The Masked Knight

Disclaimer: Most of the main characters all belong to Clamp, and the detailed ideas too. The storyline however belong to this drama that I've been watching Prince of Lan Ling.

(A/N: I was quite disappointed with how the drama turned out in the end. Also the dialogue didn't quite fit my taste. So I decided to do a Cardcaptors fanfiction remake. Not to say that my story is any better, but I hope my readers (meaning you) will enjoy it. I have to admit; I am most definitely NOT a professional writer. Please don't hate me for my bad grammar and lack of vocabulary. I'm not perfect, and I admittedly make stupid mistakes. If you see a mistake, don't hesitate to email me).

Full Summary:

AU. There was an ongoing battle between two powerful kingdoms named Mikaysium and Valkyrie. Along with underlying corruptions and hidden agendas within both kingdoms brought upon a cold war for the right to the throne. A prince without a crown became a knight only to lose everything once a new era peace will be restored. That was his predicted destiny. Similarly, a powerless crowned king who sat on the throne only to be controlled by his highest rank royal advisor. Nonetheless, a small village girl who was willing to risk everything to end this war and change the predestined future. Fortunetelling was only the tip of an iceberg.

Chapter One: Meant to Be

Five hundred years ago, the creator of the Clow Cards, Clow Reed, was a well-known warlock who worked side by side with the leader of Mikaysium. Mikaysium conquered three other kingdoms leaving one last powerful kingdom standing, Valkyrie. Valkyrie was known for its outstanding training of their soldiers, and its advanced military formation. It was no surprise to how they survived as an independent nation for this long.

For years, Valkyrie sought out strategies to defeat the Mikaysium army and join the two nations into one. The only barrier that stood in their way was Clow Reed. Clow Reed was a legend, a well-protected man with stories that have been told between both kingdoms.

The new leader of Valkyrie drew a solidarity plan of action to solve this issue by forcing Clow Reed to change side otherwise facing the consequence of ending the Reed bloodline. Clow Reed had foreseen this ruthless plan and used his Clow cards to disappear along with his family from the face of the Earth. From then on, it was only a legendary myth of Clow Reed's existence.

(A/N: Just so everyone knows, I will be using the names of English version of Cardcaptors on some character and some the original name. I know there has been a political debate over which version is better, but let's put that aside and enjoy the story!).

Present Day

The sound from the horns vibrated the air at the gate of the Kingdom of Mikaysium. The highly amplified low-pitched sound echoed indicating another battle was about to begin. As the gate slowly opened, soldiers dressed in red and brown shining armour marched forward in a neat formation.

Immediately, a knight with the highest rank insignia on his chest in his early 20s rode on his shining black stallion.

His brown armour glistened in the sunlight with his silvery sword drawn. His confidence was marked by his posture as the leader of the pack. His stallion marched towards the head of the formation in the centre between two formations. His fearless presence was immediately felt as he made his way towards the front of the pack.

"Today is the day that we have to face our enemy once again. I want to thank all the brave soldiers who are willing to defend our kingdom. Let's put on our mask and win this battle!" The general grabbed his mask from the left side of his saddle.

Syaoran put on his mask as if it might be his last fight. In a brief moment of silence, the calm before a storm.

"Charge!" Syaoran yelled as his stallion picked up its speed followed by his soldiers on their feet.

No man's land was situated in a desert on the south boarder of both kingdoms. It was an army of five hundred against two thousand. Mikaysium was definitely not going to win this fight. As soon as Valkyrie's army charged, Syaoran's army backed away and moving onto phase two. Phase one: trapping Valkyrie's solider in quick sand.

Phase two: luring the enemy to Mikaysium's army that specializes in archery, led by Madison Taylor, daughter of an old general. This guaranteed the second wave of Valkyrie's army of fallen soldiers, leaving them no choice but to retry.

The soldiers' cheered and was relieved from this battle in which it did not end in tragic blood bath. Nonetheless, many soldiers' lives were taken away from this battle. Even though they won, Syaoran was not at all satisfied considering as each battle goes dead bodies drop.

"Snowbeard is injured Syaoran, " Madison jumped down from her horse and examined the wound on Syaoran's stallion. The wound was fresh with small amount of blood was oozing out. The depth of the wound was about a 3-5mm deep; it was enough to cause pain and unbalance. From the breath sound of Snowbeard, Madison could tell Snowbeard was in a lot of pain.

"First thing's first, on my order, I want to revoke Lieutenant Touya's rank for putting our soldiers' life at risk and disobeying my command," Syaoran took off his mask and said with a stone cold tone of voice.

"Syaoran, Touya was doing it for the sake of your safety. Please reconsider," Madison got onto her horse and said with the intension of resolving any misunderstanding.

"I don't want our soldier to sacrifice for the sake of my safety. We are fighting to protect our people and our kingdom, not any individual's safety. Am I clear?" Syaoran looked to his left and his right at Madison and Touya.

"There is a hot spring near by known to be helpful with healing wounds," Madison suggested knowing how important his stallion is to him.

"Alright, Snowbeard and I will step away for about a day or two. Everyone return to base, and make sure to be attentive in case the Valkyries decide to make a comeback," Syaoran commanded.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

On a beautiful sunny day, birds chirped in the morning light. An isolated, quiet small village hidden away by heavy fog slowly started off their day working in the farm field. Not far in the distance a huge explosion scared dozens of chicken, and woke up for rest of the villagers who were still sleeping.

Suddenly the window burst open as a young woman poked her head outside getting fresh air while coughing out the smoke that clogged her lungs. "Yet another failed attempt," She mumbled to herself opening all the other windows in her wooden house. Good thing the explosion didn't lit the whole house on fire.

She quickly moved to the ventilation system she created using a wooden fan that manually sucks up all the smoke in the house by turning the steering handle. A few minutes later majority of the smoke in the workhouse was vacuumed through the air vent.

Sakura walked back to her desk and grabbed her books. She flipped through the pages, "I don't understand. I followed all instruction carefully to create Raging Star with main ingredient as saltpeter." Sakura opened up different vials to check how much materials were left. She opened the last vial and noticed that she was out of sulphur. She definitely needed to pick up some sulphur from the hot spring not too far from her village. She bent down and reached for her one shoulder strapped bag.

(A/N: Raging Star is basically fireworks, just a "catchy" name I came up with.)

"Sakura, don't tell me you are at it with your new inventions again," her grandmother walked into the yard.

"Granny, why are you up so early?" Sakura ran back to her working station and tried to clear the table as quick as possible, and at the same time making minimal noise.

"I may be blind, but I am not deaf. You woke up the whole village," Granny sniffed the air, "Heavy smoke, clearly you are up to no good."

Granny reached around trying to find any clue what Sakura was up to so early in the morning.

"You know me, your cute granddaughter gets really cold at night. I made a fire pit to keep myself warm," Sakura quickly put a book right above her burnt desk just before her granny's hand reached over; "You don't want me to catch a cold now do you?"

Sakura then accidentally knocked over a bottle on the counter on her left. Immediately, she kicked the bottle upward with her right foot and grabbed it with her hand.

"So tell me, how would you cure a cold?" Granny asked hearing the movement of Sakura on the side.

"Ummm…. mint, ginger… also…. " Sakura tried to remember the ingredients. Granny hit Sakura's rear lightly with her staff. She tossed bottle in the air as quickly caught it and put it behind her.

"You have to take your heart, lungs, and liver into consideration. You can't just remember the medicine without thinking about condition. As punishment you are not going anywhere until you review your medicine books," Granny stomped her staff on the ground and walked away.

"Granny, you know medicine is not my strongest skill. Why can't you let me study some interesting topics? For example, I've been planning to create Raging Star in the night sky of your seventieth longevity birthday for the entire village to enjoy. I want you to be proud of me," Sakura quickly passed her granny to move a wheeled table, and make way for her grandmother to walk by.

"A proud granddaughter should've start making her precious, carefully designed ribbon for her future husband. My sweet Sakura, why can't you just be an ordinary girl who listens to her Granny?" she put her hand on Sakura's shoulder.

Then Sakura and her grandmother heard complains coming from the yard. "Excuse me, Auntie Avalon, I came here to see if everything is okay. We thought your house caught on fire when we heard this huge noise," a young woman yelled.

"Granny, my parents asked if you could talk to Sakura. One day she might destroy the entire village with her inventions," another young woman yelled from the yard.

Granny pointed her finger at Sakura with disappointment was ready to scold her. "Sorry. I'm so sorry Granny. Don't worry, I'll fix this problem right away!" Sakura rushed off grabbing a huge blue bowl above the medicine counter and hurried into the yard with an evil grin on her face.

"Bloom and Nellie, I finally figured out a way to cure your acnes. Here you go," Sakura opened the lid of the bowl and shoved it into their faces.

Bloom and Nellie looked into the bowl as the two big frogs in the bowl spit out some water onto their faces. Both girls screamed on top of their delicate lungs and ran off as fast as they could.

"Take that!" Sakura laughed till her hearts content and put the straw lid back on.

Granny walked out into the yard from behind, "Sakura Avalon. In two days is your Proposal Ceremony. Where is your ribbon?"

"I… well…" Sakura hesitated to answer, mainly because she completely forgot about it.

It's the village tradition to pick out a groom. It was some silly ceremony where a gentleman from the village accepts a maiden's ribbon to become her fiancé as a vowel for their future marriage.

Granny tossed the ribbon at Sakura, "The ribbon represents your personality, intelligence, and your commitment. Only then you are ready for a husband. You better not bring a ripped cloth to the ceremony and embarrass the Avalon family."

"You don't understand Granny. I need to go get some sulphur not farm from our village," Sakura looked down with discouragement. She was obviously preoccupied with her newest project of creating Raging Star before having time to decorate her ribbon.

"It's a dangerous world outside of this village. Everyone wants to stay away. Why do you always want to leave here?" Granny said angrily, "If you dare leaving again. I will seal the village so that you will never be able to find your way back. Do you understand?"

Sakura thought that it was unfair. "You are bullying me Granny. Mother and father are not here to speak on my behalf. You always nagged me about becoming an ideal wife, when you know that I'm not a wife material," Sakura complained, "During the ceremony no one will accept my ribbon. I'm just going to embarrass myself."

Sakura spent most of her childhood playing by herself. She always knew she was different from other girls from the village. She liked to invent new objects using medicine, wood, and other materials. She neglected her appearance, which she thought it wasn't important in life. Unfortunately, many male counterparts found that unattractive because Sakura was known to be troublesome.

"No matter what, you are not going anywhere today. End of discussion!" Granny stomped her staff on the ground.

Sakura ran into the house without replying knowing that she can't win against her grandmother.

"I have to try to change Sakura's fate. She must not meet… him… Please forgive me," Granny thought to herself as she put out her left hand feeling the air breeze.

Soon clouds began gathering across the sky. A sunny day slowly turned upside down into a gloomy dark atmosphere. Thunder rumbled across the distant sky followed by bright lightning flashes.

"Missy! Missy!" Sakura called out for her dog. She saw her dog ran out of the yard and quickly followed it. It was unlike Missy to randomly run away. Missy had always been very disciplined consider she is Sakura's grandmother's Seeing Eye companion. Missy kept running as Sakura chased her furiously from behind.

Granny walked out into the yard and sighed, "They are going to meet are they? Fate is not something that can be changed… I tried… I truly did." The wind picked up its speed showing signs that fate will take its natural course and nothing was going to stop it.

"Missy! Get back here!" Sakura ran out the village following her dog. She came upon the hot spring that she wanted to go earlier. Inside the hot spring she spotted a woman bathing in the water. Her hair blew in the wind along with the heavy mist above. Sakura only assumed it was a woman because she can barely see that person.

Beside the woman was a beautiful black stallion.

Sakura jaw dropped at the beautiful sight. It looked like a forest fairy and her stallion by the hot spring bathing with flower peddles falling down from the sky. She couldn't help but stare into the distance of this stunning view. Just as the person was about the turn around, Sakura quickly turned away assuming she was caught peeping.

"I'm really sorry! I'm not trying to peep on you. It's just I have never seen such a beautiful woman like you before! I am from a small village so I don't get to meet a lot of new people," Sakura's back facing the person covering her eyes.

Syaoran turned around and didn't know what to say. In fact, he couldn't see who was standing there either. He could only hear her voice. At least he was least clueless between the two.

"Missy! There you are!" Sakura finally caught her dog and put her on a leash, "You are misbehaving today little one. It is so unlike you…"

Just as Sakura turned around, Syaoran quickly turned his back to her. Missy quickly ran towards the hot spring pulling the leash dragging Sakura into the hot water with her. This caught Sakura completely off guard as she step forward tripping on a small rock. Sakura fell into the hot water and immediately losing her consciousness from sudden change of temperature.

Missy swam towards Snowbeard leaving Sakura behind. Next thing Sakura knew she was waking up lying on the rocks. Slowly as she opened her eyes she was staring into a pair of beautiful hazel coloured eyes.

"Are you okay?" Syaoran asked with concern kneeling next to her.

Quickly as she can, Sakura got up and moved away from him. "Who are you?" She looked around and the woman she saw was gone.

"You fell into the water and unconscious. I helped you out of the water," Syaoran explained.

Sakura's eyes widened, "You are a man! This whole time I thought you were a woman."

"Was that an insult or a compliment? I really can't tell… Should I be offended?" Syaoran raised his eyebrow and stood up. Syaoran had an athletic fit built body. It wasn't exactly - feminine.

"Sorry. What I meant to say was… you are so beautiful… like a woman…." Sakura got up staring blankly at him.

"So I looked very feminine. Good to know. That explains why my lieutenant doesn't take me seriously," Syaoran nodded with a smile.

"No! No… No, what I'm trying to say is that…I mean… you are very handsome. Very, very handsome, " Sakura smiled at him with embarrassment, "Forgive me. You are the first outsider I met in my life. It's a pleasure" Let's face it, she was never good when it comes to having a conversation with a man, especially one that was topless in front of her. She was almost staring at his abs. This couldn't get anymore awkward than it already was. There was no doubt in her mind that he was attractive, most likely married to a beautiful wife.

"Likewise. Though I have to ask," Syaoran smiled at Sakura, which completely brightened up her day.

"Yes?" Sakura looked at him with her pair of green eyes with curiosity.

"Do you by any chance know someone with medical background in your village? As you can see my stallion, Snowbeared, is injured. He needs immediate medical attention." Syaoran pointed to Snowbeard's injury.

Sakura looked down and saw the bleeding wound on Snowbeard. "I can't exactly take you to my village. They don't like outsiders."

"Please help. Please. I will be forever grateful, and if you need any help in the future. I will try my best to repay you. I know it's a lot to ask for, and I don't have a lot of options."

Sakura took out the ribbon her grandmother gave her earlier and wrapped it around Snowbeard's leg. Sakura stood up and immediately blushed with the close proximity where Syaoran was standing by her, "Come with me."

(A/N: And sooo…. This chapter has come to an end. I hope you like it. Please review and let me know what you think of this story!)

Next time on The Mask Knight:

Sakura brought Syaoran and Snowbeard into the village. The Proposal Ceremony is a day away and Sakura is very worried about if there is someone who will accept her ribbon. Granny was very upset at Sakura for bringing an outsider into the village. What was Granny really hiding from Sakura? What was this gift the village girls were talking about?