Ok, just a reminder to everyone:
Bold: Chinese
Italics: Japanese
Normal font: English
Chapter 4: For Love, War, and Stores Part One
Living in the Li Clan, one tended to get up early. Each member of the family bathed or showered before beginning the long process that was dressing for the day. For Xiao Lang the process was simple, for his pants he chose a simple, black, loose-fitting design that had elastic around the ankles. He chose one of his short-sleeved mandarin style shirts that fastened simply up the front and lacked any design or distinguishing characteristics beyond the fact that it was green. From there, all he had left to do was pull a comb through his ear-length hair to remove any tangles, and sit and wait for the others to come out.
Xiefa was the next to be done, strictly on the fact that her hair was too short to do anything with. She was dressed today in a dress that on first glance seemed black, but in highlights was noticeable as a very dark green. It was ankle length with a slit up to her knee on the left side that was just an inch or two off towards the front from being on the hem line. The sleeves came down just past the shoulder and the collar veered to the right along the top of her chest. Trimmed in real gold and embroidered with a dragon on the chest and a phoenix on the skirt, she required little jewellery save for her earrings and a few bracelets on each wrist.
She smiled when she caught sight of her brother, who always had dressed down, and attempted to imagine what it must look like to everyone else to see him walking with his sisters. He noticed her smile and eyed her wearily before she came up and kissed him good morning on the cheek. "How are you to ever impress your girlfriend if you always look so plain?" she whispered before straitening up once more. He made a face of malcontent at her teasing which caused her to giggle before turning away as Fudie exited.
Fudie chose to wear a traditional styled red cheongsam in pride of their mother-country. A thick black trim went around the base of the neckline and swooped to the side to trail down the curves of her front until reaching her hips where it swerved over and vanished into the mid-thigh slit. The bottom of the dress, which came to the middle of her calves, as well as the upper rim of the collar and the sleeveless arms were all trimmed in a thin black cord that was separated from the rest of the dress by a fine golden line. The whole of the silk was finely embroidered with a cascade of elegant flowers in gold and blue that suited her nicely and accented her eyes.
Her shoulder length hair was pulled up into twin buns that were adorned with gold phoenix ornaments that had red tassels hanging from them. Her earrings were small golden flowers and on her right arm she had an armlet that looked like a dragon biting its own tail. On each wrist she wore a thick bracelet with a pair of matching sapphires imbedded into them, large enough to cover the back of her wrist. She greeted her sister with an almost arrogant smile for being able to pull off a better look, and then examined her brother and rolled her eyes at his complete lack of effort.
Feimei was next to exit, unconfined as always she left her hair long and loose, letting the silky smooth texture speak for itself. She chose on this day to wear a light blue silk cheongsam that only reached down to about mid thigh. Covering the silk was little butterflies embroidered in deeper blues and pinks. The buttons that held the mandarin collar in place were small, silver flowers that had a shard of jade within the centre of each to bring out her eyes. On each wrist she wore a number of fine silver bangles that jingled together like a song of bells.
Eyeing her sisters, she bore little surprise to see how decorated Fudie was, nor how elegant Xiefa was, and took a good moment to size up whether her innocent charm or their mature beauty were more appealing this day, feature by feature. Once content that she was, though not the beautiful bloom among the dead thorns, at least not in any form of poor taste, she walked over to sit down. Upon rounding the corner, and spotting her brother slouched on the sofa however, Feimei's eyes crossed and she got a look on her face as if to imitate someone who was dead. "Oh, what an embarrassment..."
Fanren, last to exit, was commonly known as being fashionably late for everything in order to make the greatest entrance. Her waist length hair was up in one of china's traditional styles, bound and looped on top of her head, though from the front you could hardly even see the intricacies of the style. This was because she wore a hair-piece consisting of three chopsticks bound in white silk with strings of diamonds handing of the end. Where the three met there was an array of silver and gold flowers, each finely molded by expert hands and embedded with jade and sapphire.
Her dress was made of a silvery white silk embroidered with gold thread flowers. The trim was a thick, pale green and the cording was gold. It buttoned once at her neck, but then opened to reveal a triangle of skin as the hem reached out to attach to her sleeves-which were short, just covering her shoulders-before returning to the centre just at the point where her cleavage began to show in order to continue on being buttoned down the front to around the middle of her shin. The dress stretched further to her ankles with a slit up to her knees on each side. The other girls knew the dress at once as the one she spent all her money on last time they had visited Shanghai, but for the most part all they had on their mind was that she had managed to out-dress them once again.
As for Xiao Lang, he met her eyes with as much disgust as she to his. She turned to her sisters and indicated their brother with a point from her manicured thumb. "Can't we leave him behind?" she begged of them.
"Unfortunately not. We are on this trip to shop for him most prominently," Xiefa reminded.
All four girls looked at their brother, dressed as any other nobody, and gave a unit sigh. "Well, he could use the fashion sense..." Fanren admitted. The others gave a unanimous nod before, ignoring his look of horrified refusal, eight hands grasped him and drug him out to start their shopping spree.
"Oh god, I am NOT going in there!" insisted Feimei as they stood outside an old department store that looked like it hadn't had a customer in nearly a decade. The sign above the door read Purge and Dowse, Ltd.
Fudie examined the dirty crumbling red brick and sighed "Well, these English folk sure don't take very good care of their magical environment..."
"It doesn't matter. Look, it says it's closed, we can't go in anyway." Xiefa pointed out and the five Li siblings continued on walking.
The Lis had found themselves in something of a delema, while they were aware that Great Britain had a shopping strip secreted away somewhere named Daigon Alley, none of them had ever actually been there before. With no guide to lead them, they were left following their senses in search of the appropriate magical location.
After searching the internet for a map that they could use in their search, Xiefa had realized that London had increased it's size drastically over the last couple of decades. She theorized that such a famous place as 'London's Daigon Alley' would likely not be in any of the recent expansions and so they narrowed their search to the older sections for starters at least. But still, that had left them wandering back and forth for the last few hours as they combed the streets for the elusive entrance.
"Come on, the next one is up that way," Xiao Lang indicated with a jerk of his head as he pressed on regardless.
"I'm getting hungry, can't we go get something to eat?" Fanren pleaded.
"A diet will do you good," the youngest Li retorted, earning him a disgruntle squawk.
"What do you mean by that?! Are you calling me fat!?" the older twin challenged. She only got a teasing smirk in return.
"Oh gods, I hope there's no one here that may recognize us…" grumbled Fudie, with a hand over her face to try and hide it.
"You're the one who wanted to come along!" reminded Xiefa.
"That was when I thought that we were going on a shopping trip, not stand around an old telephone booth and wait for you to figure it out…" Fudie complained, leaning against the metal strip of the corner and crossing her arms impatiently.
Xiao Lang sat over by the others, Feimei and Fanren had decided to spend their time sipping chocolate mochas while watching the eldest two across the street. Xiao Lang, who didn't like anything that this place had to offer save for maybe chocolate milk—which he would not be caught dead drinking ever again now that he was no longer a little kid—just sat grumpily between the twins, slouched low and glaring at the lack of progress his sisters were achieving.
"How much longer is it going to take, do you think?" Feimei asked her older twin.
"That's hard to say, with the number of folded magic spots in the city… it's almost as bad as Hong Kong…" Fanren said.
"But I want to get to shopping!" whined the youngest Li sister.
"Maybe he'll know where to go?" Xiao Lang said, indicating a passing man who had a stronger aura then most. "One of you go ask."
"But… we don't know him!" whined Feimei. "Why don't you ask?" she suggested.
"Because I'm number one son and I say that you'll do it." he replied, pulling rank to get out of doing something he didn't want to do.
Grumbling, the youngest Li girl got to her feet and went to the man that had almost gone out of sight. "E-excuse me… Excuse me, sir? Sir?" she finally got his attention after chasing him half ways down the block. "Sorry to bother you, but I'm from out of town and I was wondering if you could direct me as to the location of Daigon Alley?"
At first the man looked too startled to reply, but slowly he took in the soft Asian skin and the nicely proportioned body that fit under rich embroidered blue silk. And smiled at the teen. "Of course, I'll take you there myself…"
"Really? How sweet of you. Just a minute please, let me go get the others!" With that, she turned and hurried off, long brown hair bouncing around her shoulders as she ran.
"Others?" he questioned, concern darkening his tone even though the young beauty was out of hearing range. However his smile returned as not five minutes later the young teen returned with three other girls, each equally as stunning, and some little kid that didn't matter. Four under aged Asian teen beauties, sisters by the looks of them, going with him to where he could get a room for cheep...
The boy would be easy enough to stun and bind, and the girls—too young use magic outside of their classrooms—would be easy pickings after that. A few imperious curses and they'd be his to do with whatever he pleased.
"Well," the wizard in his early forties stated to the five Asian foreigners "here we are..."
They looked at the run down little pub with varying levels of distaste, horror, and boredom. "And where exactly is here?" the young heir questioned, his eternal scowl shifting slightly to show the minor hints and traces of a look that was to say 'oh bother'.
"The Leaky Cauldron!" He announced proudly, placing a hand on the nearest sister, Fanren's, elbow to lead them in. "Entry way to Daigon Alley, it is! We have to go through here, so you'll have to follow me once we get inside, yes?"
While Fanren dealt with a way to politely tell this British wizard to keep his hands the hell off of her, Xiao Lang scanned the people around. They seemed not to notice the building being there, so he assumed that it must be inside of a magical fold, only visible to those who had magic, or perhaps only to those who knew about it.
The Li siblings followed the older wizard into the pub all the same, though, and shared a simultaneous reaction in putting their hands to their faces at the overwhelming grunge that met them inside. Several of the siblings had to hold back the desire to cough up a lung at the thick smoky air.
"Now, wait here for a moment while I explain things to the bartender," the man told them, leaving them by the front door.
"These English sort, they're very dirty, aren't they?" Fudie said conversationally to her siblings.
"Horrid, disgusting place," Feimei agreed.
"About... a dozen customers, looks like rooms upstairs," Xiefa observed.
"Who would eat in such a dump? They probably have rats and all sorts of other types of vermin," Xiao Lang turned up his lip.
"Oh, come off it," Fanren defended slightly. "Not all of China's shops are perfect either."
"It is true that many of the more ancient shops are a little... rickety," Fudie aloud, as she pulled a silk handkerchief from her pocket and wiped it along a nearby counter. "But even the shabbiest of shops still maintain their cleanliness," she finished, showing them the soft silk that now had a blotch of brown on it from the dust and grime build up.
They were too busy with their own inter-squabbling to pay any mind to the wizard, however, as he stepped aside to talk to the owner about a room for the evening. In fact, the five siblings continued to bicker among themselves until they finally realized that the wizard was attempting to gain their attention on the third or fourth of his tries.
"Come along ladies, this way, that's right, all of you," he called to them from where he stood at the base of the rickety looking stairwell as they manoeuvred themselves through the tables and to where the man stood. "Right up here, ladies..." he said, reaching out and grabbing hold of the elbow of the girl closest to push her up the narrow passage.
His efforts were swatted by an iron grip and a pair of honey eyes glaring up at him. "And just WHAT do you think you're doing, touching my sister like that?" demanded the young heir. "Get your filthy hands off of her!"
"Go away, kid, you bug me," He replied, pulling his wand and casting a fast spell to knock Xiao Lang off his feet and into a nearby table.
This simplest of mistakes put a whole new momentum into play where the wizard found himself dewanded and sent flying across the room by the four Asian beauties dressed in garb fit for queens.
"Hey, toots!" one large and burly wizard called as he slapped a hand down on the elegant Fanren's shoulder. "You just cost me my drink, I think you should apologize!"
Xiao Lang, who was in the middle of dusting himself off from his little mishap with magic when he looked up at the stranger who held his second to youngest sister's shoulder. He cocked an eyebrow and shook his head, muttering to himself about how 'he shouldn't have said that', as he stepped over to the owner and politely asked for directions to Daigon Alley.
Elsewhere in the room, the other occupants of the bar stood, anticipating a fight as the elder twin snapped her head around. The wizard had to hold himself from jumping back in surprise as the warm green of her eyes flashed to the cold heartlessness of jade. "What did you just call me?" she demanded, her voice dripping with venom.
The wizard stood frozen, as if encased by the jade that her eyes reflected, unable to make his mouth work to give a suitable answer before her fist met his jaw. And that was it, a trigger like none other to start the fight. Xiefa grabbed an available mop that had been innocently slopping the floor with water and took an advantage point atop a table. She sat with her chosen weapon ready, until she was met by a flurry of sparks, to which she quickly aerialled her way over to the adjacent table and quickly lifted a serving tray to deflect the spells and even reflected a few back at their casters.
This gave the people a smart enough warning to discard their apparently useless wands and regress back to the much more primitive way of just slugging your opponent. Xiefa then began to use the mop as if it were a staff, swinging it and jabbing it, giving her the advantage of reach over those who would otherwise overpower her. But she did not ever let down the guard of the severing platter either, holding on to one handle and letting it lay across her arm like a shield.
Fudie had managed to obtain two glass mugs, and had broken them in such a way that they became fighting knuckles for her, as she rashly ploughed her way with jabs and kicks through the throng of people. Fanren also took the initiative and charged her opponents, though her style was much different, relying on momentum to carry her through from one opponent to the next, as if in some elaborate ballet.
Feimei fought much like her twin, with spins and a strategy relying heavily on momentum, but as Fanren's relied on her own personal momentum, Feimei's was more reliant on her opponents, in a duck, dodge, and redirect approach to battle. Xiao Lang, for his part, sat atop the bar's counter and massaged his sore temples as he watched the progression of the fight with something mildly akin to interest.
At one point, Xiefa's mop was broken in half, and she sent the two pieces along to Fanren who used them much like schema sticks, and was left to just fight by whipping the large metal serving tray around until her pole arm-like weapon was replaced by Xiao Lang tossing her a nearby broom.
The fight, for all the damage it ended up being worth, didn't last much longer then ten minutes or so, before the girls found themselves victorious due to a lifetime of heavy training. The only real problem at hand was Fanren's refusal to stop hitting one poor witch who had pulled her hair. But after the other three sisters, as well as Xiao Lang stepped in, she let the fact drop. Well, at least physically, she still grumbled and whined about how that wench had ruined her hairstyle.
Xiao Lang, however, proved himself capable once more of pulling rank by insisting that they leave this filthy place because it was giving him a headache. So, obediently, the four girls followed their little brother out into the back cellar where he had obtained confirmation that the shopping district they were looking for was located.
"You know..." Xiefa pointed out as they walked through the opening that was left in the wall by the bricks moving aside. "Leaving that pub isn't going to make your headache go away..."
"What are you talking about? Of course it will! I didn't start getting a headache until we were in there!" Xiao Lang objected.
To this Fudie just shook her head. "It doesn't work like that, cub. Wizards aren't like us Sorcerers, when they get together in packs, their auras blend together so bad that it just becomes a total mess. Don't you remember that from your readings?"
Xiao Lang attempted to think about it, but the headache was getting worse now that they were out in the hordes of witches and wizards. Feimei placed a cooling hand onto his hair and spoke softly. "Try not to put too much thought into it, you're headache's coming from concentrating too much. They're absolutely everywhere, and you're just so busy trying to identify one from the next, you can't hardly even think strait, can you?"
"If he can't think strait, then how is he going to go to school?" Fanren asked innocently enough, while she distracted herself in the merchandise of a nearby street vender.
But though her words were not meant to bring harm or offence, the meaning behind them ran true enough, and brought an even darker scowl to the golden eyed boy. Feimei began massaging her younger brother's scalp, and said as comfortingly as she could manage, "Just try and block it out, You di."
"I am trying... It just hurts more!" he whined slightly, pulling away from her fingers.
At Feimei's hurt pout, Xiefa placed an arm around her shoulder. "It's alright, poor little Xiao Lang just can't concentrate enough to do something like that right now."
"Why aren't any of you being affected by this?" Xiao Lang demanded.
"It's worse for dark aspects, who can't block the magic out," Fudie reminded, "and Xiefa and myself are older and have had more training for our defences."
Feimei just responded with a nod as Fudie stepped up to the place of leader. "We had best hurry up and get the shopping done with, then."
Fanren cocked her head to the side for a moment's thought. "But... wouldn't it be better to drag the shopping trip out? I mean, he has to live in this once he starts school, right? He needs to get used to it."
"What would probably be best is if we do the shopping in segments, and let You di rest in the middle," Xiefa pointed out.
"Alright, it's settled then. Let's go!" Fudie said, then looked around. "Where's Xiao Lang?"
It had taken the Li sisters a good ten minutes to locate their more-grumpy than usual charge. He had wandered on ahead, shoving several people out of his way, as he marched impatiently onward, determined to get this all over with as fast as he could.
When they located him, he was demanding to know where it is they change over their money into local currency. Though the question was intelligent enough, his headache and consequential lack of concentration left him rudely insulting the unhelpful shop owners in a garbled mixture of three different dialects of Chinese, as well as Japanese.
Fanren, always one who easily got along with others, jumped in to stop any problems that may be arising. "Hi, hello... Yes... please forgive my little brother, he's tired and has had a very long morning. He tends to forget at times that not everyone can speak ten different languages..."
The owner of this particular shop, a witch that had to be in her eighties, eyed the girl in white suspiciously, as three others did their best to drag the still scowling boy away. The owner could tell upon looking at the girl that she was of the material sort, one who would buy before thinking, and pay much more than what the object may be worth. She smiled at the girl, revealing poorly kept crooked teeth. "Why of course, my dear, such a small child such as himself, he must be going to Hogwarts, yes?"
"Yes, we're here doing his school shopping, he's going into his first year," Fanren said politely, smiling back, relief washing over her that they had managed once again to avoid a conflict.
"First year, you say? Well, let me show you this, this is a sneekascope, and it's a must have for all first years!" the witch insisted. "And because you're such a sweet little girl, I'll sell it to you for only half it's worth!"
"Wow, really?" Fanren's eyes lit up, but then dulled again, "But it's not on his list..."
"Oh, well no, of course not!" the old woman thought quickly, "But that list is only for what you need in class, it's got nothing for what's going on the rest of the year!"
"Oh..." Fanren had to admit that what the woman was saying did seem to ring some note of truth. "Okay, I'll take it! Do you take yuan?"
"Do I take what?" the woman asked, face jumping to confusion and voice taking on a dead-panned tone.
"Yuan. Chinese currency. We haven't had a chance to change over our money since we got to London."
The woman looked at the brunette girl dressed in white for a moment, then pointed farther on up the street. "You want Gringotts. That's the bank. Change all your money there. Then be sure to come back so we can continue our little conversation, yes?"
Fanren really didn't pay any further attention to the woman who ran the vending booth, she just turned back to her sisters and relayed the information. "The bank's this way," and as easy as that, the five siblings wandered off.
"Well, this is it!" Fanren announced, standing proudly before the towering marble building.
"Oh, gee, what gave that away?" Fudie asked, rolling her eyes.
"The sign up there says so," Fanren replied with a snicker.
"Can we just hurry this up? My head's hurting so bad that the building looks crooked!" Xiao Lang complained.
"Um... You di? The building IS crooked..." Xiefa pointed out in what she could only hope was a comforting manor.
"Jeez, honestly? These wizarding folk need to learn how to maintain their buildings," Xiao Lang complained, marching past the tackily dressed guard goblin and through the front doors.
As his sisters followed, Feimei took a moment to examine the rhyme engraved onto one of the doors. "Not a very friendly welcoming, is it? They must do terribly during tourist season..."
"Hey, you!" Fudie called to a nearby goblin as it scurried past with a pile of papers. "Yeah, you. Where's the debit machine?"
"Debit...?" the small creature repeated, looking at the eldest Li.
"Yeah, you know... MasterCard, Visa..." Feimei said, coming to Fudie's side and pulling out one of her many pieces of plastic.
"My lord, you really don't know what we're talking about, do you?" Xiefa let her jaw drop at that one.
"You really need to get out more, buddy," Fanren pointed out, crossing her arms and looking annoyed.
"And I thought Visa was accepted everywhere..." Feimei pouted, looking at the card she had in her hand.
"No worries, I'm sure they're just behind the times, I mean look at what he's wearing," Xiefa comforted, placing a hand around her youngest sister's shoulders.
"I'd rather not, thanks," was Feimei's reply.
"Who cares about that, we've got cash on us!" Xiao Lang cut in before the girls had a chance to derail the conversation further, already standing before a near-by teller.
"You di's right. We can just hit a debit machine tomorrow before we come in and everything will be cool," Xiefa agreed, slipping over to where the littlest Li stood. Feimei followed, as there seemed to be no other intelligent thing to do at the moment, and the others followed.
Together they poured out all of their money onto the counter as Xiao Lang looked up at the goblin with a 'what are you gonna do about it' sort of look. Grumbling the magical creature shifted through all the change with it's long fingers, then turned and opened a drawer behind him. He turned around once more with 12 gallions, 7 sickles, and 4 knuts.
Fudie placed her hand over the stack of gallions and waved the others back. "We'll just take these," the goblin nodded, counted out what he was owed of the yuan, and then carried it off. The girls took their money and left.
"So, where to?" Xiao Lang asked as they stepped out of the bank, not really caring about their answer and mostly predicting them already.
"The clothing store," Fudie answered at once.
"Yes, definitely the clothing store," Fanren agreed. Xiao Lang blinked when it wasn't immediately followed by Feimei's voice insisting.
"I want to go and check out what kind of books they have here. I'm fascinated with the prospect of European magic, and wizardry at that. It must have such depths of change from our own magic..." Xiefa gushed to no one's great surprise.
"I'd... rather like to know what wand You di will end up with," Feimei piped up.
There were a few nods of agreement, but the vote was still quite split. "So... books, clothes, or wand?"
"Oh, no! Not books! We don't have any car, and I am not going to be seen carrying around a large pile of books all over London!" Fanren vetoed.
"She's right, I don't want to carry all those heavy books everywhere!" Feimei agreed.
"Point taken, we'll do the books tomorrow when we can bring along a vehicle," Xiefa gave in.
"So then, wand or clothes?" Fudie asked, looking around for a vote.
"We already passed the clothing store, so lets continue onward to find the wands then come back for his robes," Xiefa thought logically.
When no one objected with the strategist's plan, Xiao Lang turned and continued to push his way further up the alley. As it turned out, the wand shop was a narrow, shabby building with golden letters above the door indicating the company—Olivander's—what they did—make wands—and when they supposedly came into business.
It was this third bit of information that the Li family looked at the longest, however. "382 BC?" Feimei pondered, looking at the sign with an air of innocence. "That was a long time ago..."
"2377 years ago," Fudie stated.
"Were wands even in existence that long ago?" Feimei asked anyone who may know the answer.
"78," Xiefa announced in the background.
"What?" Fudie asked, turning to the second of the Li's to verify that she was indeed being corrected.
"Was the Li family even in existence back then?" Feimei continued to ask, ignoring the argument of exactly how many years ago it was and just being happy to leave it as old.
"2378; going from a positive to a negative, the zero becomes a significant number in the equation and must therefore be counted," Xiefa explained to the eldest.
"Of course we were around back then! The Li Clan is one of the oldest in China! We are superior to these British fools, we even predate recordable history!" Fanren boasted.
"Is there a year zero? I don't think there is," Fudie countered. "I mean, the Europeans are the ones who made the numbering system, and the stupid Europeans didn't even know what a zero was for most of history."
"Hmm, I see your point. Maybe you're right?" Xiefa considered.
"Besides," added Xiao Lang who was staring at the number with minor boredom, "It's not like the shop or this alley were here back then. They probably just sneak the number back one every few years for notoriety sake."
With that, Xiao Lang entered the wand shop, followed closely by his sisters. "It looks like a library," muttered one of the twins.
"It doesn't smell much like one though," commented the other.
Xiao Lang's honey eyes skimmed the shop carefully, the ancient sources of magic were much more pronounced in this dusty old building than out in the crowded streets. He took this moment to actually stop and analyze the magical fluctuations. They appeared to be categorized into segments, which also helped him to focus more clearly on them.
He felt very clearly the purity of the mother phoenix's fire, the burning spirit of righteousness and the immortal spirit of maternity and love. The fire was a deadly element, when out of control it could devastate and destroy, but it also served to heal and cleanse away evil for a new start, refreshed so that it could grow back stronger than before.
He felt, also, the presence of fast moving water. Cool and soothing to the touch, never exerting itself over hard ground, always taking the easy path, but also always going. Its flow could almost whisk him away, throw him against the rocks, and rake him against it's bed. It chose it's path and moved forward, ever-flowing, ever-patient. It would erode away slowly at it's opponent until it dug itself to the heart.
The dragon's wind, Xiao Lang's own element, was free and unconfined. Flowing higher than any mountain, and settled below every ant, it was everywhere. Grand and strong, and a giver of life, it was the power of yang, father of the elements. Capable of being either a playful breeze or a deadly tornado, all life was subjugated to it's will.
And then, of course, the all encompassing, peaceful wood. Ancient and wise, patient and loving, everything that a mother could possibly be. The perfect teacher, the perfect learner, the essence that made up the soul of sorcery. Calm and calculating, awaiting the decisions of others and acting on them accordingly.
"Their missing two..." Xiao Lang mumbled, more to himself then his sisters. "Earth and thunder..."
"You're out of luck, Fanren..." teased Xiefa, who was rewarded with a sticking out of Fanren's tongue.
They were halted from any further chance of banter by the entrance of an old man with eyes like fogged ice. He eyed the large group of five who stood and waited to be served. Each one radiated their own distinctive aura of power and confidence that brought a look to the old man's face that only those who were old and omniscient could achieve.
"Welcome, welcome children. I am Mr. Olivander. How many wands can I provide you with this fine day?" he asked, looking from one to the next.
"Just one," Fudie replied, indicating her little brother.
"Ah, yes... Hogwarts bound, I suppose? Lucky boy indeed, never has that fine old school seen such a great Headmaster..."
Xiao Lang ignored his speech and turned to Feimei, "See? I told you the sign was phony. There's no way the shop could have stayed under one family's management for nearly two and a half millennia."
"Maybe there was a corporate take over?" Feimei pondered.
"Or maybe they changed the name of the store when the family name changed," Fanren suggested.
"But that wouldn't really be being around for all that time, would it?" Fudie pointed out.
Not understanding the quarrelling between the Asian family, Mr. Olivander cleared his throat. Politely the five siblings looked at him. "May I, ah, ask what circle you use, Mr..."
"Li. He uses the Clow circle," Fudie sniffed.
"Ah now, not many a customer comes in who follows Clow Reed's discipline," Olivander said, indicating that the family should follow him into a room in the back. This, like the one prior, was lined with shelves, stacked with boxes containing wands, but unlike the other room, this was much smaller, and on the end of each box a circle was drawn.
"Well, not everyone is a direct descendant, now are they?" Fudie bragged, and the other three sisters looked duly haughty, Xiao Lang however just seemed to sulk in annoyance at the reminder.
"Let's see, let's see... Clow circle... Ah, here we are!" Mr. Olivander muttered to himself, pulling off the shelf only four separate boxes. "This is all I have with the Clow circle on it. Try this one: birch at 9 ¾ inch, has a white feather core said to be the feather of-"
"Yue," Xiao Lang spoke, recognizing the distinct signature of the Moon Guardian even with so little being radiated. The recognition pulled the curiosity of his sisters as they too tried to memorize the presence. He took it and examined it for a moment, before shaking his head and handing it back.
"Then how about this: 12 inches exactly, made of hawthorn with a core of a mermaid spine?"
Xiao Lang didn't even take a hold of it before shaking his head, "I don't think that one is for me," he informed.
Mr. Olivander was about to present the next wand when a clanging bell was heard all throughout the shop. "Well, here are the other two, please forgive me, I must see to these customers," and with that he hurried back to the front of his shop.
Once he was gone, Xiao Lang examined the other two in his own time. One was long and thin, unusually so, in fact. It, too, had the distinctive energy of the flame to it. He easily imagined Fudie using something like this one, but for Xiao Lang himself, it was no good.
The other, in contrast, was short and a little on the thick side. It held the grounding solid presence of earth, and though it cleared his head to be holding it, he doubted whether he would be successful trying to cast magic with it.
Feeling slightly at a loss, Xiao Lang abandoned the four wands he had been presented with, and instead began wondering up and down the shelves, running his fingers along all the circles and finding a simple sort of amusement in making them light up one at a time as he touched them. He soon found himself, however, hovering around a certain area of the shelf.
Repeating the motion over that section again and again, Xiao Lang finally came to stand before a circle that was strange to him. Knowing runes well enough, he was able to tell that it was a moon circle, but from what family it originated, even from what part of the world, Xiao Lang didn't know.
He supposed it was local, because there were many of them here. He stood tapping the symbols of each one until he finally decided to take one out and look at it. It wasn't too terribly long, and was a nice rich shade, the tree this branch had been taken from had been a good, healthy, strong old oak. Under his fingers he could feel a rhythmic swirl to the magic current not unlike a heartbeat.
The power in it surged and welled, warred and came to rest in an endless dance. And something about it was so hypnotically familiar that it put him at ease. The way the energy moved back and forth, back and forth, he had to move with it, back and forth, without even realizing he was doing it, back and forth, back and forth, back and-
"You di? Have you found something?"
Feimei's words broke his trance and he turned to look back at the youngest of the ladies. Nodding, he raised his hands slightly indicating the object which he held and replied, "I found this..."
She smiled at him in a very sisterly way, and held out her hand for him to take. He put the wand back in it's box and brought it over to her, and though he didn't take her hand like some small child, he did stand at her side trustingly.
Accepting that to be what it is, she instead laid her hand between his shoulder blades and together the youngest two of the Lis returned to the other three just as Olivander came back into the room.
"Ah, Mr. Li, have you found a wand that's to your liking yet?" he asked in a professional yet not unfriendly manner.
"I have. I've decided I will have this one," he stated, handing the box to the elderly salesman.
Mr. Olivander hesitated for only a moment before taking the box offered. He seemed to gauge Xiao Lang on some higher unknown level. This was a sensation that, though not unfamiliar to the Li children, was not altogether welcome by them. "Interesting..." he finally said at length. "Oak, just over eight inches, core of werewolf heartstring," he rattled off out of habit.
However, he remained seemingly unawares of the youths mounting curiosity as he turned once more in an almost scolding manner to Xiao Lang. "This is a very temperamental wand, Mr. Li, I'm not sure if it's suited for a child. It requires a powerful wielder with an unshakable will. The consequences to casting anything less-"
He was interrupted by the sound of a very feminine giggle. "Moody, hot-headed, and stubborn, it sounds just like our little Xiao Lang, doesn't it?" Fanren teased.
"I-I do not believe you quite understand the ramifications of-"
"Save your breath, old man," Fudie spoke up, shaking her head tiredly. "The more you insist it's too much for him, the more he'll insist its the only one he'll have." She then waved a dismissive hand. "Let him have it, it suits him. Perhaps it may even teach him some humility."
"Oh, I doubt that!" Feimei spoke up. "Knowing Xiao Lang, he'll work at it off in some little corner somewhere until he has it mastered. He's always taking the hardest rout for things, you know that!"
Xiao Lang began to blush under their scrutiny, and Xiefa curled her fingers through his bangs "Why did you choose that particular wand, anyway, You di?"
He shrugged a little self consciously, "I just liked the feel of it when I picked it up."
Olivander shook his head in disbelieving wonder at their lacking interest in listening to him. "Well I'll be... maybe it really WAS Clow Reed that requested them made..."
This caught the sibling's attentions, causing them to raise their eyebrows in curiosity. "What do you mean by that?" Fudie demanded as they followed the owner back to the front of his shop.
"Oh, nothing much, it's just a long time ago, when I was still just getting into the business, a man came into my shop and requested the creation of five wands made out of some material he had with him. He was very specific about the wands, too. He dropped his name as Clow Reed-not that I believed him, of course, who would, when dealing with such an infamous hermit? You'd expect him just to make his own.
"But I made the wands to his request, as it is my job to do, and waited for him to return to retrieve them. But I waited in vain, as the man never came back. I've only sold one of them since then, and that was a good seven years ago to a young lady. No one else has been in requesting one of his circles," Olivander trailed off. "That one there was one of the five that he requested, and I suppose if you really are his descendant then it belongs with you. Come on out front and I'll ring it up for you."
And with that, the wand was purchased and the Li's were on their way. The next stop on their little family outing had Xiao Lang's poor mood plummeting even further than before. As any male will tell you, hell has no torture as clothes shopping with a woman, and the young heir had four.
Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was a prettyish shade of green with a large sign above the doorway. In the windows, were several marionettes that would change poses every minute or two, modelling some of the new fall fashions. As Xiao Lang pushed open the door and led the others into the reception area beyond, a ringing could be heard like the chime of a bell; however, there was no indication of one in sight.
Brushing aside the oddity of anyone who would bother casting such a charm rather than just putting up a bell to begin with, the young heir turned from the door just as a short, plump woman bustled up. "My! What exquisite robes you girls have! Where ever did you have them made?" the woman asked.
"In China," Fudie responded, "by our family's tailor."
"Well, mine was bought in Shanghai," Fanren pointed out.
"Ah, so you come from China, then?" the woman asked conversationally as she led them in to one of the fitting rooms.
"Yes. Our brother has a special invitation as an exchange student in Hogwarts," Feimei said in like.
"School robes it is, then! Step up on here and I'll fetch them for you." As Xiao Lang stepped up onto the platform, he was left by his sisters to look at himself in the angled mirrors as they wondered back out to look at the designs in the windows and racks. He only had to wait about three minutes for the woman to come back in with some robes draped across her arm.
They weren't exactly the type of robes Xiao Lang was used to wearing, namely his green robes he wore while he assisted Sakura in the capturing of the cards the previous year. These ones were black and looked more like dresses, there were no slits in the skirt part of the robes and Xiao Lang had to refrain from cringing at the lack of mobility one was restricted to in such a getup.
The collar was wide and loose, like a t-shirt, easy to slip over the head without complexities such as buttons or sashes. The sleeves were long, and though no where near as full as what he was used to in robes, were loose enough not to catch as you moved your arm around. The belt was buckled with a simple square gold clasp that lacked any design or trick to it's buckle.
After slipping the first robe on over his head, Xiao Lang found the length to be rather for one many inches taller than he himself was. The woman stifled a chuckle at the incredulous look Xiao Lang shot her. "It's very rare that I get someone Hogwarts bound that's so small. It will take a fair bit of tailoring to get them to fit right."
"Don't you simply have a spell or something that can fix it?" the eleven year old asked incredulously as the elderly witch began pinning and tucking at the loose robes.
"There are, but the result is always shoddy at best. To get quality results, you need to take the time to do the work properly." The heir pulled a face in response, but admitted silently that she had a point. So with a sigh, he resigned himself to his fate of standing on a platform for the next hour as she worked away at getting the three sets of school robes, a set of work robes, a big pointy hat, and two different cloaks for varying weather conditions all fitted to his small stature.
On top of his purchase, his sisters also added each their own large arm load of multi-coloured fabric. Whether they were robes or just the fabric to make them (probably both, knowing his sisters) Xiao Lang could neither tell nor cared to find out in his present predicament. His head felt like someone had wedged a chisel between the two halves of his brain and let a toddler go at it with a ten ton mallet.
"Can we go now?" he asked with a tinge of impatience as they left the shop.
"Yes, I think that would be for the best," Fudie agreed, easily catching Fanren by the elbow as her eyes began drawing her in the direction of another street vendor.
The siblings left the Leaky Cauldron not even five minutes later and hailed a taxi. They chatted idly during the drive, Feimei finally got to use her Visa to pay the driver, and they all went up to their hotel room. The girls all played with trying on their new clothes while Xiao Lang locked his door and took a nap.
The plane finally pulled to a stop and the seat belt sign ceased flashing. Yukito smiled down at his young charge who had fallen asleep somewhere over central China. He nudged her gently, encouraging her to stir both physically and through the link he shared with her via Yue. She mumbled something about there not being school today, and this earned a chuckle from her escort. "Sakura-chan," he prompted once again. "The plane has stopped, we're in London now..."
"Mmm...? London?" She blinked the sleepiness from her eyes and looked questioningly at Yukito before her memory kicked in and she smiled at him. "Are we going to go shopping now?" She asked, standing up and stretching.
"No, it's too late to go now. By the time we got there the stores would all be closed. We'll go tomorrow."
"Too late? Isn't it morning yet?" Sakura whined a little as she picked up her handbag. From with in it Kero began to get active, and Sakura put a hand on him to tell him not to come out yet.
"Not yet, Sakura-chan, London is in a different time zone, remember?" With a whimper and some mutterings about less then favourable situations, she resigned herself to hang sleepily off of her brother's boyfriend's hand.
He guided her out, the only child among all the people dressed in business suits. They collected their luggage, Sakura's small pink suitcase stood out in the rotation like a sore thumb, but they had to hunt for a bit to find Yukito's green duffel bag. Once they had all of their luggage, they went out to get a taxi.
Alright Yue, where do we go now? Though most people wouldn't know it for his introverted nature, Yue actually had quite a lot to say. Too much, most of the time, it seemed. In fact, Yukito felt slightly bad in saying it, but Yue was very opinionated. Having his mind connected to Yue like it was had its moments of great annoyance, especially where his own wants conflicted with his alter ego's. Yue, it turned out, was quite god at throwing mental temper tantrums. And so the complete silence in response to Yukito's question was surprising, especially being Yue tended to like ordering Yukito around. Yue?
The silence drug on for a moment more before Yue's cold tone floated forward. This is different, he admitted, almost sounding embarrassed. They did not have planes when I was here last, I do not know where this is. He pointed out indignantly.
With a sigh, Yukito shouldered his bag and took hold of Sakura's suitcase. "Yue doesn't know his way from the airport, so we're going to have to find somewhere he recognizes first," he explained apologetically to Sakura.
"Okay," she replied, more awake now and willing to be active. "Are you really okay carrying everything, Yuki?"
"It's fine. Come along."
"Stupid Yue! Doesn't even know his way around London where we spent so long!" Kero's voice came from the handbag.
Sakura opened it and looked in at her little golden Guardian. "Does Kero-chan know how to get there?" she asked hopefully.
"Do I know? Of course I know! I know London like the back of my paw!" he said confidently. Yukito had to nearly bite his tongue to hold back Yue's retort to that as Sakura pulled her head back to let Kero out. At once the small yellow animal shot to the sky, the faster he went meant the less chance there was that anyone would see him. He flew up as high as he could manage while still making out streets, and looked carefully at everything. He knew simply and at once that Yue was merely lost from the immense changes that had come to this metropolis, but he would not admit that at any cost.
After taking in a similar pattern of roads that he remembered around the area of Daigon Alley, he let himself drop back down until sitting with his upper body poking out of the hand-bag. "We need to go that way," he told them, pointing in the direction with his paw.
Jealousy and a feeling of being insufficient swarmed up from the recesses of Yue's mind. Yukito understood at once, but still took Sakura in the direction indicated by the little golden beast. On Sakura's insistence, she was allowed to pull her own suitcase behind herself and she did her best to keep up. It was after a good fifteen minutes of walking that Yukito stopped and turned around, "Sakura-chan, I can take that for you if you need me to..." he called back to her.
"No! You have enough things you're carrying already!" she insisted once she got about five feet away.
Yukito opened his mouth again to protest when something knocked into him. He was sturdier than he looked, and heavier than whatever it was, so he merely stumbled, but the other one was small and light enough to fall to the ground. Turning quickly, Yukito noticed it was a woman who had come out of the store to his left, arms laden with bags so she couldn't see him. "Oh, I'm sorry, miss!" he apologized, putting down the duffel bag to help collect her scattered groceries.
"Oh, no, it's alright, it was my fault! I'm too clumsy, I should have been watching where I was going!" she insisted, also grabbing for her apples that were starting to roll towards the street.
"Mi-Mizuki-sensei?!" Sakura stammered. Both woman and Guardian looked at Sakura in surprise, before finally looking at each other in realization.
"Mizuki-san!" Yukito cried in delight.
"Yukito-san? Sakura-chan?" she questioned in a general state of confusion. But that feeling was quickly pushed aside when she lift a dripping carton of eggs. "M-my eggs..."
"Oh, I'm very sorry, please, let me replace them," Yukito insisted, pulling out his wallet.
Kaho smiled up at them all. "No need, it's okay. I can go out again tomorrow and get more. Come, everyone will be thrilled to see you!" she said, gathering her refilled bags and getting at last to her feet.
Anxious to see Eriol and the others again, Sakura did not even argue when Yukito took hold of the suitcase that she had abandoned in favour of helping the clean up. The three walked together for a good ten blocks or so before coming to a large Victorian mansion. Kaho lead the way up to the front door, shifted her bags for a moment before she pulled out her keys and unlocked the door. Opening it up, she called out, "I'm home!" before excusing herself to go and put away her groceries.
"Welcome back, Kaho!" a voice they quickly recognized as Eriol's came from further in.
Sakura hurried towards where she heard his call and flung herself around his neck in a warm greeting. "Eriol-kun!" she cried as she made contact.
The small sorcerer literally jumped in surprise at her sudden contact with him and looked up at her with wide eyes. "Sakura-san?" at her smile, he recomposed himself and returned the gesture. "My dear child, whatever are you doing here? You weren't due to show up for another few days!"
Blinking confusedly at him, she finally smiled and said, "I'm sorry that I'm early."
He chuckled in reply to her innocent politeness and shook his head. "No, no, it's fine. I was just intending to go and collect you from the airport myself. Please, treat my home as your own."
"Oh, okay," she said happily, and then seemed to notice something. "But... Eriol-kun, if you can't see the future anymore, how did you know we would be coming?"
To this Eriol smiled, "Though I do no longer know everything, it takes so long for time to change by the power of the heart alone that the memories I have from when I still could, guide me through all things without question."
"So, my spell didn't work?" Sakura asked apologetically.
"No, on the contrary it did, as I said, I was not expecting you for another few days..."
"But you were still expecting us," she pointed out, to which he gave a sad nod.
"So is the nature of dark magic..." he then smiled at her. "So, how long will you be staying with us?"
"Hoe! But we can't intrude like that!" Sakura insisted.
"Nonsense! You are the daughter of my other half! You are family to me, and I insist that you treat my home as if it were yours!"
"Ha-hai..." she said, blushing. "We were going to stay for three days unless something happens to Yuki," she indicated, turning around to look at Yukito who stood patiently at the door.
In Yukito's eyes there shone through a troubled longing felt by Yue, though he smiled in greeting to the ancient sorcerer all the same.
Eriol smiled back for a moment, understanding locked in the puzzling maze that was his look, before turning to Sakura and smiling lovingly. "I am very glad, I have missed you all greatly and have been longing for company."
With that said, Eriol called Nakuru in to lead Sakura and Yukito to their rooms. After the initial settling in was complete, Sakura insisted in helping to prepare dinner in payment for letting them stay at the house. Nakuru shrugged and showed her the way down there, along with Kero who was interested in anything involving food. Yukito, on the other hand, found his feet had carried him back to Eriol, instead. The small sorcerer was waiting expectantly when he entered. "What is bothering you, Yue?" he asked, though his tone gave the impression he already knew.
With no reason not to, Yue drew himself forward within the psyche of his host. "Master... have I somehow failed you?" he asked, full of self-doubt as he knelt before the sorcerer.
"Now, Yue, what would ever give you that impression?"
"You didn't want me, Master!"
"Now when did I ever say that?"
"You replaced me, Master, with that one Ruby Moon."
"Yue... How many times must I explain it to you? I am not Clow Reed. Clow Reed is dead. My name is Eriol."
"But Master, you are his reincarnation!"
"I am half of it, yes. But so is Fujitaka, who you live with!"
"It's not the same, he doesn't know me! Not like you do, Master!"
"I am not your master, Yue," Eriol stated firmly as he stood and walked away. But the memories of his last life's guardians caused him to stop and sigh. "Yue... Before Clow Reed died, quite some time before in fact, he had foreseen the existences that were both I and Fujitaka. He knew that the dark magic he himself possessed would be capable of splitting the soul, but not the magic or memories themselves. And seeing as I bear his power, not only would I face the same obstacles, but also my power would never work against Fujitaka."
"But what does that have to do with anything?" Yue demanded.
"Simply this: Though we were both his reincarnations, I had all his power while Fujitaka had nothing. You, Yue, as well as Cerberus, were left with Fujitaka because he was the part of Clow that needed you the most. And more than that, Clow knew Fujitaka was going to have Touya-san and Sakura-san, and he looked at them very much as his own children. He chose to give you to them because he wanted the very best protecting his family."
"I am... the best?" Yue asked, awed at being referred to as such.
Eriol smiled down at him. "Clow poured all his heart and soul into making you and Cerberus, Yue. That's why you surpass all other Guardians by so much. And now Sakura-san needs you to be there for her to protect her, as well as her family, until she comes into her true power. And even after she does, she needs your centuries of wisdom to help her live out the rest of her life. I have Clow's memories, I have the wisdom already. So I ask you, as the last of Clow Reed, to guard and protect my other half and his family."
Pride filled Yue at this moment like Eriol had never seen with his own eyes. Yue was the best of Guardians. Clow was intrusting his most precious family in Yue and Cerberus's care. Yue was important. "I will not let you down, Master," and with that Yue stood and went to go find his Mistress.
Nakuru stopped before the door to the kitchen. "This is it, have fun!" before she turned and continued on walking.
Kero zoomed around the corner into the kitchen before Sakura even got there. "Hey! Nee-san! What's to eat?"
"Kobanwa, Kero-chan. Are you here to help?" Kaho asked pleasantly.
"He's here to sneak snacks while we're making them..." Sakura said as she came up to Kaho's side. "Where is the aprons?"
"Right in the cupboard over there," Kaho told her. "Usually Eriol would be in helping me, but he said he has work to do tonight, so I guess it will just be us."
That is when a noise from down the hall reached Kero's ears. "Hey, Nee-chan, what's that?"
"What's what?"
"That music... it sounds distinctly like a video game."
"Oh, probably Nakuru managed to rope Spinel into playing with her again," Kaho announced. Kero was at once floating out of the room to go and see what they were playing.
"What are we going to make?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know. I'm not a very good cook." Kaho admitted. "What can you make?"
"I'm good at making pancakes..." Sakura said, for lack of anything better to suggest.
"Okay, you start on that, I'm pretty sure the mix is in that cupboard over there and the pans are in here. Hmmm... what can I make... Oh! I know! I can make rice!" and so began the preparation for dinner...
"Oh, common Suppi! At least try and play!" Nakuru complained. "I'm wiping the walls with you!"
"Who is this 'Suppi' you keep talking to? There is no one here besides you and me," Spinel replied indignantly, mindlessly pressing the occasional button on the controller.
Kero chose that moment to fly up over Spinel. He hovered their and watched the two playing the game, and sure enough, Nakuru was kicking some serious butt. "Oh man, you suck," he informed the blue Sun Guardian.
"Thank you for the observation, Cerberus," Spinel growled out annoyed.
"Kero-chan's right, you know, you do suck," Nakuru informed 'helpfully' as she beat her opposite once again.
"I could do better then that with my eyes closed!" Kero bragged.
"Really...?" Nakuru asked, intrigued. She shoved Spinel aside and pushed Kero down in his place. "Show me."
And thus it began, a bonding of beasts so different, yet so the same.
It was quarter past six when Xiefa cantripped her way into Xiao Lang's room. He still lay asleep, which was rare for him, and she smiled at the fact that he held the little winged teddy bear so tenderly as he did so. She took his shoulder and gently shook it, stirring him from his sleep. "Good morning, sleepy head."
"Mmm?" the boy asked, then rubbed the sleep from his eye and tried again. "Morning already?"
Sheifa chuckled at him, "No, it's only evening. But it's time to get up, we've decided to have dinner here, then Feimei says there's going to be a performance on tonight at The Royal Opera House, and Fudie says that we shouldn't miss the cultural experience while we're here anyway."
"In other words she's bored and doesn't want to go somewhere alone," he paraphrased, already feeling much better than he had earlier that day.
"Quite. But you know how she gets if we try and deny her her way at times like this."
"Absolutely impossible," Xiao Lang agreed. He spent another few minutes staring blankly at the bed's canopy above before rolling over and pulling himself up to a sitting position.
"Okay, fine. I'm up."
"So, are you going to tell the others about your little girlfriend, or are you going to just leave them to wonder on where the little cute toy came from?" his second oldest sister teased, eyeing the toy he left in the middle of his bed.
Xiao Lang flushed at the sudden change of topic and snatched Sakura-teddy up quickly and shoved it back in his suitcase. "Mind your own business!" then, as an afterthought he added a sullen: "and she's not my girlfriend..."
"Indeed? Does this mean you'll cradle just any girl's teddy bear in your sleep?" Xiefa asked, making herself comfortable on her brother's bed.
"Aren't we going to dinner?" he changed the subject. When Xiefa only sat and laughed at him, he grabbed her arm and pulled. "Quit that! Get up! It's time to go!"
Still laughing at her brothers expense, the lady in green let herself be pulled from the bed and out the door.
Never had the lonely mansion at the end of Reedington Drive seen such a party of people. Four Guardians and three sorcerers of varying levels of supreme power all sat before a table the prepared meal from the two young ladies. The meal was diverse in variety and taste, and while Kaho sat proudly presenting the meal to those who wished to eat it, Sakura was flushed in embarrassment. You see, the meal consisted of the following dishes: pancakes, rice, instant-ramen, a salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit strips, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, and omelets.
Eriol sat there at the head of the table, with his hands folded before his face and grinning to the point of tears. Sakura saw the tears in his eyes and lowered her head in shame. "I'm sorry it's no good, but-"
"No, no, Sakura-san! It's wonderful. It's beyond perfect, because you made it with your heart," he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I am just... unaccustomed to the family life is all. I am just very, very happy."
The fact that they had made him so happy brought a smile and a blush to the faces of both the chefs. "But Eriol-kun, you have a family..." Sakura pointed out, indicating Kaho and his Guardians.
"Yes," he agreed, taking her hand lovingly. "But soon I hope that you will come to see me as family, too," he told her, a longing in his voice.
Sakura looked a little surprised for a moment, before breaking out into one of her patented smiles. "I would like that."
"Well, enough of such things! Let us eat!" Eriol said, gesturing for everyone to help themselves.
The meal was entertaining, even with the odd assortment of choices; talk was in abundance with the variety of participants present, and laughter rang and echoed off of every bare wall and shadowed corner the mansion had to offer. Even after the food was gone, they sat and talked and were merry until midnight had come and went. It wasn't until Sakura fell asleep at the table that it was admitted that all should probably go to bed. So after Yukito laid his Mistress down to sleep, he himself went and rested as well.
So there you have it, the first part of the edited "For Love War and Stores" monster chapter(s) this one ending at 15 pages and over 11,000 words. For those who have read the original chapter previously, you may notice that the order of things has been rather rearranged. There's nothing I could do about it, as the events of one of Sakura's days are being removed from the story and so I had to shuffle everything as a result.
For those that are interested in my interpretations, here's a little on the Li sisters: Fudie, born 1976, the lady in red, a dark fire elementalist (so she's a sun). Her weapon of choice is the fighting claws. Her personality is said to be very strong and duty bound, she is highly traditionalist and holds her clan above all else, including herself and her family. Xiefa, born 1978, the one in green, her power is a natural trinity between wind, water, and earth, making her a wood elementalist (moon, dark). Her prime weapon type is the spear and shield. As for her nature, she is the family strategist and also the maternal one of the girls. She is Xiao Lang's favourite sister. Fanren, the older twin, born 1980, she's the one in yellow in the movie, her element is earth (sun, light). She fights with the Chinese twin maces. She's got an easy-going personality and likes having lots of trinkets. Feimei, the younger twin, also born in 1980, wears blue, uses water as her element (moon, light). She fights with the sickle chain. Something of a free spirit, wonderful at potions, suffers from minor cases of claustrophobia. And if anyone's interested, Xiao Lang's element is wind, though he is studying to learn to master all the elements like his mother has. Yelan, their mother, is naturally a thunder, made up of the trinity of fire, earth, and water (sun, dark).
The point to pay attention to in this chapter is that perception effects interpretation of events. For Harry, who longed for something different from the normality of his upbringing, the medieval and bizarre setting of the magical world was given a promising light. He saw everything that was strange or different as amazing and fun. That being said, pay note to how the Li family observes all of the same locations and gain insight to the way the family was taught to think.
Well, that's it for now, and remember everyone, be sure to review! Critiques are loved, flames are tolerated, and all other comments are inspiration!
Shade and Sweet Water!
Key
