Tokyo at night time was very different from Tokyo during the day. For one, there seemed to be more people walking around than there had been during the day, and for another there were lights everywhere he looked. Electronic billboards, neon lights overhead, gigantic television screens, lanterns hanging from doorways, telephone poles wrapped with tiny lights similar to Christmas lights only shining with more than just red, green and white. Overall it had the streets so well-lit that you could hardly see a single patch of pure darkness anywhere.
Takeru slipped through the crowd unnoticed by the population at large, keeping his head down and the brim of his ball cap low over his eyes as he carefully scanned his surroundings. The rain seemed to have let up while he'd been inside Doumeki's family shrine for the purification ritual, leaving only a crisp scent to the air, wet walkways and puddles that were easily side-stepped.
Everything came easier to him, he was faster now, more agile and he could even breathe easier. By the time he reached the station he wasn't even breathing hard. He almost wanted to turn right back around and seek out his healer again to give her a hug. She'd teased him practically the entire time under her care but she'd delivered what he'd asked of her in full. No other adult in his life had done that before… so far.
The sheer level of energy in his system put a bounce into his step that had never been there before. He felt his body stretch and move painlessly, muscles smoothly allowing him the movement he hadn't been able to achieve on land without pain for years now. The new freedom of movement made him feel like he was one hop away from jumping onto a broomstick and flying.
The glorious feeling of freedom took a steep and unexpected dive when he ran into a problem at the train station. Feeling very much like he wanted to hit his head up against the ticket machine Takeru crumpled the handful of British currency in his hand and eyed the machine with irrational resentment. Where was he going to find a place to trade in his British pounds for… whatever they were using here in Japan?
Damn, why couldn't the Muggle world be like the wizarding world in this one instance? Galleons were usable all around the world! Couldn't the muggle world have a currency that could be used internationally? If only he could use the Galleons he had on him to buy his… ticket. Oh. Well THERE was a thought.
Takeru palmed his face briefly as he stepped away from the machine, feeling every one of the years he's spent in the wizarding world smack him in the face, he'd started to go native without realizing it. He hadn't been this fluff-brained before he'd entered the wizarding world. He needed his logic-center realigned. All he needed to do was find the closest magical district. Locate a bank. Deposit his gold and change some into whatever currency they were using in Japan. Maybe even find somewhere to spend the night, it was getting late and he was starting to get hungry again despite the dinner he'd had earlier.
Walking back out of the train station at a brisk pace Takeru took refuge in an alleyway behind a dumpster and pulled out his map and scrying crystal again, falling back on his now tried-and-true method of finding what he needed. He was going to have to find a way to thank the twins for teaching him this trick, it was most useful bit of magic he'd learned in ages. Or rather the most useful he remembered learning in ages… whatever.
Taking a moment to flatten a cardboard box over the wet tarmac he smoothed his map flat and focused. He needed a Magical District. One with a bank. One close-by. Or at least an entrance way. Swinging his crystal over the map he let it start to swing on its own and closed his eyes, loosening his grip on the leather chord holding the crystal as he did.
"Point me Magical District."
OoO
He was led out of Tokyo's busiest areas and into a park. At this time of night the place was almost deserted, the only people he met on his way through were a couple hurrying through the place at a fast paced walk. He was quick to hide the map he was holding out of sight behind him when he saw them coming and pulled it back out when they past him. It was lucky thing the place was so deserted, it made being able to cast Lumos over his map that much easier.
Again just like with Doumeki's shrine and Yuuko's shop he felt his destination before he saw it, the air thickening with the feel of magic. It was like feeling heat on a cool day. Takeru's eyes were drawn to the side where noticed several small house-shaped sculptures lining the path he was on. They were about the size of his hand, carelessly arranged and covered in moss… and were radiating magic.
Tucking his wand and map away now that he no longer needed them to find where he was going Takeru followed the pathway lined with all the little, palm-sized houses and wondered what they were. He was given a clue a few minutes later when he passed waist high statue of a Buddha, a plate of offerings sat on the stone in front of it with a cup of liquid that he wasn't willing to get close enough to identify. Shrines?
The path came to a stop at another waist high statue covered in moss, only this statue wasn't of a Buddha. This one was an egg-shaped, near-formless… thing with barely-there arms clasped in front of it, no legs and a face with a wide creepy grin stretched across it. Behind the statue was a building that he hadn't seen on his way up the path and an unlit tunnel directly behind the statue. Hesitating only long enough to brush a palm against the seemingly-cheap plastered walls of the building Takeru snorted softly to himself at the feeling of smooth stone and moss under his fingertips. Typical of the wizarding world, the entrance was Glamored to look unimportant, abandoned and in disrepair.
He took a firm step into the mouth of the tunnel and tried not to let his shoulders tighten up in anxiety at the feel of being surrounded by magic again. He wasn't in Hogwarts right now. He wasn't even in England. The half-formed thought of never setting foot in the wizarding world again after leaving the country had been particularly short-sighted… stupid even, given that he was here now with no usable money and nowhere to stay.
Reaching a hand into the deep pocket of his jacket Takeru slipped his hand into a loose grip on the egg resting there and let his fingers brush over the smooth, warm surface and willed himself to calm down. Also given what Yuuko had told him about the condition he was suffering from… He needed to find out more. He also needed a wand holster. If his wand was going to be firing off without warning he was going to have to keep it somewhere safe and contained.
Maybe he should see if he could get his hands on any information regarding binding spells. See if his magic could squashed down if it couldn't be 'turned off'. It was a serious thought to consider. What if one day this new familiar of his died? Or if he lost or had his wand snapped? He'd go into Oversurge again. He'd rather have no magic than take the risk of turning into another Dumbledore or Voldemort. Hell, he was close to having had enough of Magic altogether.
Filing the thought away for later contemplation Takeru made his careful way out of the tunnel and out into what looked like an old-fashioned train station. Seemed like he'd stumbled across the right place after all. This looked almost exactly like platform 9 ¾'s waiting area. Curved benches. Tall pillars. Booth at one end of the room to buy tickets from and packed with a mixed-bag of magical creatures and oddly proportioned people dressed in Japanese finery. He felt out of place in his muggle clothing until he remembered the clothes he'd bought in Diagon Alley.
A quick trip into a nearby bathroom had Takeru dressed in the clothing and boots he'd bought in Madam Malkins. Feeling a little more confident now that he wasn't sticking out of the crowd like a sore thumb he positioned himself at the end of the line short line of people and creatures waiting to talk to whoever was at the ticket desk. Or what appeared to be the ticket desk. There was no other way out of the room, it was either talk to the person in the booth or go back out the way he came.
His turn came up after a walking root vegetable, a humanoid catfish, a floating robe filled with water and a hag had been led through a vanishing door. Takeru kept his face carefully neutral when the person in the booth turned out to be a person made entirely out of shadows. One dressed up like some kind of security officer.
"Where to?" the figure asked, hollow voice rasping and dry.
"Somewhere I can exchange gold for Muggle money. Preferably somewhere I can find somewhere to spend the night and locate some books." Takeru answered immediately, wanting to get this whole confrontation over with already. He was totally going to change all his gold into muggle money if he could get away with it. He didn't want to go through this again anytime soon. This was just far too different than what he was used to.
OoO
Paying for a ticket with a Galleon quickly fished out of his satchel Takeru was led through the door that appeared to the right of the ticket booth by another shadow person, this one female, to a jetty that led to a ferry boat. The shadow person had him hand his ticket over to yet another shadow person at the dock and he was shown to a seat on the ferry. The walking root vegetable was sitting further up, the only other… person in the near-full ferry who had been in front of him in the line at the front desk. It gave him a slow sideways look and what appeared to be a faint smile before closing its weirdly shaped eyes and easing back in his seat, seemingly ready to enjoy the ride.
The ferry ride wasn't a very long one, he passed the time staring out the window and out into the distance to where he guessed they were headed. When the ferry docked he allowed the root vegetable to get out before him and joined the line of others headed out onto the flight of stairs that apparently served as a dock. Following the crowd Takeru soon found himself in the middle of what was clearly a magical town. All terraced landscaping and stairs, lanterns, open-air restaurants and shops with customers milling all over the place. This was nothing like anything he had ever seen… and he loved it.
Spotting a book store Takeru headed straight for a clerk and soon had a book solely dedicated to Oversurge tucked into the crook of his arm while he browsed the other section he had been directed to. The cramped section that dealt solely with binding spells and their ilk was squashed right up in a corner right next to the large and rather tempting selection of what seemed to be defensive books. He had a hard time concentrating on picking out a book when his eyes kept straying over, but managed to finally keep his attention on scanning the titles he actually needed when a young boy dressed in green robes edged in gold walked up to scan the defense section.
With his attention focused on finding an appropriate book Takeru managed to completely forget the defence section and the brown haired boy scanning the titles nearby, right up until he managed to lose his grip on the book sitting in the crook of his arm. He'd been trying to juggle the books in his hands to put a few back on the shelf when it fell out. The boy dressed in green caught the book before it could hit the floor and the bells attached to the wide cuffs of his sleeves jangled, jolting Takeru's concentration.
The boy's oddly boat-shaped, green and gold hat had skewed slightly when he caught the book and an absent hand reached up to fix it, thick brows furrowed in confusion as his amber eyes flicked over the title. "Oversurge?" the boy muttered, frowning as he looked up. "You're suffering from Oversurge?" the kid asked, still holding the book. "Have… have you seen a healer yet?"
"Um… yeah. I just wanted to know more about it, the healer already sorted me out… see?" he replied, pulling the egg Yuuko had given him out of his pocket briefly to show the kid and putting it back.
The boy relaxed for a brief moment before he caught sight of the books Takeru had been attempting to juggle back onto the shelf and his body stiffened again. "If you're suffering from Oversurge… why are you looking up binding spells?" the kid asked, face twisting up into an affronted glare of accusation. "Are you TRYING TO TURN YOURSELF INTO A WALKING BOMB?"
Takeru jumped at the sudden change in tone, the books on binding spells flipping up into the air on their own as his magic slipped from him a little bit at the startle. The boy didn't wait for him to try and catch them out of the air, instead Takeru was dragged away from the area before they could hit the floor. Manhandled away from the books on binding spells by a kid who looked a good few years younger than he currently did. He was pulled briefly into another section of the store where another book was pushed into his hands before being chivvied right up to the front desk.
"Hey! What? What do you mean walking bomb?" Takeru asked the furious looking boy as the kid tapped an impatient foot against the floorboards and glared at him hard enough to light a fire. "Also why this book?" he asked as he looked down at the book the boy had selected for him and clearly wanted him to buy. "Clow Reed… a bibliography? What good is this going to do for me?"
"You don't need binding spells, you need OUTLETS!" The brown haired boy emphasized. "If you bind your magic it has nowhere to GO. Then when it explodes, you'll just die - and take a lot of near-by people with you! Haven't you ever heard of spontaneous human combustion? That's Oversurge happening! Also Clow Reed was exactly like you, that book tells everything he ever tried to do to stop Oversurging and how he died. It's to stop you from coming up with any more bright ideas." The kid snapped waspishly, still tapping his foot against the floor and glaring pointedly at the books the clerk clearly didn't know if he should ring up or not.
Takeru digested that, silently fished out the necessary gold needed to pay for the two and accepted his change from the bemused looking clerk. He tucked the books under his arm and turned to the now reluctantly satisfied looking kid and smiled, reaching out a hand in introduction.
"Thanks for the advice, my name is Hibari Takeru, what's your name?"
The boy stared blankly at his face for a bit, seemed stunned into speechlessness for a few seconds before a bright red flush crawled up over his face to seemingly set it afire. The kid fumbled to accept the hand he was holding out and gave it a few sharp shakes. "L... Li Syaoran." The boy stuttered out, gaze still fixated on his face, amber eyes now large and wide open. Was this kid just not used to people being nice to him? What a hilarious reaction to a simple smile!
"Ok Syaoran… do you know where the bank is around here? This is my first time here and I don't want to get lost."
Syaoran seemed to choke on something and his face flushed a brighter shade of red. For a moment he looked like he was torn between replying and running away. Bodily jerking backwards a step the kid turned away briefly, muttering words under his breath. Takeru caught the words 'Name' and 'Honorific' before the kid turned back around, face still flushed but now settled into something resembling determination. "I… I was headed there anyway!" The Syaoran announced loudly as he marched sharply to the exit. "I might as well show you the way!"
OoO
The bank, true to the theme of this particular pocket of the Wizarding world, was a large Japanese structure that was easily three to four stories high. It was built on a low terrace that made it seem like it was the same height as the buildings surrounding it. The inside, in contrast to Gringotts, was all wood and sliding panels. There was a reception desk where yet another oddly proportioned person wearing a kimono was greeting customers and directing them through doors on either side of him.
A floating ball of gold light, about the same size and shape as an air-filled water-balloon floated past him and Takeru reached a hand out to grab at it. His guide made a choking noise and snatched his hand out of the air before he could catch the orb, grabbed him by his collar to pull his head down to his height.
"What are you DOING!" Syaoran hissed, eyes darting sharply left and right as if to see if anyone had noticed Takeru's aborted movement. "Do you KNOW what they do to thieves here? They get turned into pigs and sold to the food houses! Do you want to get eaten?" the brown haired boy asked, the firm grip on his collar shaking him as if to emphasize his point, amber eyes blown wide in panic.
"What? Thief? I was just… it looks so much like a snitch that I just…" Takeru trailed off as he carefully pried Syaoran's hands off his collar. "I used to be Seeker on my school team, it makes it hard to ignore gold-colored flying things… What is that thing anyway?"
Syaoran seemed like he was caught between laughing, palming his face and wanting to hit him. In the end he merely snorted and scrunched his face up into what Takeru was beginning to think of as his default expression to scowl up at him. "It's a Kanedama. A Money-spirit. They carry money around the bank. Don't try to grab one, people will think you're trying to steal from it." The boy hesitated as they moved forward along the line of people waiting to be seen by the person manning the front desk. "… also, while we're on the subject… don't pull any tails when we get further in. The bankers hate it."
Takeru blinked at that and was about to ask what the boy meant by that when he was called forward. The queue in front of him already having been directed into the bank while they'd been talking. The person in the tall booth leaned down at them and smiled in welcome, his overly large head making the gesture seem wider than was polite. "Where can I direct you today gentlemen?" The man asked lightly, the red and gold fan in his hand tapping the wood of the desk in front of him to get their attention.
"I need to exchange gold for Muggle money, whatever they're using in Japan. Is that possible?" Takeru asked.
"… Yen. He wants to change gold into Yen." Syaoran corrected, face smoothing out of his typical frown and into a polite mask. "Please excuse his rudeness, he's from the West." The boy excused for him, hands reaching up in front of him so palm could meet fist and bowing slightly.
"England." Takeru clarified as he hastily copied the gesture. "… also how do you know that?" he asked Syaoran under his breath as the attendant bowed back and gestured them through a door.
"You tried to catch a Kanedama."
Takeru shook his head at the sarcasm. "What did you mean earlier?" He asked as they waked down a short corridor. "About pulling tails? Cause I have to say I've never seen a goblin with a… tail." Takeru's voice trailed off as he caught sight of a clerk waiting for them.
"Maneki-neko. They're the bank-tellers here." Syaoran clarified, pushing him lightly to get him walking forward again when he stopped to stare. Maneki-neko were apparently large, cat-like creatures that walked upright like a human. They had white fur and calico coloured patches around their ears, legs, paws and the tip of their long tails.
"… you totally tried pulling one of their tails didn't you?" Takeru asked Syaoran under his breath as he eyed the hypnotizing motion of the creature's tail as it led them further into the bank.
"Shut it."
OoO
Takeru met Syaoran back outside the room he'd been led into by the cat-like creature after he was somehow convinced into depositing the majority of his gold into a new bank account. He was given a muggle debit card, a Vault Key, a check book, a tall stack of Muggle money the Maneki-neko assured him was the proper currency they used in Japan and a complimentary black wallet that had enough room in it for all of it and the gold he had left over.
He didn't even know how he'd been convinced out of changing all his gold into Yen. He'd have felt it if the cat had tried to manipulate him using magical means and it wasn't like he'd been planning to keep his gold in the long run. The whole transaction hadn't even taken that long! Guess the creatures had more in common with their Muggle counterparts than just their outward appearance. That kind of charisma was dangerous.
"Finished?" Syaoran asked as he pushed away from the bit of wall he'd been leaning up against.
"I guess?" Takeru muttered as he tucked his new wallet away."I just need to get a wand-holster and I'm done."
"I know where you can get a good one, follow me."
"Didn't you need to use the bank too?" Takeru asked curiously.
Syaoran blushed bright red again. "I… already. When you were…" the boy tried to lie. Takeru hid a laugh behind a cough and smiled down at the boy who choked on the lie he was trying to give him as his blush turned at least three shades darker. This kid really was weak against smiles wasn't he?
The shop Syaoran robotically led him to was a tiny little nook of a place that was squashed in between a restaurant and what seemed to be a souvenir stall. A quick talk with the owner where a measurement of his new wand was taken and Takeru had a wand holster that would guard him, and others, from any unexpected bursts of Oversurge coming from his wand. Takeru switched his satchel over to his left hand, fitted his new wand-holster over his right arm and watched in fascination as it morphed into what looked like another simple leather cuff. A flick of his wrist and his wand was in his hand, another had his wand back in the holster.
Paying for his purchase Takeru hesitated for a bit. "Don't suppose you have any idea where I might be able to find a place to stay for the night?" He asked the stall owner as Syaoran wandered over with his own handful of purchases.
The stall owner grinned as he accepted the payment for the purchases Syaoran made, absently bagging them and handing it over to the boy. "Oh yes, of all the places you could stay here, there really is no better place than Yubaba's Bath-house. The service is unparalleled and the food is to die for..." The stall owner was cut-off mid-spiel with a sharp yelp when a sword cut through the air to embed itself in the wood behind him. Syaoran had pinned him to the spot by his kimono and was now glaring fit enough to strip the man's skin off.
"I can't leave you alone here for five minutes without you trying to find new ways to kill yourself, can I?" The boy asked sharply as he tugged his sword out of the wall and levering a warning glare at him as he sheathed the sword into the holster on his back. How had Takeru missed the sword before? The boy grabbed his hand and dragged him off, stalking away from the stall. "Yubaba's bath-house caters to things that would eat someone like you for breakfast!"
"Easy, calm down. It can't be THAT bad."
"THEY EAT PEOPLE THERE! PEOPLE! EAT!" The boy snapped as he turned around, marching right into his personal space and glaring up at him as if to somehow drill the importance of the idea into his head.
Takeru looked down at the boy who seemed to be trying his level best to protect him and smiled. "… and I'm sure I could have taken care of myself if they had tried. I DO have my wand on me. I'm not helpless."
Syaoran made a strangled noise and ran grabbed his hand again. "You can't stay there, it's bad. Really bad. If you're finished here you can stay at my place! You're looking for somewhere to say the night? I have a futon you can use!"
When Takeru hesitated at the idea Syaoran pulled at the hand he'd grabbed and dragged him in the direction the shop keeper had indicated. "If you don't believe me I'll just SHOW you!"
OoO
The bath-house was a beautiful red Japanese building with green roofing, multiple floors, tall windows and gold ornamentation everywhere with an air of opulence around that made Takeru uncomfortable just looking at the place. Even without the warning he'd been given he didn't think he'd have liked staying at such a richly decorated place. He'd have taken the Leaky Cauldron over this place any day of the week.
Syaoran led him into a garden that nestled right up against the bath-house with body tense and several slips of yellow paper held in his hand. Frowning slightly at the sight Takeru caught his wand and hid it in his sleeve, just in case. This wasn't a joke. The kid was serious. Serious enough that his hand kept twitching as if to reach for the sword on his back.
"There, look. Toad Demons." Syaoran nudged him, motioning to look over the hedge they were hiding behind and into the window were two ugly, squat beings were taking a bath. "They eat anything." Crawling further along the hedge the brown haired boy pointed out a few other beings of interest. "Tengu, they're bird Demons. They ALSO eat people… oh look, Ogres… do I have to explain them to you too? Should I tell you what that fox woman is? She's what we call a Kitsune. A fox spirit. They eat just about anything as well and…" Syaoran cut himself off and looked sharply up.
Tackling Takeru into a nearby bush the younger boy plastered a palm over his mouth to stop him from making any noise and pointed sharply up. At the white and green dragon winding its way out of the sky towards the bath-house. The dragon touched down at one end of the long bridge leading up to the bath-house and transformed mid-way into a boy with shoulder length green hair and eyes.
If the collection of demons bathing in the bath-house hadn't been enough, the dragon certainly sealed it. Paling rapidly at the thought of sleeping anywhere near a shape-shifting dragon and its collection of demonic friends Takeru tapped on the hand that had sealed over his mouth and motioned for the other boy to let him up, tugging pointedly on his wrist. Which seemed to be a mistake. Syaoran turned brick red again, whipped his hand away from where it had been pressed over Takeru's mouth. Spluttering the brown haired boy jerked up out of the hedge as if he'd been electrocuted… and into full view of the collection of monsters they'd just been watching.
There was a beat of stunned silence from the occupants of the room they'd been spying into.
Lunging up out of the hedge Takeru grabbed the strap of leather sword-holster crossing over Syaoran's chest and hauled him out of the garden, wishing he had enough time to kick the other boy for his ill-timed spaz attack. Predictably the commotion started the second they were out of sight, along with a hair-raising scream, a few screeches and a bellow of "PERVERTS!" that nearly had Takeru leading the two of them into running into a tree. That had been the girls side of the bath?
Swerving Takeru turned the movement that would have had them running full-force into the tree into a swift turn that had them running down a small alleyway instead. Takeru shoved the brown haired boy up against the wall, scrabbled frantically at his wrist to resize his satchel and pulled his invisibility cloak up out and over them. He pressed his own hand over the boy's mouth when he squeaked at the sudden movement and waited, heart pounding loudly at the close call they'd just had.
One of the toad demons, one that reminded him uncomfortably of Umbridge, started stalking near the mouth of the alleyway they'd ducked into, sniffing at the air as if she was trying to scent out their location. Slipping a hand into his satchel Takeru carefully pulled out one of Lockhearts bottles of perfume and allowed the cloak to shift a little. Pulling his hand back he waited until the toad-woman was turned away before lobbing it high over her head. A moment later it came crashing down near her feet and burst, releasing a wave of sickly sweet scent that would hopefully overpower anything she could sniff out of them.
It worked a little better than expected, most of the creatures that had followed them from the bathhouse backed away hastily and a good half of the watching crowd dispersed. Waiting for a few minutes just in case anyone was watching for them Takeru eventually pulled the cloak off of them and pushed away from where he'd been pressing the younger boy up against the wall. "That's my death defying stunt done with for the next year." He joked as he folded the cloak over his arm.
"… you get into this kind of trouble all the time don't you?" The boy asked after a long moment, kneading his own forehead with both fists. Syaoran paused for a moment to scowl at the crumpled yellow slips of paper in his hand and put them back into a pocket.
"It's not like I go LOOKING for trouble, I just kind of fall into it… speaking of trouble." Takeru said as he looked up at the sky and the white dragon now flying purposely in their direction. "Where did you say your house was?"
OoO
As far as rude awakenings went, Takeru had been through worse. This was perhaps the strangest though. The screech that woke him up almost had him levitating himself up out of thick mattress he'd been sleeping on and floundering around for his wand. In that short, sleep-fuzzed moment he was back in Magical Tokyo running away from the denizens of the bath-house. When his brain cleared he wasn't being chased by monsters, instead he was on the floor in Syaoran's bedroom, on the mattre-futon the boy had taken out of storage for him.
The pillow he'd been curled around abruptly changed colours. Turning from green to blue and his blanket folded in on itself, shrinking down to the size of a napkin. Syaoran, who had been soundly sleeping in his own bed, flipped like a fish out of water to land right on top of him. Takeru was flattened into the futon with a thump and the cancelling charm that Takeru had been aiming at his blanket hit his borrowed Yukata instead, cancelling the charm he'd cast on it the night before so it fit a little better and the yukata shrank back down to its original size.
"SYAORAN! WHO DO THESE SHOES BELONG TO!"
A thundering set of feet sounded and Syaoran let out a groan of annoyance, planting a hand on Takeru's chest to lever himself up, still sleep-fuzzed himself. It had been late when they'd gotten back from Magical Tokyo, nearing almost to midnight. Judging by the light coming in through the window it had to be either an overcast day or… it was still rather early.
Takeru lifted himself up on his elbows, rubbing the sleep out of his own eyes. "Urgh. What a way to wake up. Good morning though, sleep well?" he asked the boy who looked like he was having a bit of trouble waking up. Syaoran managed to pick himself up onto his knees before awareness started kicking in, though it took until the door opened for him to wake up all the way.
There was a bit of a long and awkward silence. The butler who had picked them up from Magical Tokyo's exit was standing at the door with a dark haired young girl. She held Takeru's sneakers in one hand with her other one still on the door knob as she stood there with her mouth gaping open, staring at the two of them with her eyes nearly bugging out of her head. Pulling up the shoulder of his yukata from where it had slipped off Takeru managed to sit himself up as Syaoran spluttered and turned red.
"SYAORAN! WHO IS THIS AND WHY IS SHE WEARING YOUR YUKATA!"
"I beg your pardon? I am not a…"
"Meilin! He's not a…"
"SYAORAN I HATE YOU!" the girl screamed, throwing the sneakers she'd she was holding at them and bursting into tears as she ran out the door.
"… what… was THAT all about?" Takeru asked, catching his shoes out of the air before they hit the ground.
"… it's too early for this." Syaoran groaned, pulling the pillow Takeru had been sleeping on over his face.
"Will Syaoran-sama and his guest be wanting breakfast?" the butler asked from the doorway, hands behind his back and leaning around the door with his eyes shining bright with hilarity.
OoO
Breakfast was spent with Syaoran staring down at his food flushed pink and with Takeru fidgeting in his seat at not being the one making breakfast. Afterwards Wei, Syaoran's butler, had ushered the boy back into his room to change into his school uniform. Takeru took the time to duck into the bathroom and change back into the muggle clothing Watanuki had picked out for him at Yuuko's request. Syaoran reappeared in the dining room wearing something that looked like what Meilin had been wearing when she had burst into Syaoran's bedroom, a white sailor's top with a long sleeved black sweater with what appeared to be the school's crest, but with a pair of pants instead of the skirt she'd been wearing.
"Off to school?" Takeru asked, stepping into his sneakers and sitting down on the raised step at the front door of the apartment to tie the laces.
Syaoran nodded stiltedly as he stepped into a pair of black leather loafers, a white hat held in one hand and balancing a bag in his other. Takeru smiled at that, keeping his face straight. School. How normal. After the mad scramble out of Wizarding Tokyo, getting through to Muggle Tokyo dressed in the outfits they hadn't had a chance to change out of and that early morning wake-up Syaoran was heading off to school. Like yesterday happened all the time.
Would he be able to live like that too one day? Walk seamlessly between Magical and Muggle without even a single hitch in his stride? Right now he was seriously considering never setting another foot in the magical side of the world. He may not be able to seal away his magic… but that didn't make him anymore accepting towards it. If anything last night's insanity was just one more reason to avoid it.
Following Syaoran out of the apartment Takeru bid goodbye to the butler who bowed at him as they left and copied the bow when Syaoran did. Was that a Japanese thing? He must have been too young to learn proper etiquette when he'd been taken from his family because he had nothing in his memory in regards to bowing…
Well… whatever. It wasn't like he couldn't learn it now.
Syaoran's apartment was on the third floor of the apartment complex he lived on and the brown haired boy avoided the elevator without even thinking about it. Given that he was currently uncontrollably leaking magic Takeru took this as a rather clever idea and followed suit, hand reaching into his jacket pocket for the egg his new familiar had yet to hatch out of. It couldn't hatch soon enough. Judging by the little accident he'd had earlier when Meilin had come to wake them up he was still having these outbursts, which would hopefully stop when his familiar was born. The idea of being trapped in an elevator wasn't anywhere near his idea of fun.
Takeru was glad for the thickness of his jacket when they finally hit the streets, the air was still cool, carrying a hint of rain that cut crisply through them. He rubbed at his slowly numbing nose and made a mental note to buy a pair of gloves and a scarf soonish, maybe an umbrella as well.
"So do you think you can point me in the direction of a library or somewhere I can use the internet?" Takeru asked Syaoran, buttoning his jacket closed and turning up his collar against the cold. "I need to look up something."
"D… don't you have school as well?" Syaoran asked with a small stutter, face flushing to red again, stumbling as his foot caught a raised flagstone in the footpath.
Takeru snapped out an automatic hand to right the boy before he could plant his face into the sidewalk and kept the bitterness that welled up inside him from creeping into the smile he gave the younger boy. "Holidays started early for me." He said simply, turning away as if to scan the street they were about to cross as his face twisted with the words leaving his mouth. Holiday. What a laugh.
"T… there's a shopping mall near my school." Syaoran stuttered again. "I'll take you there!"
"As long as it's not going to make you late." Takeru replied, falling into step with the brown haired boy as he started stalking off.
"It's really close to the school!" Syaoran insisted.
The walk there truly made for a short trip and on the way people called out greetings to Takeru's guide. Syaoran seemed like he was popular among his classmates, which made him wonder why the boy had such a shy temperament. Surely someone that popular would be a little more confident? Then again, given his own experience with popularity, he hadn't exactly had a lot of fun being the 'popular kid' at Hogwarts. Maybe it had something to do with being a wizard attending school with Muggles? Syaoran had certainly seemed more at ease with himself in Magical Tokyo.
The school was all tall white buildings with light blue roofing, spacious grounds and beautifully lush and well-tended gardens. The front gate even had an elegant statue of an angel done in white marble posing with a golden hoop held over its head. Syaoran turned his back on it all and pointed out a shopping mall. The boy then paused for a minute, gave him a narrowed eyed look before pulling out a notebook and hastily scribbling a quick map which he ripped out and shoved into his hand.
"It's the big building in that direction, the one with the white roof past the park. Ask anyone along the way, just… make sure they look… trustworthy." The boy ordered, looking like he was half a minute from forgetting about school and leading him there himself. Takeru smothered a grin behind the piece of paper he'd been given as he made a show of looking over the scribbled map. This kid really had some rather strong protective instincts didn't he?
"Alright, get into school already, you're going to be late." Takeru scolded, turning Syaoran around so he was facing his school and lightly pushing him forward. "I promise I'll be careful and not talk to anyone suspicious." He said as he waved the boy into the school. "Seriously, I'll be fine, I'm not about to get myself into any trouble in the muggle world. I'll see you if I'm still around when you get out."
"Really?" Syaoran asked, seeming to perk up at the idea.
"I'm going to be researching something at the library or in an internet café and I have no idea how long that's going to take. I might have to leave sooner if I finish early though." He warned the boy who's eyes had brightened. "I'll be leaving sometime in the afternoon."
Syaoran had been about to reply with something when a familiar screech sounded and the young girl who had woken them up so rudely earlier marched right up and dragged the boy away by his ear.
"YOU'RE STILL WITH THAT WOMAN? HOW COULD YOU? IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL EVEN!"
Takeru grimaced and waved a hasty goodbye as beat a quick retreat, leaving Syaoran to his fate. As much as he wanted to correct her mistaken assumption about his gender he really didn't want to have to sit through her screeching. He'd had enough of that to last him a lifetime through Petunia Dursley.
OoO
Having the proper muggle money went a long way into easing him back into the way the muggle world worked. He wandered about the shopping district for a while and picked up a scarf, beanie, gloves and umbrella as he went. He bought himself some snacks and a bottle of 'iced tea' and set himself up at the first internet café he found. When the man at the front desk asked him how long he wanted to use the computer he went and purchased a four hour pass, he didn't know how long his research was going to take and he wasn't going to take his chances undershooting it. He didn't want a repeat of his time in the library at London. A fifteen minute slot was way too short for the kind of digging he was looking forward to doing. It wasn't as if he had to use it all at once.
The booth he picked had a wall behind him and tall walls meant for privacy of browsing, he was short enough that he just about disappeared behind the desk. It was perfect, he could pull out his map and scrying crystal if he wanted without anyone wondering why he had them out.
He sat in the booth for a food few minutes before he dared to type in his password, spreading his map out flat and positioning his scrying crystal close by. He put the unopened bottle of tea on the floor next to him and the slip of printed paper with his password in front of him. He then pulled off his new gloves and shoved them into a pocket so he could type more easily. Done with procrastinating Takeru shook himself and typed his password in sharply. He'd come this far already. He was ready to find out more.
He floundered for a minute as the controls seemed to be set to Japanese but another minute tinkering with the settings and he'd changed the language settings to English. Pausing for a minute he got up to borrow a sheet of paper and a pen from the bored looking attendant at the front counter and went back to the computer. He really should have bought a notebook.
First he was going to look up directions. How to get to Namimori from where he was right now and which was going to be quicker, bus or train. Then he was going to try and figure out where he was going to stay once he got there and what his next move was going to be. He was going to have to scout out his family, get their measure.
Directions turned out to be relatively easy. All he needed to do was catch the train down to Namimori. The bus was a bit more complicated and took over two hours to get to where he needed to go. The next thing he started looking up were the abandoned buildings in the area, the businesses which had gone bankrupt and the deserted areas of Namimori. He could have looked up the local hotels and such in the area but the muggle world didn't let their children run around unsupervised and staying at a hotel on his own was asking for someone to notice him. A bit of magic and any abandoned building would be liveable within minutes. Add the furniture he had packed away in his satchel and he'd be set for whatever.
Scribbling down the addresses of the handful of places he'd found and Takeru had a good handful of places to choose from. An accidental click and a quick browse through the camping website made him sit back in his chair at the list of available gear. Should he pick up some camping gear? A tent or sleeping bag would be useful, so would a couple more changes of clothes. He still didn't have a pair of pyjamas.
Sighing at the idea of more shopping, at least this time it wasn't for girls clothing, Takeru draped himself backwards over his seat and stared at the wall behind him. He was doing it again. Acting with the same wishy-washy, procrastinating attitude he'd recognized in himself on the airplane headed to Japan. He'd already used up a good chunk of his allotted four hours casing out Namimori and its surroundings and he had yet to look up anything related directly to himself.
He was scared.
Straightening up in his seat Takeru leaned over the desk and palmed his face, wishing he could blame the fear on being in a foreign country. On being alone in said country. On anything except what the nasty little voice his mind was trying to tell him. That perhaps his parents had been in on turning him into Harry Potter. Or that somehow someone would find out what had happened to the Boy Who Lived and track him down. That he was walking into a trap. That all he had to do was show his face in Namimori and he'd be right back where he started.
He was a short train ride away from Namimori and… he was terrified of what he'd find once there. A very large part of him was screaming at him to run. Away. Far away from Namimori and anywhere where the Order might be able to find him. Of anywhere that could even loosely be connected to him. That small possibility that that Dumbledore had told someone who and what Harry Potter really was…
The part of him that had always wanted a family… was only just louder than the part of him that wanted to run. Closing his eyes and mentally kicking his terrified paranoia into a corner Takeru eased himself into leaning back into his chair and reached for his ice tea to soothe his nerves, easily drinking through half the bottle in one big gulp. Stuffing a pastry into his mouth he shrugged the tension out of his shoulder-blades and reached for the mouse again.
He was just going to have to bite the bullet on this because he wasn't done yet. Until he had the chance to case out his family, their home and the way they lived… he wasn't going to be able to live with himself. How many times was he going to have to kick himself in the ass to move forward? Either his family had sold him off to Dumbledore or they hadn't. He was going to find out. If it turned out they had given him away…
It would hurt. But wasn't he used to it? Better to know than to wonder.
And he was tired of not knowing.
He hit jackpot at the third website. There were news websites featuring possible sightings, information on the kidnapping and a series of police sketches of what he might look like now. The latest of which was so similar to his own reflection, disregarding the hair, that it was as if the artist had been looking at him while drawing it. There were blogs of people speculating on what had happened and other conspiracy theories. There were television interviews of his parents and the people in the neighborhood.
His family were still living in the same house. That… made things both easier and a lot more real. Looking up his family revealed his father's occupation as a private detective in a Tokyo office. His mother looked after the family shrine and an interview revealed that she spent a lion's share of her time chasing down leads via the internet. She even had her own website dedicated to finding him. On the surface of things both of his parents looked like they'd made every effort available to them to track him down. How much of that would hold up under a check of the area around their house and themselves… was impossible to tell.
He had a brother didn't he? Looking up his brother brought up several new forums, school dedicated websites and what appeared to be a community run neighborhood watch program headed by him. Entering into a chat-room Takeru got into an interesting conversation with a boy who attended Namimori Middle School. A boy who was utterly convinced that his brother was a demon in disguise. Epic beat downs? Apparently his brother would go after Yakuza as well as bullies and rule breakers with absolutely no discrimination. Everyone got the same ruthless 'bite of death' regardless of infraction. A Head Prefect beating other students to death? Sure. Like that wasn't a complete exaggeration. That would have gotten anyone arrested the first time they tried!
His skepticism over the legitimacy of the person on the other end of the chat room resulted in a link. A video on youtube? Someone had actually captured his brother on video? Aside from a few photos taken of his brother from behind, he had yet to get a good look at him. Clicking the link with barely contained interest Takeru nearly jumped out of his skin when the screen went black and the computer in front of him died.
Jerking backwards in his seat Takeru lifted his hands up in confusion as a wave of magic pulsed through the room. That hadn't been him! That couldn't have been him! That… had blasted past him and wiped out all the computers in the café. Scrambling up out of his chair Takeru hastily packed away his map, scrying crystal, wand and the notes he had scribbled for himself and abandoned the array of snacks he'd only gotten halfway through and bolted for the door. A magical accident of this scale was hardly going to go unnoticed by Japan's Ministry of Magic and he wasn't going to take the blame for something he didn't do!
He was pretty sure that Yuuko hadn't placed a Trace on his wand or he'd have gotten pulled aside by Japan's Auror's earlier than this. He'd been lucky so far, but if he didn't make tracks fast his luck wasn't going to last very long. A magical accident of this scale was going to call attention, at the very least a check by an Auror or obliviator squad.
Slowing down to a stop from his sprint a good few blocks away from ground zero Takeru made sure no one had followed him and leaned against a tree. He'd managed to make it back to the park he'd passed on his way to the shopping mall. The only good thing about being the only wizard within sneezing distance of the accident was that the magic that had taken out the café's computers wasn't anywhere near similar to his own. All an Auror would have to do to confirm that he hadn't had anything to do with it was compare their magical signatures.
If they were smart.
Closing his eyes and calming his breathing he let felt out his surroundings, carefully searching for any presence of magic. Anything that would give away the presence of whatever Auror came to investigate. Expecting a wizard Takeru surprised himself by sensing something very different. A small moving source of magic. A source of magic similar in feeling to the wave that had interrupted his research. A source of magic that was only a few meters away from him. Damn, well hopefully any Auror's called were too busy trying to figure out what happened instead of chasing down the source. Curious in spite of the situation Takeru scanned his surroundings and stared when he spotted it.
A small, light blue, catlike creature was sitting crouched at the base of a tree not too far from him, it's ears, paws and tail were tipped in a lavender shade and it had an aqua coloured jewel set into its forehead like Mokona. It's purple eyes caught his and there was a silent standoff for a moment. Long ears flattened backwards in a very catlike expression of fear and a hissing growl sounded when Takeru shifted his weight onto his back foot. The animal was clearly magical, worse it was terrified and looked like it was about a hair's breadth from either bolting or attacking.
"Hello…" Takeru said as he tried to smile reassuringly at it, assuming it could understand him. Flicking his wrist he caught his wand as it fell out of his new wand-holster and hoped a shield spell would be able to stop the thing if it did attack. He'd had his fill of magical creatures the night before. "Look, I don't want to hurt you and you really don't want to hurt me… so why don't we just go our separate ways?" he tried, stepping back carefully. Wary eyes trained on the deceptively small animal. The thing was radiating enough magic to make his teeth ache.
He was pretty sure he would have been able to back away safely at that point had Shuu not chosen to wake up out of his nap and bounce out of a pocket. Fumbling to catch the Pygmy Puff before he could bounce over to the strange blue animal Takeru dropped his wand.
Impossibly fast, almost too fast to track, the animal dashed forward to snap his wand up in its mouth and dart off. Thinking back on his reaction later Takeru thought he could forgive himself for the unmanly high-pitched yelp that followed.
"NO! DON'T! I NEED THAT!
OoO
The little blue cat was demonically fast, supremely agile and small enough that it slipped around most obstacles in its path like they weren't even there. The only reason Takeru even managed to keep up with the creature, or at least keep it in viewing distance, was his own agility and the creature's constant need to stop and catch its breath. He jumped over things, ducked, rolled and bounced past obstacles most kids his age would have fallen over or gone around. Using the skills that had once kept him away from Dudley and his gang of followers Takeru chased after the little thief that had stolen his wand.
The cat led him on a merry chase around the neighborhood. Thoroughly messing with his mental map of the area and upending his sense of direction, he had no doubt that he was lost. If the blue animal had stolen anything else of his he'd have given up ages ago and called it an item well stolen. A wand though? That would be difficult to replace. Almost impossible. Yuuko had said she'd send Dumbledore's old one back to him when it was cleansed but who knew how long that would take? He didn't want to use that one anyway! He was already quite attached to his new wand and didn't want to have to get a new one! What if he needed it? He wasn't going to risk heading back into Magical Tokyo without a wand! It would be suicide!
Asking another one from Yuuko was out of the question. Who knew what she'd ask for in return? She'd probably ask for a pint of blood next!
The chase ended a little past midday, judging from the height of the sun, and both participants were exhausted. The little blue creature stumbled as it scrabbled frantically over a small bridge and dropped Takeru's wand. His wand bounced off the little bridge and Takeru lunged forward, catching his wand before it could be swept away by the stream. Thank god wands were made of wood. Wood was good. Wood floated.
Pin-wheeling frantically over the handrails of the decorative bridge Takeru thought he was about to head face-first into the shallow stream when a small weight bounced off the small of his back and shifted his balance back onto safe territory. Sinking weakly to his knees the boy shook his hand free of water and started to dry his now wet wand in between a fold of his scarf, hands shaking from the close call. Well, didn't that encounter put things in perspective a little bit? It seemed like he wasn't quite as ready to give up his magic as he'd thought he was. Hindsight was glorious that way.
A questioning chirp had him turning his attention away from where he was methodically drying his wand, which was currently spitting out small pink and gold sparks, and onto the blue cat that was now sitting on the handrail opposite him.
"Yeah, no. Go find someone else's wand to eat, I need this one." Takeru snorted as he inspected his now dry wand for damage and pointedly holstering it before the creature came up with any more clever ideas. Magic he could live with, it was the impossible situations magic dragged him into that he was more than frustrated with. He was looking forward to spending one day without having a magic-induced panic attack.
Pulling his knees up Takeru rested his elbows up on them and pressed his face into his hands. He was tired. How long was he going to be able to keep up with everything his life was throwing at him if he was constantly running face-first into these kinds of situations? He hadn't even wanted to be anywhere near the source of magic that had killed the computers in the café but had ended up running towards it anyway. Was he cursed or something?
A small weight similar to the one that had made sure he wouldn't land into the stream he had been headed face first into settled onto a shoulder, making him start in surprise. The little blue cat had leaped away from the opposite railing and was now sniffing curiously at his hair and face. "Hey, wait. You're the one that saved me from the water?" Takeru asked as he raised a hesitant hand to pet the creature. "What do you want from me?" The little thing chirped and rubbed it's cheek against his hand. It was irritatingly adorable.
Unfolding a little Takeru reached up with both hands to the cat on his shoulder. "Can I bring you down from there?" He asked, pausing for a bit before taking the next affectionate bump of its head against his hand as a yes. "Don't bite me please." He pleaded as he lifted the animal into his lap. "I've only just gotten healed up and I'd rather not visit my healer again anytime soon."
In sharp contrast to its attitude at the start of their little race around town the animal was now purring, rubbing up to the pets it was receiving and lidding its eyes shut in pleasure. "Why did you have to go and steal my wand if you were going to act this sweet afterwards?" Takeru asked tiredly, leaning heavily against the handrail. "Were you just looking for fun? Do you tease everyone this way?" he asked. The sleek little cat merely curled up in his lap, contentedly resting its head on its lavender paws and closing its purple eyes, it's rhythmic purring lulling Takeru into a light doze.
He didn't know how long he spent snoozing in the sun and honestly couldn't care, he woke up to the strange cat still napping in his lap and Shuu sleeping next to it. He needed to get going. He'd collected as much information from the internet as he could at the moment. He also needed to catch the train to Namimori. Carefully transferring the pygmy puff back into a pocket Takeru gently picked up the blue cat and tried to set it down on the bridge without waking it up. It wasn't having any of that though, it lets its displeasure known with a sharp chirp. A wordless demand to be picked up again.
"I can't take you with me!" Takeru told the little cat. "I already have three familiars!"
It just stared at him.
Takeru wavered slightly as it rubbed up against one of his ankles. "I really, really can't keep you." He muttered as he crouched down to scratch behind the little thing's ears. There was no way he'd be able to leave it behind. The cat was faster than he was, he wasn't about to outrun it and scaring it away would be cruel. That would just be too mean, especially to such a sweet little face.
Well… there was one other option. "How would you like a recommendation?" Takeru asked as he lifted the feline back up into his arms. "I know someone who would LOVE to have you, you're sweet and cute and he's very protective…"
OoO
Finding his way back to Syaoran's school was a tiring exercise. He'd had to resort to pulling out his map and scrying crystal to pinpoint where he currently was and then mark out the school. The trek back was long and tiring trip, made a little more awkward with the way Shuu was chirping up a storm from his shoulder at the strange blue cat in his arms. They stopped briefly at a street stall selling grilled chicken on sticks where Takeru bought enough to satisfy all three of them.
"Visiting some friends?" the stall holder grinned as he packed away the large order.
"Yeah… actually can I have another box please? I don't think this is going to be enough." He replied, thinking that he might as well buy some for Syaoran. He was going to be asking the boy for quite the favor. Magical animals weren't exactly the easiest of pets to adopt and look after.
Takeru fed both animals in the shelter of a surprisingly clean alleyway before moving onwards, munching on his own stick of grilled chicken as he went. Asking a lady who was standing next to her car if she knew when the school let out revealed that he didn't have to wait very long. Parking himself on a bench outside the school Takeru settled the little blue cat on his lap and started petting it to keep it calm. It had started to get a little edgy as they neared the school but seemed to relax at the attention it was getting.
A bell tolled, signalling the end of the school for the day and students started streaming out the doors. Takeru kept a gentle but firm hold on the little cat currently purring in his lap and craned his neck to see over the heads of the kids streaming out of the doors. He didn't have to keep looking for very long, Syaoran came charging out of the school like his tail was on fire. Did he really hate school that much?
"Syaoran! Over here!" He called, waving the boy over to where he was sitting, carefully keeping his other hand on the cat in his lap. "Can I ask you a favor?" he asked the boy as he came closer. "I found this guy causing trouble in the city, can you adopt him? I already have three familiars so I can't take him. He's really sweet and I've already asked him if he'd like to stay with you." He said as he lifted the sleepy blue feline in his lap up into view.
Syaoran gaped wordlessly at him for a good long moment, and was interrupted before he could even work up a reply.
"That's a Clow Card!" a voice exclaimed, shouting almost directly in his ear. "Sakura! Seal it! It's the Dash Card!"
Snapping the gold-colored, ball shaped animal out of the air Takeru stared at it, it looked like a stuffed toy. A stuffed toy with wings. It blinked dizzily up at him and a young girl with brown hair and green eyes darted forward to snatch the strange thing out of his hand.
"Hoeeee~! Kero-chan! Are you alright?" she asked, carefully examining the creature for damage.
"Oh, god, sorry about that!" Takeru grimaced. "I just… instincts… sorry!" he repeated as he pulled his hand back.
"You... need to… seal the … Clow… Card." The thing replied dizzily as it tried to right itself onto its feet.
"I can't do that here! Everyone can see!"
"Clow Card?" Takeru asked. "Clow as in Clow Reed?"
"You know about him?" the girl, who he was assuming was Sakura, asked as she smoothed a hand over 'Kero-chan's' ruffled fur.
Takeru shook his head. "Only his name…" trailing off he eyed the growing group of kids watching their group. "Is there somewhere private we can talk about this?"
"Um… you can come over to my house if you like?" Sakura offered, "It's pretty close?"
Syaoran scowled and opened his mouth, probably to turn her offer down when an ear splitting shriek sounded from the doorway of the school. Meilin had spotted them and was now making her way over, face red and looking feral enough to take a bite out of someone.
"I vote we go now. Lead the way… Sakura?"
"Hoe~!"
OoO
Sakura's house was a lovely two story house painted cream.
Meilin had managed to keep up with them and had gone to start screeching when Syaoran plastered a hand over her mouth and pointed to the small blue cat snoozing comfortably in Takeru's arms. Her eyes had widened and a strangled noise of surprise still managed to make it past the hand plastered over her mouth. Syaoran had only agreed to let her go if she kept her voice down, pointedly staring at the sleeping animal as if to imply why. She'd nodded frantically and had kept her eyes peeled on the little blue cat the whole way to Sakura's house.
She wasn't the only one to join their group, a giggle had turned their attention to a little ways down the street and another girl had joined them. One with long, curly dark hair and a camcorder. Had Takeru's arms not been full with a sleeping magical animal and the grilled chicken snacks he'd have tried ducking out of sight. Though he supposed that reaction was rather belated, how long had she been standing there? He'd gotten far too used to Colin Creevy's stalking tendencies if he was automatically ignoring cameras now.
Introductions were made over tea. Meilin turned out to share Syaoran's surname, and had introduced herself as the brown haired boy's fiancé at the same time the boy had called her his cousin. That was going to be quite the headache in a few years. Poor Syaoran.
Tomoyo Daidoji, the girl with the camera, had introduced herself without putting her camera down, ignoring her tea in favor of stalking around Sakura's now quite crowded room in order to 'Get the best angle'. She was Sakura's best friend and confidant, who not only knew about magic but regularly recorded Sakura's magical escapades with her camcorder. It was a situation the Ministry of Magic would have had kittens over back in England.
Sakura's introduction, Sakura Kinomoto, had gone hand in hand with an explanation of what Clow Cards were, her 'mission' and 'Kero-chan', whose full name was Keroberos. Keroberos was once familiar to the creator of the Clow Cards and had been tasked with the duty of Guarding them and choosing Clow's magical heir.
Finally Takeru's turn came and when he gave his name he pointedly stressed his first name as he slanted a sideways look at Meilin. He was not a girl. He was a wizard who had studied at a magic school in England called Hogwarts. He'd left and wasn't looking to return anytime soon. He had found Dash, the blue cat, causing trouble in the city and it had stolen his wand for a while, leading him on a merry chase.
"He probably thought you were trying to seal him away." Keroberos clarified from his seat on the table across from him, tapping the surface of it with a teaspoon taken from the teacup set in front of him. "Dash isn't a mean spirited card and he's about the least mischievous out of all of them. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Story of my life." Takeru muttered as he carded a gentle hand through the soft blue fur of the cat-like animal draped over his lap. "Does he have to be sealed? He seems so harmless like this."
"And the next time someone scares him?" Keroberos asked as he balanced a spoonful of tea out of his cup for a sip. "He's better off bonded to someone than left on his own, he needs an anchor otherwise…"
"… his magic will flare out of control." Takeru finished for him. "I'm Oversurging." He clarified when the small yellow animal stopped to stare at him. "Also before you ask, yes I've seen a healer and I have a familiar on the way." He said as he reached a hand into his pocket for the egg Yuuko had given him and sitting it up in the box he'd received it in.
"Oooh! Sakura, look! I hatched out of an egg like this!" Kerorberos exclaimed excitedly as he abandoned his tea in favor of coming over to check out the egg. "Only mine was bigger!"
Syaoran scoffed. "Clow Reed made your egg, it's not exactly the same is it?"
"It's so cute!" The animal crooned, ignoring the brown haired boy as he reached out a paw to pat the egg.
Syaoran lunged across the table and grabbed him before he could make contact, panic stretching across his face. There was a brief scuffle when Keroberos latched onto one of Syaoran's fingers with his teeth in retaliation for the rough handling and Takeru carefully shielded the egg with his hands just in case someone landed on it. The brown haired boy howled and flung the small animal off his finger and across the room where it righted itself in mid-air to glare at him.
"What was that for?" Keroberos yelled. "I was just trying to say hello!"
"Are you trying to KILL him?" Syaoran yelled back as he pointed at Takeru. "If the baby gets magic from anyone other than who it's meant for it could die or end up deformed or sick! If the baby dies HE'S going to die. You know that! Or you SHOULD!"
Keroberos froze mid-wing beat and dropped out of the air, shock and horror plastering across his face. "I… I didn't… I was just…" Sakura gently scooped him up off the floor and cuddled him to her chest, stroking his round head as she soothed at his ruffled fur.
Syaroan sighed. "… Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped." He muttered almost grudgingly. "I… guess the rules regarding created familiars are a bit different than with natural familiars. You couldn't have known. For future reference though… Natural familiars should only receive magic from their partners..." He opened his mouth to say something more but clicked his teeth shut after a sideways look at the small form cuddled up against Sakura's chest.
"Speaking of familiars…" Takeru interjected, deciding to save Syaoran from the questioning look he was getting from the others in the room about his interrupted comment. "Shouldn't we do something about Dash now? I've already wasted a lot of time running around after this guy and as much as I like talking to you guys I really do have to get moving sometime today."
"Ah! That's right! He was being so quiet I almost forgot!" Sakura exclaimed as she shot to her feet, fishing a pendant out from the neck of her shirt, but hesitated when the little blue cat tensed up.
"Hey, it's alright." Takeru soothed as he ran a hand through its sleek fur. "You know you can't keep running around wild like you were earlier! Besides you've been sitting here this whole time and neither of these guys have hurt you yet and I promise they wouldn't think of it in the future. I can't keep you but you get to choose who you stay with, what do you think? Nice warm house, food and playmates or outside where it's cold and lonely? At the very least I can vouch for Syaoran here. You saw for yourself how protective he is."
The little cat regarded the room with wary eyes and peered around the room at large, eying up Sakura and Syaoran and absently leaning into Takeru's soothing pets. "I'm pretty sure they'd love to pet you like this too." That seemed to seal the deal. Dash leaped up out of Takeru arms and onto his shoulder, the little cat gave him one last affectionate head-bump before jumping to land in front of where Sakura was standing. Sakura took that as her cue to begin.
Like the way Yuuko had used magic, a complicated array sketched itself out across the floor under the girl's feet in gold light. A sun dead center with a moon woven into the outer ring, foreign script and runes traced out elegant pathways connected into a mammoth spell formation. One that Sakura manipulated with breath-taking ease. "Oh key which holds the powers of Darkness, reveal your true form before me. I, Sakura, command you under the contract! Release!"
The small key-shaped pendant glowed, gaining a powerful corona of light as it started to soak in the magic Sakura was pouring into the array. The key grew and lengthened until it formed a short staff. She caught it out of the air with a sharp snap and gave it an expert twirl before levering it in front of her with her eyes focused on nothing else except for the task at hand. "Return to your true form! Clow Card!"
Sakura pointed the tip of her staff down and a glowing rectangular shape formed in the air in front of her, Dash dissolved into blue wisps of light and was sucked into it. The glow solidified into a card and raised itself into the air to sail up over everyone's heads. Dash's card hovered for a moment as if it were deciding who to go over to before making its decision. Syaoran grinned as he gently caught the newly made card out of the air in front of him and Meilin cheered loudly.
"That's what you use as a wand?" Takeru asked curiously, staring at the staff in the girl's hand. "Just to clarify Clow Reed was a guy right? He sure had interesting taste."
"Actually it aligned to Sakura's magic, those are her colors. Originally it was silver and dark blue and looked closer to a Falcon's head than a song bird's. There's some pictures in the book, didn't you read it?" Syaoran smirked as he carefully tucked Dash away in his pocket.
"Didn't have the time." Takeru muttered as he got to his feet.
"Eh? What do you use?" Sakura asked.
"This." Takeru replied, flicking his wrist to show her his new wand. "I think Syaoran uses a sword?"
"I have a wand." Syaoran clarified as he pulled it out. "I just have a sword charm attached that lets me transform it. I use charm cards too." He said, pointing out the red cord dangling off the handle of his wand and the green jewel attached to it and pulling out a handful of yellow slips of paper.
"I'm surprised your parents let you have a wand so early, in England kids don't usually get to legally keep one until they're eleven years old."
"Mother… pulled a few strings."
"A few?"
A voice coming from outside the room interrupted the conversation and everyone froze. "Oi Sakura, who do you have over?"
Syaoran stuffed his wand and charm-cards back into a pocket, Sakura jumped and hastily hid her staff out of sight under her bed and Keroberos stiffened, assumed a stiff pose and dropped onto his side. Taking his cue from the rest of the room Takeru re-holstered his wand and picked up his tea. The person at the door probably wasn't 'in the loop' as far as magic went.
A teenager with dark hair and eyes opened the door to Sakura's room and ducked his head into the room, taking a look around and stepping fully into the room when he spotted Syaoran. "What are you doing here!" The teen snapped, glaring hard enough to strip skin.
"Leaving." Syaoran snapped, stamping to his feet.
"Same." Takeru said as he got up to his own feet, scooping up the box his egg was still sitting in and carefully tucking it into the cushioned insides. "It's about time I got going anyway. It was nice to meet you Sakura, Tomoyo. Maybe I'll be able to visit again sometime soon."
"And you are?" the teenager asked pointedly, a half-frown still on his face.
"Takeru Hiba… I suppose it's Hibari Takeru here isn't it?" he replied, smiling as he held out a hand for the other boy to shake.
"You're supposed to bow when introducing yourself." Syaoran said as he walked past, grabbing at Takeru's hand.
"Kinomoto Touya." The teenager replied, pointedly smacking Syaoran's hand away to shake the offered hand. "You're from overseas?"
"Yup, England."
"You can shake hands with people if you want. It's not like no one's going to under… stand…" Touya's started to explain but trailed off as his eyes trailed down to the egg still sitting in the cushioned box he was holding. Takeru had yet to replace the lid so the egg was still visible.
Touya visibly boggled, stared and blinked hard. "What the…"
"Class project." Takeru lied easily, replacing the lid on the box and tucking it back into his pocket. He didn't needing Sakura's flailing gestures to clue him into the fact that a secret that was apparently being kept here. Not that the excuse seemed to be working. Touya was giving him a disbelieving stare, one he transferred to Sakura, Syaoran and even down to Keroberos who was still pretending to be a stuffed toy. Takeru wanted to palm his face as the disbelieving silence stretched..
Takeru turned his head to the side to avoid the teenager's eyes and coughed at the air of frustration that coloured the air around him. Touya clearly knew what was going on and the teenager also clearly wanted to call him on the lie. God, what a situation.
"Well, like I said I have to go now. It was nice meeting you all." Takeru said, waving sharply and beating a hasty retreat, leaving Sakura to her brother's all too piercing stare. How exactly did she think she was keeping her magic 'secret' from him? The teenager was clearly gifted in his own way, not many people could actively see magic. Probably had some serious latent magic of his own. Nothing active though or Takeru would have sensed him coming up the stairs long before he'd actually gotten to the bedroom door.
Syaoran and Meilin followed sharply behind him, seemingly as eager to get away as he was, probably scared of 'spilling the secret'. Tomoyo giggled and said her goodbyes to her best friend too, excusing herself with a bow and followed them out of the room with her camcorder still recording.
Touya followed them down the stairs.
"You don't have to leave because of me." The teen insisted, eyes glued to the pocket Takeru had tucked the egg away in. "I can even bring up some snacks for you guys to enjoy." The dark haired teenager offered, stalking after them. He wasn't giving up easily was he?
"Thank you for the offer but I brought snacks over earlier, I really couldn't eat another bite." Takeru smiled as he stepped into his shoes, sitting down on the front step to tie the laces. Syaoran and Meilin dropped a hasty bow and slithered out the door like the little escape artists they clearly were and Takeru was left with Touya staring down at him as he finished tying his laces.
"… was there something you wanted from me?" Takeru asked pointedly as he got up, meeting the teenager's eyes and giving him the chance to ask the question he dearly looked like he wanted to ask. If the teenager asked he would give him the truth he was asking for… but only if he asked. He wasn't about to offer up the information without prompting, just in case he had misread the teenager.
The teen's hands clenched and he held his breath for a long moment before letting it out in a gusty sigh. Touya ran a frustrated hand through his hair and grumbled. "… not really. I guess I'm just going to have to wait to hear it from Sakura."
"If that's what you want. Can't say I'm not relived. There are rules for this sort of situation and I could get into a lot of trouble for sharing as I'm not blood related to you."
"Rules?" Touya startled, staring down at him in shock.
"Rules."
"I… ok. No. I can wait. I've waited this long already…" the boy grouched. "Get out of here before I change my mind."
"Yessir!" Takeru saluted with a grin and escaped out of the house.
OoO
Syaoran and Meilin were waiting for him at the gate.
"What were you going to say earlier? When we were talking about familiars?" Takeru asked as they left the house, giving it a backwards look and waving lightly to Touya who was watching them from the living room window.
Syaoran and Meilin shared an uncomfortable look. "Don't get me wrong," Syaoran began, "Clow Reed was an incredible Sorcerer. If he hadn't died he would probably have continued to pave the way to more advanced magic over the years, it's just..." he trailed off, clearly trying to figure out a tactful way explain himself. Takeru was wondering what on earth Clow Reed had to do with his earlier comment about Familiars but kept his mouth shut.
"Clow... when he discovered that he was Oversurging, he arrogantly disregarded his Healer's advice, believing that as a lesser witch there would be nothing she could tell him about his own magic that he didn't already know. I don't know all the details but he made his own Familiars, and the Clow Cards as well. In theory, his idea was sound. By pouring his magic into different outlets it would bleed off the Oversurge. But in practice, he messed up and was just too proud to even consider it as his condition began to worsen. By making his own Familiars, Familiars capable of generating their own magic, he'd just created two new Oversurge points. He tripled the magical pressure he was under and that's without going into the cumulative effect that all the Clow Cards had on him."
Takeru frowned, "How will this affect Sakura? Or you for that matter?" he asked, concern edging into his voice.
Syaoran flushed and fidgeted a little, not looking him in the eye, "Clow Reed is said to have adjusted the Cards and his Familiars before his death. They can't produce their own magic anymore. They need to be harnessed to another or they'll starve themselves to death and become dormant, or lost forever. Hence why until recently they've been in a dormant state until Sakura's magic activated them. She gave them an unexpected boost of magic, enough to get them to awaken and escape."
"I'm guessing Keroberos and the Cards don't know what killed Clow." Takeru murmured, tucking his hands into his pockets and curling his hands around Shuu and the egg. If he had been Clow he would definitely have kept it from them.
"Clow kept it a secret right up to his death. He had people from just about everywhere telling him to destroy them, that he had time enough to accept a natural familiar before he died but... He really loved Keroberos and his other creations like they were his own children and spent what little remaining time he had left making the adjustments that allowed them to live. He sealed away the Cards and his familiars and chose to die himself rather than destroy them."
Takeru nodded at that, he knew exactly what he would have done in that same position. If Keroberos was anywhere near as sweet as Dash had been then it was no real wonder that Clow had sacrificed himself for them. Imagining trying to tell Dash that he was the reason why he was dying made him feel like the worst kind of bastard. He couldn't even picture himself even considering trying to kill the sweet thing. It was unthinkable and Takeru had no doubt that the person who had created the card would have felt even worse. They would have been newborn babies at the time too.
It was a rough way to die… but he really couldn't blame Clow for the decision. "Poor guy." Takeru murmured. "Poor familiars too, I can't even imagine what that must have been like."
"He dug his own grave." Syaoran muttered gruffly, slipping his hand into his own pocket and to where he was keeping his collection of Clow Cards. "Everyone, everywhere told him that creating his own familiars was a bad idea. Especially when he was already Oversurging so badly, but he was fixated on the idea. Today he's internationally held up as the reason why you don't mess with your own magic… Or, well… there are a whole lot of reasons why he's famous. That's just one of them. He… didn't exactly keep a low profile." Syaoran's tone of voice making it clear that very little of Clow Reeds fame had much to do with how amazing the man had been.
"Thank you for letting me stay over for the night Syaoran." Takeru said as they entered the train station, haven taken the younger boy up an offer to show him the way. "Also for everything else. If you hadn't been there I'd have just walked right into Yubaba's bath-house, that's a debt I owe you so if you ever need any help with anything owl me?"
"You don't owe me anything!" Syaoran replied as he displayed Dash, a pink tint rising in his cheeks to flush his face with colour. "You helped me get Dash, we're even… but I'll still owl you." The boy said. Tomoyo, who had followed them the whole way there chuckled under her breath at it, watching the two of them from a small distance away, still recording. "Where are you headed?"
"Namimori." Takeru answered, insides squirming in anticipation.
"Then this is the train you need to be taking." The boy pointed out, tracing a hand down the chart he had turned away sharply to look at. "You have just enough time to catch it without having to wait." The boy said as he led the way to the ticket machine. "Do you know how to buy a ticket?"
Takeru nodded cautiously and moved forward, scanning the machine and punching in the right destination before feeding it a note fished out of his wallet. He accepted the ticket and turned to look for the right train when Tomoyo reached forward to hand him a small folded piece of paper.
"It's all of our addresses, emails and phone numbers." The girl told him as Takeru unfolded the paper. "Just in case someone forgot to give them to you."
Syaoran turned brick red.
"Come back when you're no longer a walking bomb." Meilin said loftily, somehow looking down her nose at him. "I want to see what hatches out of that egg! When you next come back Syaoran will have all of the Clow Cards! Just you watch!"
Takeru chuckled even as Syaoran spluttered at her attitude. "I'm looking forward to it already."
