Preacher: Ok people, here's my first fic. I know that my writing isn't perfect, so don't hesitate to point out my mistake, alright? Just be nice in the criticism.
Well, enough of the mumbling, so let's go on with the fic!
The Art of War—Chapter 1
By: Evil's Toughpreacher
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A bad thing never dies."
--Anonymous--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
******Tomoeda, Japan******
April 20, 2002
"What?" Li Syaoran asked in disbelief. "That's...that's impossible!"
"I don't care, Syaoran—you must stay off from the Card Mistress." Then, Yelan added, "You shall never see her again."
"Why?" Syaoran asked, while his mind was fixed to somewhere else. Somehow, his voice has become hoarse and loud. "Mother, I thought—"
"I know, son, but your return is the most beneficial to the Clan. Having you guys in Japan provides an almost indefensible target for the Chen Clan to attack. Your return certainly eliminates this target, which would provide the Hong Kong Headquarters five hundred more men that's currently in Japan."
"Chen Clan?"
"Yes, I shall explain to you when you get back. Right now, let's stop talking lest the spies from the Chen Clan overheard our message."
"Yes mom. I hope to see you soon."
Li Syaoran put down the telephone, unaware that tears are already dripping down his face.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eriol Hiiragizawa is well aware of the "magical situation" in China, despite the fact that he's still in Japan. "My cute descendent still haven't call or visit me yet. That's strange," he said.
"Considering the stubbornness of the future leader, that doesn't come as a surprise to me," Spinel Sun turned his head towards his master, and continued, "So, what are you planning to do, Eriol-sama?"
Eriol summoned his staff and looked through the mirror at the ground, which is showing the current situation of Syaoran. "Despite current myth, the Chen Clan needs to be handled with help from the Card Mistress. The Li Clan alone, I afraid, is not enough."
"But how should we bring the Card Mistress there?" Spinel asked, "Her brother is difficult to persuade when it comes to Li Syaoran."
Eriol took a sip of his tea, and then smirked. "That question is best left to my sensei......."
Ruby and Spinel looked at each other, confused. They both thought, "I never know that Eriol-sama have a teacher for his magic. How come he never told us before that he have a teacher?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Japanese division of the Li clan was having an exceptionally quiet dinner. Syaoran have already told Meilin about his conversation with his mother, and Wei, of course, have already received an executive order from the Elders. Everyone was busy eating, and although the colorful dishes smelled nice, nobody seemed to enjoy the meal at all.
Finally, not used to silence, Meilin began. "I'm really glad that I'll be back to Hong Kong to see Mom and my sisters!"
"So you are," Syaoran said sarcastically.
"Yeah, I guess." Meilin's chopsticks stopped at an inch away from the dish of beef, looking at Syaoran. "Isn't that just great?" she asked with a forced smile.
Syaoran smirked scornfully and continued eating, ignoring Meiling. Meiling squeezed her chopsticks a bit, then picked up a piece of beef and gradually resumed eating.
"Well, then," Meilin said in a remarkably light tone, taking a deep breath. "How are you going to tell Sakura?"
Silence.
Meilin soon found this silence awkward. Of course she knows what Syaoran is thinking about, but she also knows as a rule not to offend Syaoran when he's in a bad mood. She signed, knowing that she can never replace "her"—the person that Syaoran is thinking about right now. Thinking deeply for a moment, she finally said, "Syaoran, I know how you feel—"
"Yeah, like in hell you know," Syaoran said sarcastically, then literally slammed his chopsticks on the table. "I'm finished," he said simply with a forceful tone. "I'm out for a walk."
Wei and Meilin simply stared at him. Meilin quickly munched some buns and walked out the house as well.
Syaoran ran, ran, and ran, running towards a destination that constantly pulled off from him, a destination that he'll never reach. Rain began to pour heavily, soaking and taunting him.
Finally, exhausted, he stopped running and knelt down, weeping.
"Sakura.......!!!"
Meilin finally caught up with Syaoran. "You'd better head back, Syaoran dear. You'll catch a cold if you continue standing in the rain."
"I don't need your care, Meilin," Syaoran said with a voice apparently made hoarse from the screaming. "Go back. Who told you to follow me?"
"But still, Syaoran...."
"Go back!"
Meilin clenched her umbrella, finally unable to control her anger. "I have enough of you, Syaoran! I know you're depressed from that Sakura girl, but I've done nothing to offend you!"
Syaoran originally feel immense depression for his departure, but his depression suddenly turned into anger towards Meilin upon her shouting. "What, Meilin, you want to fight?" He said and immediately stood up in his "Jade-Breaking punch style", facing Meilin. Meilin, offended, dropped her umbrella and stood up in her "Tai-chi" style, facing Syaoran. Each stood still in their stance, staring at each other, allowing the rain to pour down on their body.
Suddenly, Meilin ran away in the direction opposite to Syaoran's stance, crying.
Syaoran, dumbfounded, watched Meilin running away, depressed more ever.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Kero, did you call me?"
"No, why?"
A confused Kinomoto Sakura stared back to her guardian. "Oh, nothing. I just heard somebody calling my name."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day, the Li cousins walked to Tomoeda Elementary after packing up their stuffs. They've already planned their day through: Wei was to pack up the stuff and leave when the Li cousins start out for school. The Li's would notify their departure during school, and leave Tomoeda for Hong Kong immediately after the last period is over. Syaoran remembered Wei saying yesterday: "If they've somehow gotten news of our return, the Chen Clan must have thought that we would return as quick as possible. But nay, we'd return the day after thru the land route, surprising them, so that there'd be no ambush against us."
None of the Li's wish to attract attention, however; hence Wei, Syaoran, and Meilin all changed their hairstyle, so that the Chen's won't notice the presence of Li's. Syaoran combed his hair and dyed it blue; Meilin preferred letting her hair loose instead of her usual ponytail style; and Wei, who naturally have white hair, dyed his hair black.
"Fortunately, the Tomoeda Elementary school uniform have a cap that allows me to hide my hair, or else that evil Hiiragizawa would laugh at my hairstyle," Syaoran thought. Although it have been a year since Eriol helped Sakura to change the Clow Cards into Star Cards, Syaoran still didn't trust Eriol, and the blue-haired boy's constant teasing didn't help things either.
Usually, Syaoran couldn't think because of Meilin's constant invitation for conversation, but this time, even Meilin kept her mouth shut. Syaoran was unwilling to go to school today, and he was still much more unwilling to walk to school with Meilin. On his way to school, he made several attempts to raise up a conversation, but these efforts failed as Meilin refuse to elaborate on each topic he raised. Soon the school gate is in sight, and Syaoran entered the school as he sighed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eriol came into the classroom, catching the sight of Sakura.
"Good morning, Eriol-kun!" Sakura waved at him.
"Good morning, Sakura-san." Eriol greeted back while watching Syaoran, immediately noticing that he's acting weird. Normally, if Syaoran catches Eriol greeting Sakura, he would immediately stare daggers to Eriol, but today he looked......depressed? "My cute descendent is acting abnormally. Looks like the report on the Chen clan aren't faked." With this thought, he sat down, choosing not to provoke his "descendent".
"You shall serve the ball first, my cute descendent; I choose not to open up the topic myself, but to sit back and watch." Eriol thought. Neither Tomoyo spoke a word—although she have already sensed something weird is going on, she decides she would act later accordingly.
Syaoran, however, did not notice his "evil" smirk, focusing instead on the hard fact that he has to leave today. Finally, gathering his courage, he walked up to Sakura.
Completely oblivious to the worried expression on Syaoran's face, Sakura smiled sweetly at him and said, "Good morning, Syaoran-kun."
Nervously, Syaoran said, "Good morning, Sakura-chan." Stopping a second and taking a deep breath, Syaoran then continued, "Um....May I talk to you outside?"
Sakura, despite her naive-ness, is alarmed by the seriousness in Syaoran's tone. "What's wrong, Syaoran-kun?" she asked.
Syaoran is about to answer when Teranda-sensei's voice interrupted them. "Kinomoto-san, Li-kun, would you please return to your seat? Announcement starts now."
Reluctantly, Sakura and Syaoran returned to their respective seat. Syaoran silently cursed his luck, while still worried about his departure scheduled today after school. He looked towards Sakura, and noticed her Cherry-blossom aura, her cherry-blossom smell, and her auburn hair. "That reminds me of those things we've gone together, Sakura-chan. I've captured Clow Cards with you, studied math with you, and go to the movies with you," Syaoran thought with a smile, which soon changed into a frown. "But then....I'm a magician, and I'm the future leader of the Li-clan. I'm supposed to die with the Li-clan. How can I do this and still staying with you? I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, but I have to go......please forgive me......"
Thinking with himself, Syaoran hardly pay attention to what Teranda-sensei was talking about. Suddenly, he heard a cheer from the whole classroom that awaken him from his own dream. He looked up, and saw Sakura turned around and face himself.
"Syaoran! Syaoran! Did you hear me?"
"Huh?"
"Teranda-sensei just said we're going to a field trip! Isn't that great?"
"Yeah," he said, uninterested. Then a thought raced through his mind, and Syaoran rolled his eyes back to Sakura. "Where?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
******Shenzhen, The People's Republic of China******
April 21, 2002
It is a cloudy, uncertain day. The dark clouds threatened to rain, as a few thunder was heard. Sometimes a bird or two becomes distinguishable as they fly above the forest, but soon they would fly down and disappear in the massive forest again. Aside from a few barks, one can hear the sound of a stream that is flowing uneasily from a nearby river. Walking in such environment, one cannot help but feel nervousness in her body, as she walked after taking her dinner. Pacing along the road, a two-story house soon enters the sight, standing along the massive trees, looking especially frightening.
Suddenly, a bird's cry is heard in the empty forest, and immediately emergency warning bells followed. Li Feimei, who was having a rest on the pathway, immediately rushed to the house. Soon she heard metal-clashing sounds, followed by battle cries.
"Strange!" she thought, "The location of our second quarters is a deep secret. Who would have find it and bold enough to attack it?"
Her pace was quickened as she heard the fast-paced second-warning bells ringing, signifying the enemy's broke-through of the gates. As she arrived to a outpost, she climbed up to it, and instantly she pulled out her sword, killing two of the invader who dressed in black. Without hesitation, she reached out for a string out from a window and jumped out.
Through the darkness Feimei slides, and she arrived in a warning tower. Upon grounding in the tower, she cut off the string, and said to the man next to her: "What's it about?"
"Don't know, but it looks like the Second Quarter's under attack," the man replied as he directed crossbowmen's defense against the enemy. "It seems that there's at least fifty assailants."
"Ok, keep up your good work. I'm going to the Quarters."
"Yes ma'am," the man replied as he hit a button. The ground under Feimei opened up as she dropped into the hole. As she fall, she immediately catch hole of the bar next to her, and another hole appeared on the wall.
"That's close!" she thought, "Had I not catch it in time I'd fall into a needle-filled trap. Looks like I'm not practicing enough recently."
She crawled into the hole, run for three minutes, and soon arrived into the Second Quarters. Suddenly, a sword raced to her chest, and instinctively, Feimei dodged, pulling her sword in a circular path and killing another assailant in the process. As she turned her back to face another assailant, her cell phone rang. Picking it up, she said,
"Hello?" while defending against a sword pointing towards her shoulder.
"Feimei? It's Meilin. Emergency news." Meilin seemed to pause a second, then said in the secret code of Li-clan, "The Card Mistress is coming to Hong Kong. Please make sure the Headquarters know in three minutes."
"What?" Feimei was shocked; this wasn't supposed to happen! As the surprise took over her, she got distracted from the fight, and soon a sword pierce through her right arm. Ignoring her pain, Feimei dropped the cell phone and crashed it, and pushed her sword into her left hand, while defending another strike towards her left leg.
But suddenly, a sword pierced through her stomach from behind. Feimei clenched her teeth, turned around and managed to kill her attacker, then, as she struggled to stand up, became unconscious.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
******Tomoeda, Japan******
April 21, 2002
Meilin ran back to the classroom fanatically, knowing something is wrong. As she rang, the recess bell rang, but this time the chiming sounds seems hurrying. Soon she saw Syaoran, who is sitting with Sakura under the cherry blossom tree. Meilin almost screamed, "Bad news, bad news!"
Syaoran immediately jumped out from his seat and ran to greet Meilin. "What's wrong?"
"I've just called the Second Quarters about the field trip, and I heard...I heard....." Meilin have received tons of training since she could walk, but still couldn't help but feel nervous.
"What did you heard?"
"I heard...metal clashing sounds, and a scream of pain from Feimei,...." she managed to mumble, "it seems that the Chen Clan have managed to find the Second Quarters!"
Way over in another classroom, a mysterious flash suddenly gets through Eriol's eyeglasses. "Don't worry, Feimei. The Card Mistress is coming."
Preacher: Ok, so here's the first chapter, how do you like it? I must be honest, I'm not sure where this story is heading. Still, this is my first fic, so I'm not really sure if it's good or not. Please give me your opinion and advise so that I may improve on my writings in the future chapters.