Song of Thunder

Chapter 3

Sakura had been nervous about meeting Syaoran in class the next day, after he told her he loved her, but the fact that the boy was absent made her even more worried. She wondered if this was a coincidence, or if it had something to do with the wounded man in the living room Yue was treating when she woke up that morning. He had apparently been in his true form for the entire night, watching over the man, or more like keeping an eye on him. Touya seemed to be edgy too, and told her when she came down not to disturb the man and just go to school.

More than a little alarmed, Sakura had arrived to class in a state of distress, and Syaoran's absence only served to increase that.

During lunch Sakura once again summoned the nerve to call Syaoran. She only got his voicemail.

" Should we tell Hiiragizawa-san?" Tomoyo asked, sensing her friend's state of mind. " Maybe…maybe he could help?"

" Eriol-kun is packing to go to England…"
" Hai, but maybe he can spare a few minutes to tell you how to find Li-kun?"

Sakura sighed. " Fine, I'll call him." She dialed.

Spinel answered the phone.

" It's Sakura," He called behind him in English. Sakura heard shuffling sounds and Eriol's voice came up.

" Konnichiwa, Sakura-san."

" Eriol-kun, Syaoran-kun wasn't in school today, and…I can't seem to reach him."

There was a heavy silence on the other line. Then, Sakura heard Eriol talking to someone else, his voice muffled as if he was covering the phone with his hand.

" Sakura-san, I can't help you with this, but I fear something awful has happened—you didn't see fit to tell me this last night?" He was talking to other people again, for several voices in the background answered him. He then turned back. " After school, go to his apartment and see if you can find any clues as to where he went. Take Kero and Yue with you."

" Yue's with this guy at the house." Sakura protested. " He seems to be very adamant about watching him."

There was another pause. " What guy?" Eriol asked.

" This man, he was all wounded, and Oni-chan told me not to worry about it—"

" Cast the Sleep over him." Eriol replied. " Make sure he does not wake and take Yue with you. Have you identified who this man is?"

" Iie…Oni-chan just told me to go to school—"

" Be careful of this man." Eriol warned. " Go find Li, quickly! If you do not find him, when you go back to the house, if the man wakes make sure to be on your guard and figure out who he is and what happened to him. Yue would know if he's lying. I have to continue packing, I'm very sorry, Sakura-san. When school ends make sure you head over to Li's apartment first and go inside. You can use your key to unlock his door, and check to see if there were any clues as to his whereabouts."

" Hai." Sakura nodded. Eriol hung up.

Sakura looked at Tomoyo. " We're heading over to Syaoran-kun's apartment after school."

Tomoyo nodded, equally worried. " Hai."

Sakura sighed. Syaoran-kun…I hope you're all right…I hope nothing bad has happened to you…I hope you're just asleep or something and couldn't hear the phone…

Somehow she knew that was not the case.

oO

It had been an restless night for Syaoran.

He could not hear anything, could not see anything, and when the hand that cleaned his wounds was too harsh, he could not scream.

He was not aware of the energy sparks at his fingers and around his mouth, only that his energy was draining away. He was terrified but too weak to run, and the glare and the blast from the explosion at the temple had taken his sight and hearing. Miserable and in pain, Syaoran resigned to the rough hand. He was unable to fall asleep when the hand finally left him alone.

His magical senses were muddled as well. Whatever he did that saved him from the fire demon dulled his senses so he could not tell if the person cleaning his wounds had been a sorcerer or not. Nor could he sense Sakura, like he had before, or her cards. He felt very alone, without means to reach out to seek comfort.

Was he at a hospital? It did not seem like it. And what time was it? How much time had passed? It seemed like years…

The hand returned. Syaoran grabbed it. The hand tugged, trying to tug away, and Syaoran held on with all his strength. He was weak, and his grip was feeble, but he managed to keep the hand there.

Finally the hand stopped.

He felt the hand. It was a man's hand, definitely, hard and strong. Syaoran opened his mouth to ask who he was, but even though he was deaf he knew no words came out. His throat was not responding.

The smoke…burned the throat…

He shut his mouth and blinked. Tears escaped from the corners of his eyes.

Chul sighed upon seeing that, his bitterness giving way to pity. His hand felt numb from the light shocks coming from the boy's fingers, but they were light and pathetic so he could ignore them for now. He wiped the tears from the boy's temple and took his hand, spreading the fingers out. The boy blinked and waited as Chul decided what to write on the boy's palm to communicate to him.

Safe. He wrote on the palm. The child's hand twitched, then settled. The boy swallowed. Chul wondered what else he should write.

Maybe your name.

He wrote his name in Chinese characters. The boy frowned, not understanding, and Chul placed the palm over his own heart. The boy's eyes flickered in understanding.

Sorcerer. Waterspeaker.

Relaxing, the child's hands stopped sparking. Chul stood up, a little angry at letting himself go soft. He headed toward the phone and dialed.

" Moshi moshi?"
" Ritsuko, where on earth are you?"

" I'm with the earthspeakers. Give me a break."

" I've been stuck with the kid all night!"

" Ishimatte…you got the kid?"

" Hai! Where were you for the past twelve hours?"

" Trying to mediate! Kami-sama, what's your problem anyway?"

" You weren't shocked about forty times while trying to clean up his wounds!"

" Hah?"

" Kid spews electricity from his fingers. It's ridiculous!"

" He does what? That's not normal."

" You bet it is not. I really want to get home now, thank you very much! When are you coming back?"

" I can't right now. Look, I can't talk long. The earthspeakers are quarreling with the windspeakers and it is all I could do to prevent a disaster from occurring—he's just a ten-year-old boy. You can handle him!"

True. Chul frowned nonetheless. " I admit it. I hate the Chinese."

" You do not have to admit it. You did that a long time ago. Stop whining." Ritsuko hung up.

" I do not whine." Chul growled, slamming the phone back to its receiver. For once he was glad the kid was deaf. The boy was not alarmed by his behavior. However, the child was starting to writhe in pain again. Chul sighed, resigning himself to heading over and taking the boy's hand. This time no spark lit. The boy trusted him.

He has to. Chul thought morosely. He has no other choice.

Sending a warm wave of healing to the boy, he once again washed the boy's skin. The boy had been sweating.

" What the blazes am I supposed to do with you?" He sighed. I suck at healing.

The child had finally fallen asleep.

oO

The phone rang.

" I'll go pick it up." Eriol hurried over to the desk. " Moshi moshi?"

" Hey, Eriol." A friendly voice greeted in English.

" Ichiro!" Eriol grinned. " I have not heard from you for ages. How are you?"

" I'm in San Diego. You never told me you were in Tomoeda! I was just there last night."

" Oh…I had business in Tomoeda—"

" That Kinomoto girl, yes? No worries. I understand, you had to keep your presence secret."
" Well, yes." Eriol smiled. " I'm packing up to go back to England. What are you doing in San Diego?"

" Friend of mine needed help. You're going back to England? So soon?"

" Yes. My business here is done. Maybe when you finish helping your friend you could drop by and have some tea and biscuits?"

" Love to, Eriol. Though I need to tell you something—last night a group of firespeakers were summoning a fire demon in a temple several kilometers outside Tomoeda. They were using one of your descendants as a sacrifice."

Eriol felt his heart drop. " What?!"

" The kid somehow destroyed the monster, and everyone who was summoning it." Ichiro went on. " I would have called you last night if I had known you were in Japan. God, the direction things take! But the kid was badly wounded, and I had Park take him to my mansion, if you want to make time to go over there."

" I'm really busy here, I really have to catch my flight. And I'm sure Sakura would be able to settle things. How badly was he hurt?" Eriol asked despite himself.

" Think he's gone mute. Kid hasn't made a sound when we took him back, and he kept sprouting these electric sparks from his fingertips. Never seen anything like it, except with firespeakers, but they can't produce electricity like that. I suspect that's what saved the kid from the beast, but the boy is drained, obviously. And he looked pretty beaten up, though it was dark last night."

Troubled, Eriol wondered if the man Sakura had in her house had anything to do with this. He was glad he gave Sakura the advice that he did.

" Ugh, I have to go back to England,"

" Get that Card Mistress to look after the boy."

" Where is he again?"
" At my mansion."

" Where the blazes is your mansion?"

" Oh no, there's that spell on the house…I forgot about that."

" You forgot about a spell on your house that happens to ward away anyone who does not know what it looks like."

" Listen, it's been a long time since I had to show anyone the house. What you can do is give the Card Mistress the phone number to Park."

" Park?"

" Yes, he's the waterspeaker I was talking about. He's not so good at healing though, so don't expect the kid to be up and about." Ichiro gave Eriol the phone number. " Oh, by the way, don't mention you're British. He's the most racist guy I've ever met."

" You're letting a racist take care of my descendant?"

" I had no choice! I had to catch the flight. Besides, Ritsuko spent more time with him, and if she could tolerate his remarks there must be something trustworthy about this guy. I got to go, my line will cut off because I have no money in my calling card."

" Bye then." Eriol hung up. " Blast it all."

" What is it?" Nakuru asked. " What did Ichiro say? And who's the racist taking care of your descendant?"

Eriol ignored her and dialed the number Ichiro gave him. The tone rang a few times, before a man picked up.

" Moshi moshi,"
" This is Eriol. I am calling for my friend." Eriol wondered how he was supposed to deal with a person who hates the British. " I was told he was under your care."

" Oh, it's you!"

This was said with such finality and contempt that Eriol figured he might as well give up before he started.

" You take the Chinese brat then! He is your descendant after all."

Hm. Ichiro neglected to warn me not to tell him my name. Perhaps Ichiro did not know.

" I'm leaving for England within several hours, Park-san. I have a friend here who is worried about him. Is it possible for you to bring him out of the house to this address?"

" I can't take him out of the house." Chul paused. " He's badly hurt. And the kid is deaf, blind, and mute. If I take him out of the house who knows what he'd do in panic."

Eriol groaned mentally. They should have gone after him during the carnival.

" You are a waterspeaker?"

" Hai."

" Do you think you can leave him for now and show us what the house looks like?"

" Oh, right, that spell." Chul was thoughtful. " Where should we meet?"

" You will not meet me. I have too many things to do. There is Kinomoto Sakura, the Card Mistress. You should be able to sense her aura. If not, one of the guardians."

" Am I just supposed to go up to her and show her?"

" Iie, she will find you as well. I am calling her right after we hang up." Eriol replied. " Will you do this for us? So we can find the house?"

Chul hesitated. " Fine, Penguin Park in Tomoeda?"

Eriol smiled. " Arigatou, Park-san." He hung up and frowned.

Spinel looked at him. " What's wrong?"
" Blinded, deafened, and muted." Eriol looked at Spinel. " I am seriously contemplating on postponing my return."

" Poor child." Kaho remarked.

Eriol ran his fingers through his hair. His mind felt almost numb with worry as he realized what the boy had to endure the past night, and was still enduring. The fire demon was a powerful thing, a concentrated form of the firespeakers that required a sorcerer's blood to connect to the real world. Once released it was a monstrous thing, and once it connects to the living world it could wreak destruction beyond imagination.

How terrified Syaoran must have been.

If the firespeakers were acting up, that means that there was trouble afoot, which may mean that Sakura needs his counsel, if not more. Eriol looked at Nakuru, decision made.

" Unpack everything. We're staying in Tomoeda."
" You sure?"
" Firespeakers, Kaho-san." Eriol picked up the phone and dialed. While the tone rang he kept talking. " They released a fire demon last night and wanted to use Li as a sacrifice."

Nakuru cursed in English while everyone suddenly got up and started unpacking.

" Why did they use Li?" Spinel asked.
" He is a sorcerer, and apparently from what Ichiro-san told me, a rather powerful one."

" What did the kid do? He's not dead, is he?" Nakuru asked.

" This is Kinomoto Sakura! You've reached her voicemail. Leave a message and I—" Eriol hung up.

" What a time not to answer the phone!" Eriol muttered. " And I have never seen his house."

" Is there no way to get past the warding spell?" Kaho asked.

" Not that I know of." Eriol redialed. " Did she put her cell phone on silent?"

" In all the years you've known Ichiro-san you've never seen his house?"
" I wasn't in Japan long enough."

" This is Kinomoto Sakura—" Eriol groaned, and decided to leave her a message.

oO

Sakura came home while Tomoyo waited outside the house, taking out her cell phone to recharge it. The young man was awake, making the girl very nervous. There was something very creepy about his eyes. They were so dark and black and piercing.

She waved nervously at him, and he did not respond. Feeling embarrassed and awkward, Sakura saw her brother in the kitchen and decided to leave her brother to host this strange guest. Or better yet, keep him distracted so that she could use the Sleep on him.

Shut the door, release the key, take out the card, cast the spell, follow it down to make sure neither her brother nor the man noticed the little sprite sprinkling the dust over him, tuck the card away, hurry downstairs—

" Hey, kaijuu, where are you going?"

" Out, be right back,"

" Don't you have homework to do?"
" Hai, but I'll be quick." At least I hope so—

She left her cell phone on the desk in the living room and was about to head out when she realized she forgot to bring her guardians along.

" Hey, Oni-chan, where is—"

" Yuki? He stayed a little after to talk to a teacher. Should be here about—"

" Hey," Yukito opened the door, " You guys left the door unlocked."

Sakura smiled nervously at him. " I need you to do me a huge favor."

Yukito stared, but she was heading upstairs to grab Kero.

The pale boy looked at Touya. " What's going on?" He asked.

Touya shrugged.

Yukito looked at the young man on the sofa and something told him the situation was not good at all.

Sakura came back down, carrying Kero in her hands. Yukito blinked.

" What's going on?"

" Just come," Sakura was too distressed to dawdle much longer. She put on her shoes and opened the door.

Yukito followed, baffled. Behind them, despite the efforts of the Sleep card, the sorcerer opened his eyes.

" Eriol-kun told me to head over to his apartment to look for clues." Sakura told Yukito.

" Whose apartment?"
" Syaoran-kun."

" Did the kid actually get himself in trouble?" Kero asked.

" He wasn't in school today." Tomoyo answered.

" Maybe he was sick."
" He's not answering his phone." Sakura started running a little.

" Why do you need us to follow you?" Kero asked. " You think there's a threat?"
" Eriol-kun thinks so." Sakura replied. " He told me to cast Sleep over that man in the living room, and when he wakes to question him with Yue present."

" Something must be really wrong." Somewhere along the way Yukito had transformed. " If he is being this cautious and warning you to do the same,"

" I have a bad feeling too." Sakura hurried.

They reached the building and rang the bell before entering the lobby, just to be certain Syaoran was not at home. Then they went up to his apartment.

The computer had apparently been on all night. When Sakura moved the mouse the computer remained asleep. It was obvious from the various disks, that the last thing Syaoran had been doing was fixing his computer.

" This apartment screams of a neat freak." Kero commented.

Sakura did not bother to scold him. " His robes are still in the closet…and the other stuff…" She looked at the lasin board and the lace that she knew could turn into a sword.

" I doubt he went out expecting to cast any magic spells." Yue pointed out. " This does not tell us where he went."

" Maybe if we…if I use the Return card?" Sakura asked.

" Ah…I don't know. Your magic has grown but I don't know if it's a good idea to test it that far. That card takes a lot out of you." Kero scratched his head.

" I'm really worried." Sakura insisted.

oO

Touya came out of the kitchen and started at the empty sofa.

" What the—" Before he could react the young man pressed a pressure point at his neck. Touya slumped down to the floor, unconscious.

" Gomen nasai." The man knelt down to say. " You have been kind, but I have errands."

He stood up. Sakura's cell phone rang. The man hesitated, before picking up the phone. He did not answer it though, merely looked to see who was calling.

" Hiiragizawa Eriol…" He read. " Interesting."

Flames flared from his fingers and he used the magic to repair his robes, which had been frayed and burned and torn in many places. The phone stopped ringing and he looked over at the teen, wondering if he should place the boy on the sofa where it was more natural. Perhaps the boy would even forget what had happened.

The phone started ringing again. The man looked. It was the same person. He moved over to drag the tall boy's body to the sofa. Adjusting him so that it seemed he had dropped down for a nap, the young man began using smoke to create a vapor that would make any who breathed it forget about him. The phone stopped ringing.

Once done, the phone made a strange sound. Curious, the firespeaker headed over to look. On the screen, it said, " 1 Voice Message".

He pressed the button to listen to it.

" Sakura-san, this is Eriol. I just received a call from a friend of mine. He knows where Li-san is. Go to Penguin Park and look for a man named Park. He is a waterspeaker, and he will take you to Li. And be careful of the man you have at the house. He might be one of the firespeakers, and they're the ones who hurt Li. Just…just be careful, Sakura-san. I also might stay in Tomoeda for a bit longer. I'll meet you at the park. Stay safe."

" A waterspeaker…" The man whispered. " Park Chul. I'll get you."

Slamming the phone back down on the table, the firespeaker headed out.