Okay. Chapter two.
Hmm. Never thought I'd get this one up as quick.
/shrug/
By the way... If any of you had the oppertunity to create a new card, what would it be? Just curious mind...
Oh well.
In this chapter, we see everyday life at the "Sorceror School". We also learn a little more about Nero's private life... And regular problems when you have a talking lion with wings for a father.
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A young teenage girl peered her head round the door, scanning the hallway both ways before carefully opening the door and sliding in. She froze, foot hanging in mid-air, knowing that there was somebody behind her, sensing its presense, like a warm feeling in her heart. She turned slowly, wincing as she came face to muzzle with Thunder.
She heard it growl slightly, half telepathy, half real world voice, a gift that few cards had. Or if they did have the ability, they just chose not to use it. She rubbed the back of her head, a goofy grin spreading over her face. The Thunder's muzzle curled up in the corners, as if it as smiling. Then with a crackle of ozone, it vanished, the small crackles of electricity it left behind earthing in the ornate lamps decorating the hallway. She let out a sigh of relief. Most of the cards liked her, but Thunder was always a puzzle. Some days he was quite welcoming, acting like a friendly puppy. Others he was a gruff beast, turning his nose up at her.
She wasn't quite sure, but she thought Nero's uncle had something to do with it.
She pushed open the door leading to Nero's bedroom and shook her head with a smile at the piles of scrolls and books littering the small desk. Obviously, another late night cramming session. She crept up to the bed, its covers wraped around a large shape, like a cocoon. She gently lifted up a corner near the foot of the bed and reached in...
And tugged.
"Yaoowch!" the figure erupted out of bed and spun round, eyes wide, arms flailing, tail thrashing. Finally, he calmed down enough to notice the young woman on the floor, holding her sides in agony, tears running down her face, her mouth so wide it was almost a hinge.
"Oh yeah, very funny Susan... Man, you've nearly torn it out!" He reached round to his tail and ran his hand over it, checking to see if she did any long term damage. This only restarted Susan's fading laughter, which prompted Nero to smile. He had to admit, the first time he did it to his dad it was hilarious... Even after he made him polish all the arcane artefacts in the labratory afterwards.
Nero lifted up the covers and sighed.
"Would you mind? Its bad enough you come into my room when I'm sleping.." Susan turned round, her shoulders still shaking, while Nero clambered off. His torso upward was human. Two arms, a small amount of chest hair on a toned, not hugely muscular, but not feeble chest, rather more back hair on an equaly toned back, and a head. His violet eyes darted around the room, wondering if Susan somehow managed to smuggle in the entire class without his knowing. His long, pale yellow hair was out of control, a large cord of hair wrapping around his throat in his sleep.
Not for the first time, he wondered if his hair was trying to assainate him as he slept.
The torso downward however was fully beast. His legs were that of some unidentified animal, but Nero was betting on some sort of canine. His tail was long and subtle, almost like a mouse's tail. He had learned though an unfortunate flying spell lesson that it was also quite strong and as prehensile as a hand. All was covered by a pale blueish fur, heading into light grey in some areas such as under his stomach. His feet, or paws if you want to get technical, ended in sharp claws, cabable of tearing through pretty much any material that could be made into a bedding of sorts. Even the old canvas curtains got shredded.
It was the direct result of having Keroberos as a father, he knew it. How many wizards, witches, spirits or sorcerors were able to turn into animals? It was a common complaint for him. At least once a week, he transformed in his sleep. Only ever halfway, and only ever the bottom half.
It wouldn't be such a pain if he could at least do half when he was awake... The only thing he ever managed to transform was his tail, and he didn't think that was his doing. Sometimes, while he could reverse the transformation, the tail stuck, embarrasing him half to death the first time he walked to school with it poking out his trousers. Sometimes it even grew out his back when he was walking along, a definete shock to those who were walking behind him at the time. And don't get him started on chairs... However now it was a pretty common enough complaint. The fur vanished as he focused on regaining the ability to properly walk on two legs, and the knees faced the right way again. Although...
"Damn it..." The tail was still flicking around, curling up round objects, like it was a seperate entity that had just chosen to attach itself to his spine. He gave it a stern glare and uncoiled it. He had to admit, the constant time he had with his tail had allowed him to get used to having what was essentially a third arm. As he reversed the change, trousers appeared, fading into view as he became more and more human.
"Alright, you can look now..." Susan turned, peeking out one eye. She didn't mind staring if he was animal down below, but even she, the prankster princess, would blush under the right conditions.
"Now that I'm awake, what was you wanted?" He flicked his hand and the wardrobe next to the bed opened up, a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt floating out for him to catch. Susan leaned on the door frame, averyting her gaze as he changed behind a screen.
"Well... Your uncles back in town..."
"Do you mean Yukito, or Yue?" Susan pulled a face.
"Aren't they the same?" Nero poked his head around the sceen, a black ribbon in his mouth, a brush being dragged through hair which was putting up a hell of a resistance.
"Nuh-uh. Yukito... Well, unless you've met him, you wouldn't understand." He walked out, fully dressed and his hair neatly tied back. He waved a hand at the bed and the sheets folded themselves adn the pillows fluffed hemselves. With a grin, he turned to Susan.
"Nice... New spell?" Nero nodded and held the door open for her, trying to explain the two different people that lived inside his uncle.
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"Uncle Yukito... Well, there's no polite way to say it-"
"I'm a glutton. I can't help it. Morning Nero." Nero and Susan walked into the kitchen to come face to face with Yukito, the human form of the Moon Guardian, brother to Keroberos. He was also in a relatonship with Nero's other uncle, Touya. Apparantly they worked around the whole "Mistress of my sister" thing quite well. Currantly, he was sitting at the table, sipping from a large mug of black coffee, a plate leaden with foodstuffs in front of him. Two empty plates next to him confirmed his statement. He still had his short grey hair, his eyes a pale grey, but filled with laughter just the same. Behind them though, if you knew where to look and had the magical gift, you could see an icy blue stare, calculating and emotionless. It was quite a shock when people saw the two halves for the first time.
"I've got a treat for you Nero..." Nero looked over from the cupboard, trying to see if Uncle Yukito had once again eaten them out of house and home.
"No more archery lessons?" He asked in a hopeful voice. If he was bad at theory magic, then he was completly dismal at the more practical lessons that were taught by various magical pracitioners. Yue taught students how to fight, excelling in the bow, but also teaching swordsmanship, staff work and daggers. Kero taught people how to control certain aspects of your magic, like foreseeing the future, sensing presenses, how to amplify your senses like hearing. Mistress Sakura taught those who she thought had the gift of becomming a great practioner and she was quite strict in who she accepted.
Then there were the other teachers. Eriol, the recarnation of Clow Reed, and tecnically his grandfater, would occasionally send Suppi Sun or Ruby Moon, his private guardians to teach lesser known techniques, like controlling inanimate objects, weather manipulation and so on.
The worst lesson in Nero's view was Elemental magicks. Summoning lightning and fire to fight for you. Using magic stored into objects by other people who you'd never meet. It wasn't the actual lessons that he objected too... Just the teacher...
However, today it was Yue's turn to teach first. A morning class with the dew still on the emerald grass maintained by the Wood and Flower cards. Yue understandably considering his attitude to relationships, didn't have a large class. Only ten signed up for it. No matter how pretty the cards made it.
You could sign up for as many extra lessons you wished. Typically, Sakura and Keroberos had enrolled him in all of them.
Yukito smiled, his face beaming.
"No... But I'm sure you'll have improved since last leson!" Nero muttered to himself while rumaging in the dark recesses of the cupboard, pulling out an old box of cereal. Checking the date, he sighed and decided against breakfast this morning. He poured himself and Susan a glass of milk each and sat down at the table, trying to guess what Yukito would consider "good" news...
"We're moving up to staff work?"
"You're gonna teach
us that cool energy bow thing?"
"You're gonna practise
hand to hand?"
"The class is cancelled?" Susan and Nero shot out guesses one after the other, but Yukito laughed and scrapped the last peice of egg off his plate and into his mouth.
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The "Sakura Sorceror School" was a weekend school, enrolling people from all walks of life, from the very young, to the very old. All had the gift of magic, a phenomenon that was only recently discovered by the non-magical community twenty years ago. Since she was the one to accidentally reveal them to the world, Sakura talked with the leaders from all over the world to explain magic and its incarnation in certain people.
It took a while, but she was able to convince the world that magic was only as dangerous as the person who wielded it. She created a government funded weekend school to help train those who wold otherwise go through life not knowing why wierd stuff always happened aroud them.
Now the school was as successful as ever, with over 100 students alone. Classes were seperated between week school, and weekend school, with a number of extra classes that weren't compulsory. Most were the weekend students, only learning enough to control their powers, or learn a skill that they thought would help them later in life. .
Some however took the week classes. They were mainly late-teens, young adults who thought they could use magic as a career. There they learned practically every trick in the books. However, they could only do so with Mistress Sakura's assurance that they were skilled enough to leave main school for it.
Nero would never consider the week school. He didn't even know why he had to take the damn weekend school either, but he went along with it anyway. He was skilled with magic, he knew that. But unless he could pass the exams, he wouldn't be permitted to use magic in public, reduced to skulking in the darker areas of the world, like the outlaw witches and wizards that Clow Reed himself banished so long ago...
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Nero and Susan stared at the training ground in disbelief, mouths open, jaws slack. Before them, Yue furled his wings and regarded his class with a blank stare.
"Now, today we'll be moving on to harder targets..." The strech of land was dotted with small moving targets, some as small as a sparrow, some as large as an elephent. All were zooming around the place, some slowly, some so fast they were mostly blurs. They were colour coded, a red bulseye, then a blue layer, then yellow, ending with white. Leaning up against a rack were ten sets of bows and quivers, one for each student. Lying on top of the rack, Nero's own western style bow lay, an arrow on its side, waiting for him to pick it up.
Nero glared at his winged uncle and snatched up the bow, twirling the arrow in his fingers. Yue always made him try first, as if he would magically become better over the month he had been away. He shouldered a small quiver and linded his bow up to a large, realtivly slow moving target. It was hovering gently beneath the tree tops, swaying from side to side, occasionally clipping a leaf and twirling in mid-air. He gave Yue another scathing glare, a habit he had picked up from his mother. As he turned back to the target, his treacherous tail slid out and quivered in the breeze. He gave out a world weary sigh.
"Would somebody blast me... Please..." Yue raised an eyebrow and noticed his young nephew's tail trembeling, twisting in the breeze. From behind him, a snorting chuckle was swallowed. Without turning, he knew for certain that it was Charise, a young teenager and the most infuriating person to enter his Mistresses school. It was common knowledge that Charise was constantly picking on Nero; For his name, for his tail, for his obvious mastery over the magical arts which she lacked.
Ignoring his young charge's pleas for destruction, he examined his tail a little more closly.
"Straighten your tail." Nero looked at his uncle as if he grew fur and started stuffing sweets down his mouth,
"What?"
"Your tail. Its sensing the wind. Straighten it. Feel the air movements." Nero looked skeptically at his Moon Powered uncle, but obliged. He closed his eyes and payed careful attention to what his tail was telling him. He was shocked to discover that it was very sensitive. Very sensitive. No wonder Susan's tail-pulling pranks hurt so much. He could feel the air currants, where they had came from, where they were going, whether they were hot or cold. If his tail so much as quivered, then he could tell the wind had changed direction. Wordlessly, he lined up his bow again and took aim. The wind danced around the training ground, twirling round his tail, like playful puppies, or Keroberos when he got a caffine fix.
In that single instant, he could feel how the wind would react, where it would blow next. He waited... Waited... Waited...
Thwack!
The arrow was embedded deep into the target... To the left of the bullseye, in the blue ring. He stared in disbelif, first to the target, then to the bow in his hand, as if expecting Arrow to pop out giggling like the school girl figure she was. He had NEVER got past the white rim before! He then grinned and turned to Charise, who was scowling, then onto Susan who gave him a thumbs up. Finally, he looked to his Uncle's sterner personality and waited. Yue gave him a rare half-smile and nodded, calling for the next archer to test their skill.
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Susan leaped out at him as he placed his bow back in its stand, pinning him to the ground. She looked at his face, upside down and burst into a grin.
"Heh... knew that tail was good for something other than tugging!" He pushed her off and flicked his tail at her face before using it to pick up his discarded bow. He was getting more and more used to his non-human appendage evey time it showed itself. He carefully tried to place the bow neatly in its slot, but it slipped from his grasp. A quick incantation set it hovering in mid-air. With a wave of his hand, it rested in its stand once more.
"So... You comming to my presentation?" He gave her a blank look.
"We go to the same class Susan." She gave him a playful slap over the head and grinned.
"Yeah, I know that, but you mostly do your own thing in that class." He made a face.
"Of course I do... Its so... embarassing..." He walked with her through the hallways of his house, never taking her eyes off her as she talked. He watched how her raven black hair resembled an ocean wave. He wathced how her graceful form danced around the corridors. He watched how her eyes sparkled as she talked.
If he had to be honest...
"Ah. Here we are." He was knocked out of his thoughts when he came face to face with the door that lead to his worst nightmare. He opened the door to see several rows of students assembled already and the teacher at a podium, a large broadsword resting on a stand behind him. With a sadistic grin, he called out to them.
"Ah, Susan, Nero. So glad you could join us.. Sit." Nero glared at him before muttering to himself.
"What did you say?" The brown haired teacher cupped his ear sarcastically. Nero sighed and said in a sing-song voice.
"Hai Professor Syaoran..."
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Susan twirled on the spot, her right hand dragging a sheet of flame, while her left spun after around her, trailing water. Nero grinned despite himself, and despite the glare of his teacher looming behind him. Apparantly, he never forgave Kero for all the attacks when they were fellow Cardcaptors, and passed that hatred (and to be honest, fear too) onto Nero. Nethertheless, Nero couldn't take his eyes off Susan. He looked down and sighed to himself Damn it... Why did he have to be attracted to her? Why did he have to be attracted to anybody? He gows a tail during the night for god sake! He appluaded politly as Susan ended her routine and smiled in congratulation as she sat down next to him.
"That was amazing Susan!" Susan blushed slightly and preoccupied herself by brushing her black hair out of her face.
"It was nothing really special... Professor Syaoran only gave me a B." Nero pulled a face and muttered a quick oath under his breath.
"Maybe I should have a talk with Mistress Sakura... I'm sure he's discriminating against students..." Over on the presentation stage, Charise was thumping a block of stone with a rock covered fist, fracturing it, before pulverising it to dust. Nero snorted at the mere brute strength she used. His snort turned to another oath as she was awarded an A.
"No doubt, its favortism." Susan rubbed her hands, spreading warmth from her right to her frozen left.
"Then why does he give you practically perfect grades?"
"'Cos he'll know he'll be able to decimate my final grade come the written exam..."
Susan hummed a few lines of "Eternal Snow" under her breath. She always hummed or sang when thinking. She said it helped her concentrate.
"Maybe he really is trying to teach you. Maybe he really does think you deserve the mark." Nero gave her a skeptical glance. Susan chuckled and looked to the ground.
"Yeah..." She looked up as another brute of a boy demostrated what the worst way to levitate a feather was. He was given a "B for trying". The two looked at each other, before saying "Teacher's pet" in unison.
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The school was finally closig up for the day, Keroberos sealing the main gates with Sun magic, Yue sealing the rear gates with Moon Magic. Mistress Sakura also placed her own Star magic over the school/home and settled down for the evening. Susan was walking through the Reed family gardens with Nero, watching Flower and Wood repair the damaged plants, causing them to bud, swell, explode into bloom before allowing the petals to dance over the green, coating the land in pale pink Sakura petals. Nero caught one in his hand before bringing it gently to his nose and inhaled deeply. Cherry Blossom... His favorite scent. He blushed as he turned to see Susan grin wickedly at him. She pointed up prompting Nero to do the same. Above his head, Flower and Wood were chuckling silently, a large ball of petals ready to drop. He spun round to run, but was too slow. The mischivous cards realeased their load and drowned him in blossoms. As he poked his head through the wall of flowers, he saw Susan and the cards laughing, Susan's laugh clear as a bell, the card's eerily silent. He shook his head and smiled. Susan was a champion prankster. Even Keroberos would think twice before messing with her. For some reason, she had an affinity for the cards. She was one of the few not in the Reed family who they willingly spoke to.
Above them, looking out a window, Sakura and keroberos looked out, Sakura frowning slightly at how easily Susan had convinced her cards to attack her son. On the calander, the date 26th was ringed quite heavily, the April painting showing children playing on a sunny day.
"Susan's quite a character, eh Sakura?" Keroberos chuckled at his son's misfortune, his large wings ruffeling, his tail sweeping from side to side. He placed a paw over his eyes and burst into laughter as Nero was bombarded by different flowers, Tulips, Roses, Daffodils and the like. Sakura let out a small smile despite her worries. Twenty years ago... On this day...
Twenty years ago, the magical world was revealed to the mortal.
Twenty years ago, her cards were almost stolen.
Twenty years ago, she was helped my a mysterious stranger.
"Kero..." Keroberos stopped chuckling and turned to face his Magical mistress, Human wife and love of his life. It was 15 years since she last called him anything other than Keroberos, unless she was incerdibly worried.
"Do you remember... Twenty years ago?" Kero looked down at the ground, sighing.
"Yes..." His normally joyful voice was grave, serious and firm. "I remember. The Wasteland Witch... And the Child who defeated her." Sakura picked up her Star Book and opened it, lifting out the majority of the Star Cards created by her own inner light. She held them out, and the cards materialised into their physical aspects, forming a ring around her.
"Something is comming..."
We can feel it Mistress...
But we cannot gleam who it is...
Or what it could be...
Master Clow only created 53 cards...
Ourselves and the the Nothing...
The Nothing Card in question appeared before them, sealed within her black, semi-transparant orb. She looked down to the grounds where Susan and Nero were still playing, this time each trying to soak the other by summoning water from the air around them.
Master Clow only created me in secret. Of this I am certain.
Sakura sat down ona throne like chair and keroberos sat by her sied, enjoying her fingers running through his fur. He tried to give her some of his reassurance, some of his faith, but he too felt the doubt within him. It was only that kid who saved them... All those years ago.
STAR STAR STAR STAR
Well? What did you think?
/hints towards blus button below/
The action is comming soon, I promise! Next chapter!
Oh, "Eternal Snow" doesnt belong to me. I found it on youtube... Thought it sounded nice.
