoko and those books of hers. Yet, there was a mysterious air about the boy that just drew people to him. Naoko's mother could see why her daughter was so easily drew to the young boy.
"So Li," Naoko's mother said as Syaroan accepted the sandwich. "Is Wei joining us later?"
Syaoran slowly shook his head as he looked down upon his sandwich. A barely audible "No," trailed from Syaoran's mouth.
Syaoran himself was trying to be polite. He didn't want to seem like he was imposing too much on these people and their lunch. He hadn't planned on staying for lunch. Despite the fact that there must've at least been five other families together there, Syaoran felt very out of place. The only reason he was even there at all was because of Naoko's persistance that he join them for lunch after discovering that Syaoran had not brought his own meal. Syaoran wanted all this to be over with quickly. He just wanted to get back to taking pictures again.
Naoko's mother started to ask another question when Syaoran felt a familiar sensation run down the back of his neck. It was happening again, everything slowed and darkened. Yet, despite that fact, Syaoran saw and felt his entire immediate surrounding down to the most minute detail. Not a sense of seeing or feeling that he'd normally felt though; as if seeing from all angle right from where he was standing. Feeling from far away where hard was soft and soft was a watery. Feelings that no normal human had ever experience before. This time however, the feeling lasted a lot longer and Syaoran realized, he wasn't imagining anything.
Before Syaoran could fully register what was happening though, a pink petal spun right in front of his face and the feeling shattered. The world became bright and colorful again. The sound of the crowd of people eating and chatting rushed out of the air and into his ears, filling his head with sound once more.
"Li!" Naoko finally shouted, slightly ired and worried. She'd asked Syaoran a question and it was very odd for Syaoran to not nod back whenever she asked him questions. "Are you listening?"
"Yanagisawa..." Syaoran said as he snapped out of his trance.
"Li," Naoko sighed as her face quickly donned a relieved smile, which was quickly blanketed by a look of concern. "Are you feeling will? You were just kind of out of it for a moment there."
"I...I'm fine," Syaoran replied as he slowly. "Just had something to think about."
"What did you have to think about?" Naoko cheerfully asked. It wasn't everyday that Syaoran actually gave her a straight answer, vague as Syaoran's answer just was.
"It was..." Syaoran paused as a feeling dread crawled throughout his body, sending small electrical sensations down his back. "...nothing important."
I hope, Syaoran minded to himself as he glanced down at the pile of flower petals that had built up into a small mound right next to him. In fact, the mound seemed to be growing with every passing second. Glancing around him, Syaoran saw that there were flowers and petals of almost every shape and size raining down. Though such a thing wasn't a rarity in Japan, the quantity of it was. What's with all the flowers?
"Oh," Naoko responded, with a strong hint of disappointment echoing in her voice. Syaoran had once again withdrawn back into that mysterious and quiet world of his. However, she quickly put on another facade of feigned happiness and smiled brightly for all the world to see. "Well, anway, I asked you if you think we did okay on the cheer?"
Syaoran nodded.
Syaoran glanced down once more from his place on top of the stands, camera in hand. The picnic had been over for almost half an hour now and everyone was getting ready to for the parent's sole competition. Down below on the track, the parents lined up on the starting line. There were about fifteen in all, most of the people had left after seeing their kids performed in their various events. Those who were left were either getting ready to go or were staying to watch the final event.
Syaoran raised his camera to take a quick snapshot of a rather determine looking woman who seemed bent on trying to drill a hole into the back of a man's head with her eyes. If Syaoran was not mistaking, that would be Ms. Daidouji; mother of Daidouji Tomoyo. Syaoran wasn't certain who the unlucky man was, but he simply just kept an oblivious smile on as if he didn't even notice the death stares Ms. Daidouji was shooting at him. Syaoran quickly took his snap shot and sighed as he came to a resolve; grown ups were just weird sometimes.
Looking down at the field below with his eyes once more, Syaoran noticed that the ground was nearly covered up with nothing by flower petals. There were a few quick flashes of green here and there, but there were so many pink and white flower petals that it looked more like a sea of pink. Plus, there was still more and more petals falling down out of no where.
Syaoran's mind was quickly derailed from the school's track field as he heard the shot of the start gun went off. The parents suddenly sprinted into action, however, it was painfully obvious who was the best runners; Ms. Daidouji and the unfortunate fellow who seemed to still appear clueless to about the hatred at aimed at him. The man easily took the lead however, and Ms. Daidouji was quickly left behind as the man started to slowly advance further and further away from her. All this while the petals continued to fall from the sky.
Syaoran took another quick shot of the two lead runner as they began rounded the first turn of the track. The man was still in the lead, hardly looking tired at all, while Ms. Daidouji appeared to have started to get winded. It would've been an hilarious sight to see had the woman no look so hell bent on wishing the man to death.
I wonder what happened between those two anyway? Syaoran thought as he stared at the woman's face. She was extremely beautiful, in both character and in appearance. Was she an old girlfriend? Syaoran had often heard his sisters mention things about personal vengeance and bringing down the gates of heaven everytime they talked about boys. Women are weird.
A cold chill ran down Syaoran back and a wave of panic slammed into his body. What is going on?! Syaoran thought, unaware that he'd just dropped his camera. Syaoran tried to take another glance down at the field again, but found that that was almost impossible. There were wave after wave of flower petals. So many that Syaoran was actually having trouble trying to breath without accidentally swallowing a mouthful of flower petals. While observing all this, a feeling panic continued to buzz annoyingly from within his head. The icy-hot needles were now stabbing at the back of his neck more furious now than ever.
Was this what you've been trying to tell me? Syaoran asked as he tried to take in as much air as he could. Is this what you've been trying to say to me?
Not knowing what to do and receiving no answer, Syaoran did the only thing that he felt was logical. He leapt. Down from the top of the stands where he were to the track. Plunging himself into a sea of flowers. The needles scratched and clawed endlessly some more, sending wave after waves of panic into Syaoran's system. He leapt again.
Up. Up. Up. Almost ten feet into the air, then he began to descend. Clearing a quarter of the track field, Syaoran landed in a crouching position with his arms extended infront of him and his fingers spiked into the ground. He wasn't clear yet though. He was still lost in a sea of flowers and the needles sent endless trickling sensation down the back of his neck. Instinct took over and Syaoran leapt once more. Then again and again. Until the needles at the back of his neck began to recede a little.
Taking a glance around him, Syaoran noticed that he'd now cleared the field. Not only did he'd cleared the field, he'd cleared the school yard as well. In fact, he was station vertically on the side of one of the school buildings. The familiar sensation of the tip of his finger 'clinging' registered in his mind and Syaoran looked down. He was nearly on the second floor. How he got this high without even noticing was a mystery to him, but from his current veiwpoint, Syaoran saw that the track was almost nothing but a growing pile of flower and petals.
Damn, Syaoran cursed inwardly at his own incompetence. Syaoran pause to pan the area around him to see if anyone had saw him. The glanced back at the track; it was a growing pile of flowers. No one had saw him. Taking a breath of relief, Syaoran instantly set his mind back to the bigger problem at hand. Where was all these flowers coming from?
"What the heck is going on here?" Syaoran ponder. Deciding that it was safe to quickly use his 'extra abilites,' Syaoran began to ascend up the wall of the building, trying to get a better view point. As Syaoran approached the final floor of the building the tingling sensation returned. Glancing upwards ahead of him, Syaoran saw what seemed like a large out flow of pink and white flowers being gysered tirelessly over towards the school yard.
Is that the source?! Syaoran said to himself as he started for the roof. If this is someone's sick idea of a joke...
Pulling himself easily over the fence of the roof, Syaoran landed quietly onto the floor. Landing in another unnaturally low crouching postion with his arms extended fully to the sides, Syaoran's head craned up to where the source of all the waves of flowers were coming from. It was coming from behind the roofed building that lead to the stairs back to the previous floor. Crossing the distance between them in two quickly bounds, Syaoran leapt onto the top of the small building. Only to be meet with a surprising sight.
Just below, was that track girl; Sakura and a...pink woman, dancing in mid-air. As they spun around, dancing, flowers spilled from spewed out in numbers from the pink girls' arms and hair. She was the source of all those flowers. What Syaoran really wanted to know was how though and why?
Off to the side, Syaoran realized that Tomoyo was there as well. She was talking on a small pink cell phone with someone. Kinomoto seemed to be doing nothing but dancing and the pink girl continued to spew out endless amounts of flowers. Flowers that had nearly sufficated him and perhaps was sufficating the people below. Deciding that he should intervene, Syaoran was about to leap of from where he was when Kinomoto shouted out a phrase that escaped Syaoran's ear. A flash of light blinded Syaoran and he flipped backwards back to the ground.
Okay, that I didn't expect, Syaoran said to himself as he landed. What was it anyway?
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Screamed one of the girls. Syaoran quickly leapt back up onto his former spot, readying himself for fight.
"Who could I have forgotten to record Sakura's cute dance with Flower?!" Daidouji lamented. Syaoran face-faulted backwards and back to the ground.
Women are definitely weird, Syaoran said to himself as he laid on the ground.
"Did you hear something Sakrua?" Tomoyo asked as she started to make her way around the building. "I think someone's over here."
Oh boy, Syaoran thought as he snapped straight up and searched for a quick escape route or a place to hide. All that Syaoran saw was wide open roof space. The door that lead down stairs was on the opposite side where the girls were, so that added another dillema. How he was suppose to explain how he got up there without using the stairs was something Syaoran didn't want to touch at the moment. Yet, seeing no other option available, Syaoran conceded that he had ran into a deadend.
Sakura and Tomoyo rounded the roof entrance to the other side. There was nothing. No one. The roof was entirely clear of anyone else but them.
"I know I heard a sound from behind here," Tomoyo thought as she scanned the roof. Unable to catch any signs of the perpatrator anywhere.
"Maybe you just thought you heard something Tomoyo," Sakura replied as she turned to her friend. "It's been a long day. Maybe you were a little tire."
"Maybe..." Tomoyo added doubtfully. Tomoyo was certain she heard something fall against the floor. However, turning and seing the loving smile on Sakura's face erased whatever suspicion that Tomoyo might've had. Returning a cheerful smile of her own, Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's hand in hers and agreed. "I guess your right. Maybe I just thought I heard something. Lets get going Sakura, before anyone notices we're missing."
Sakura nodded in agreement with her friend an took out a card with an image large long necked white bird printed on the front. Flicking the card into the air, Sakura raised her pink staff over head, preparing to strike the card and shouted "Fly card, empowered my staff!"
As Sakura struck the card with the beak of her bird-head staff, the small wings on the side of the head of the staff elongated into a pair of feathery white wings. The two girls then proceeded to quickly mount the staff then flew off back towards the distance of the track field.
Syaoran released his breath as the two girls disappeared from his view. He had been pressing himself against the wall, almost trying to meld with it, as he hid from the girls. Luckily neither of the girls decided wise to turn around and look up. Had they done so, they'd found him sticking to the wall just above them, with his back pressed tightly against it. This can't be how the Sailor Senshi do it, Syaoran groaned as he began to relax. He loosened his grasp on the wall and leaned out a bit. He was perfectly comfterable sitting verticaly as he would be sitting on a park bench. Today had been a bit more eventful than he'd expected.
"That was close," Syaoran said to himself as he realeased his hold on the wall. "Way too close."
Dragging himself up to the fence of the roof, Syaoran looked down upon the bustling families. They had all regrouped and even started to clean up the waist high sea of flowers. However, it wasn't the thought of families that came to his mind though. Nor were it the huge mound of flowers. It was two words. Two words that registered in his mind at the moment. Two very familair words that was carried down from his brain and then relayed to his mouth. Where the words became words with sounds, "Clow Cards."
--------------------------------------The End of Chapter One----------------------------Ack! This was a lot harder than I thought. It's hard to try to get Syaoran to stay in character but I think I will get easier when he gets his costume. This won't be a fic that will be updated frequently. Though I will finish it, whether it takes three weeks to ten years for the next chapter, I will get it done. Even if I have to give it a corny short ending or make chapter some two hundred kilobytes long!
Sorry, didn't spellcheck any of it yet. I probably will later and re-upload. Note: This is not a Syaoran and Naoko match up. In fact, I'm not sure I'll even do a match up here. I'm already three fanfics behind, two of them being match ups already. So I may not turn this into a match up fanfic.
Just so you know, YES this will be a Syaoran centered fanfiction. Why? Becaue I like him and he's the only reason why I really bother with Card Captor Sakura. Other Spidey villains will make appearances as well. I will be following a mix of both Anime and Manga story arcs though, so if you get confuse...do a google search or something for story line on both.
Sleepy...go to go.
Read and review!