Chapter 8:
4/02/09 I'm sick!! No school!! Woot! v(^w^)/
12/02/09 Back to school, noooooo!!!
3/03/09 Hi guys!! No I am not dead. (Thanks to those who ever had the thought of buying me a coffin……)
I just have been sick, then stuffed with work to catch up on and now I have heaps of paper, energy and time wasting assignments. Oh, and not to mention tests coming up!
Yep, that's it for excuses, I hope I get to update soon!!
(wow, just noticed I last updated when I was still in China…)
Updates are going to take longer now because I'm at school, sorry. But I'll try to make the chapters longer so there's more to read. =D
29/03/09 OMG I still haven't updated! How long's it been? 3 months? I wouldn't be surprised if I lost readers, or if one of you guys show up in my house and beat me up. Still in the middle of exams but as you can see, I'm writing! (A bit.)
I want to give all of you who have reviewed a big thank you! I love you all! Thank you so much! I love reading all the reviews! (Who doesn't?)
Ok the story…
"Character talking"
Character thinking
(me talking)
Oh, I'm sorry I have no idea what Sakura calls Yelan. So I wrote Li-sama. Please don't laugh. Can someone tell me the correct name and I'll change it in the next chapters.
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"Wow…" Sakura was speechless. Ancient China?
Meiling, on the other hand, went berserk.
"Arrgggghh! What the hell?! What do you mean, Ancient China!? I'm not in Ancient China! That's not possible! I'm in Hong Kong! In a shop fifty metres from your house! Hong Kong dammit!" (How I spell damn it =D)
She ran around, onto the street, waving her arms about.
"Meiling, Meiling! Calm down!" Syaoran grabbed her and pulled her back.
"Meiling! Look around! Unless we've been transported to the middle of a film set of another Ancient Chinese movie they're making, I'm pretty sure this is Ancient China!"
Meiling looked around and, failing to see a director, film crew or famous person she knew, burst into tears.
"Get me back! Are we stuck here? Forever? I want to go back!"
"Syaoran, Meiling!" Sakura was pointing to someone standing at the door of a well-furnished inn across the street.
Meiling immediately stopped crying and gasped. "Aunt Yelan!"
"Mother…" Syaoran murmured.
"Aunt Yelan!" Meiling, almost getting run over by a cart full of chickens, sped across the street, followed by Syaoran, Sakura and Tomoyo.
Sakura noticed Syaoran's mum hadn't changed since she last saw her.
Li Yelan gracefully turned her head, making her long black hair sway in the breeze and fall delicately over her shoulder. A small smile formed on her red lips when she saw who was calling her.
"Meiling, Xiao Lang. Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan. I see you've finally found your way here." She greeted in a soft, melodic voice, like the rippling of a stream.
"Aunt Yelan!" Meiling cried and hugged her.
"Mother." Syaoran bowed in respect.
Sakura and Tomoyo did the same. "Li-sama." They greeted.
Yelan nodded in reply. "I assume you've all realised this is the doings of a Card?"
Sakura and Syaoran nodded, while Meiling looked up, surprised.
"It is? Oh… OH! So we can go back? After we get the Card? Yay!"
Syaoran face-palmed. "Retard. I didn't bother explaining because I thought you were actually smart enough to realise that. Guess I was wrong."
He earned himself a punch in the face.
While Syaoran and Meiling were busy chasing each other around the inn, Sakura decided to ask a question bothering her.
"Li-sama, how are you here?"
"This Card only affects people with magic in a certain area it chooses. I was close by, so I was transported too. And if you're wondering why Meiling and Tomoyo-chan are here too, I found that whatever you are touching comes with along as well. I'm sure you must have been holding on to each other."
Sakura and Tomoyo nodded.
"I didn't come by myself either."
As if on cue, an excited shriek erupted from the back of the inn.
Syaoran's four older sisters appeared, all of them were pointing at him.
"It's Xiao Lang!"
"He's back!"
"Our baby brother is back!"
"XIIAAOO LAANNGG!!"
All four of them charged at him, ready to hug/kiss him to death.
"Arrrghhh!!!" Syaoran, fear clearly visible in his eyes, forgot about Meiling and ran for his life.
"Have fun!" Meiling taunted, waving them off.
Yelan turned back to Sakura, a serious expression on her usually expressionless face.
"I'm afraid there's going to be more than one Card out there. I have a feeling this Card brought you back to this time to finish…some unfinished business of the Li's. It's an old legend…and I wish you luck. Here."
Yelan removed a glittering hair ornament from her head. It was made of a glistening ruby, set in the middle of an intricately carved gold base.
The sunlight danced on the jewel as Yelan handed it to Sakura.
"This might help you."
"It's…beautiful." Sakura breathed. "A-are you sure you want to give this to me?"
Yelan nodded slightly. Sakura noticed she never made big movements.
"I'm sure this hasn't been handed down from generation to generation for no reason."
Yelan made a small gesture towards a closed door in the back of the inn, making her elaborately decorated sleeve rustle.
"Come in here for a moment. You too, Tomoyo-chan."
They followed her to the back of the inn. The door creaked spookily as they entered the dark room; the only source of light was a glowing lantern on a wooden desk. Yelan walked to the table and opened a dusty old book.
"Touch any one of the characters, Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan." She indicated for Tomoyo to do the same.
Sakura chose one she recognised, one of the few Chinese characters she understood. It read as 'Hua' which meant flower, part of her name. Tomoyo chose a complicated looking one she later found meant wisdom.
Yelan made a diamond with her fingers. She began muttering a spell that only she could hear herself. Sakura and Tomoyo looked at each other, confused. Sakura suddenly let out a gasp when she felt the tip of her finger get warm, the word under it glowing pink. Darkness enveloped Sakura. She heard wind rushing around her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. A headache creeped into her head and began spreading. Soon, Sakura's head felt like it could explode, like it was being overloaded with information. Just as she felt like banging her head against the table, the pain faded away. Judging from the expression on her face, Sakura could see Tomoyo had just experienced the same thing. They stood, confusion and surprise visible in their faces. Minutes passed and Yelan, looking pale and extremely worn out, broke the silence.
"Read this paragraph."She was pointing to the book.
"W-wha?" Sakura blinked.
"Just try." Yelan nodded encouragingly.
Sakura removed her finger and hesitantly looked at the page, yellow with age.
"W-when the first rays of the morning sun-" She gasped and her hand flew to her mouth.
"Sakura-chan, did you just read Chinese?" Tomoyo inquired, looking equally surprised as Sakura.
"You can too, Tomoyo." Yelan informed.
"…the breeze whispering through the leaves…" Tomoyo's eyes widened after each word. She had just chosen some random sentence and it had worked.
"What just…did you…I…" Sakura stuttered.
Yelan smiled, the biggest smile Sakura had seen her give anyone yet.
"It would help if you could finish one of your sentences."
Sakura blushed embarrassedly.
"But if you wanted to know, yes, I did just cast a spell. Though my magic isn't that strong, I'm sure it will last long enough for you to use in this trip. Both of you now know how to speak, read, understand and write Chinese.
"Arigatou, Li-sama. Sakura and Tomoyo said in unison, both extremely grateful.
Suddenly the door flew open and Syaoran ran into the room, slamming it shut after him. He leaned against the closed door, panting, lipstick mark on cheek.
He looked so pathetic Sakura bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing. Syaoran four sisters were pounding and knocking, screaming at him to come out. After while, the commotion died down and Yelan spoke.
"Since you're all here, I might as well explain what you need to do next."
All three pairs of eyes were on her.
"Well, there is a belief created by some philosophers of the Han Dynasty, which by the way is what we're in now. That the earth was created by a dragon, The Great Dragon. He created other dragons, dragons to control the different elements and other abstract things. It is said that The Great Dragon (corny I know, please bear with me, it's 1 in the morning) left a message carved on a scale before he left to never come back, to let the other dragons run the world. Because during that time, civilisation had been interrupted by some dragons who were fighting each other and trying to overthrow the heavenly Matriarch's hierarchy, The Great Dragon only told his most trusted companion where he buried the scale, Tian Long, dragon of the skies."
Syaoran nodded knowingly, while Tomoyo tried to digest the information. Sakura just blinked.
"But before Tian Long could go search, he was locked up by a powerful magician. The first magician of dark magic. The founder of dark magic. Tian Long has been locked in some sort of ornament, I do not know what."
The three stared blankly.
"So your task now is to go find Xiao Lang's distant cousin. He lives two villages away from here. In Clear Water village-"
"How do you know this, mother? We're in ancient times…"
"I have my ways." She answered mysteriously. "Do not interrupt me Xiao Lang. Find him, Li Shan, and you will need to show him your Li clan badge Xiao Lang, in case he suspects anything. And he will give you more information than I can. Who knows, you may have to go beyond expectations to find the artefact holding Tian Long. Let nature take its course."
Seeing that she didn't intend on saying anymore, the three left to discuss the information they had just been given.
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(The next morning)
The birds chirped. The breeze whispered through the trees. Sakura, Syaoran and Meiling walked out of the inn, each with small bag full of supplies to last them the journey. They were early, but not early enough. Already, shopkeepers were opening stores, stalls were being set up, jewellery hung, animals slayed, vegetables laid out. Prices were being shouted out, there was bargaining and yelling. Yes, the streets were already bustling with people. The previous night, they had decided to leave in the morning, and make their way to Clear Water village. Yelan had insisted that Tomoyo stayed, since the journey may be dangerous and the others would be too occupied to look out for her. Tomoyo had reluctantly agreed when she realised she couldn't tape anything anyway, without being burned on stakes declared as a sorcerer or something. But that didn't stop her staying up all night and weaving a gorgeous, detailed belt for Sakura.
She hugged Sakura and Meiling, who had insisted on going since she knew martial arts and could be of help, and patted Syaoran on the arm.
"Be careful, all of you." She smiled a sad, longing smile.
"Good luck." They were Yelan's only words.
And with that, they waved and left.
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By the afternoon, their feet ached, their muscles were sore and they had reached the next village. It was as busy, if not more, that the last one.
"Aaaa! It's so damn hot! So, what are we doing again?" Meiling asked, waving at herself in an attempt to cool herself down.
Syaoran mumbled something incomprehensible.
"Uhh…" Sakura glanced at him. "I think he meant we're going to the next village to find Li Shan and ask him where the ornament thingie is, what it is and how we get it and then we go find it, somehow release Tian Long, find the scale and then since our task is done, I can capture the Ancient Card." She ticked each thing off her fingers.
"…This sounds so much like those video games, or stories. Like, the three heroes then set off on their exciting journey to collect the bla bla bla and restore peace into the world bla bla. You know what I mean?"
Meiling laughed. "Yeah. I'm currently playing an online game that resembles what we're doing now."
Syaoran mumbled something again. He was thinking about what Yelan had pulled him aside and secretly gave him earlier. It had been a letter, from the Elders, reminding him of his job.
I've been too friendly around Sakura…it's not good for either of us…
The three teenagers squeezed through a large crowd gathered around a group or performers. Sakura, being the clumsy person she was, bumped into numerous people. As soon as she passed through the other side of the crowd and could breathe again, she realised something was wrong. She felt like she was missing something. Call it magic or maybe instincts, but Sakura was right. Something felt lighter around her waist. She lifted her shirt and gasped. The money bag full of gold coins to last them the whole journey (wonder why Yelan would let Sakura be in charge of the money…lol) was gone. Through the cheering and laughing of the crowd and the shouts of the performers, a loud shriek could be heard.
"THIEF! SOMEONE'S TAKEN MY MONEY BAG!!"
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I know what you're thinking. A long wait for a boring chapter. And I sincerely apologise!
I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to not update in so long!
Anyways, I promise the next chapter will be more interesting. I have it planned in my head, the whole Ancient China story. Holidays are coming! Yay! Updates will be faster!
BTW I started another story, please check it out! If I get enough readers I'll continue it!
And PLEASEEEEEE REVIEW!!! Okay, I'll be honest. It really bugs me. You silent readers. GR. Yes you know I'm taking about you. *evil stare*
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Sakura and Syaoran 4eva
