Summary: When he was four years old and friendless, Li Syaoran rescued and befriended a Dragon Prince. A year later, the prince had to leave him. Six years later, the prince returned to try to kill Syaoran. But Syaoran is determined to believe the prince still loved him. Is this true? Can the group save him from the prince, or whoever the prince works for?

The Dragon Prince

Discussions

" You know," Touya stoked the campfire while everyone else sipped their hot chocolate, " Gods having sex scandals and goddesses barfing up junk food sounds all right in stories and legends on new year's, but when it actually it happens it sounds pretty retarded."

" Doesn't help that he actually had sex with her." Eriol tossed a log into the flames. Touya yelled, drawing his hands back sharply.

" Hey, watch it!"

" I still don't get how you are so certain he actually had 'sex' with her." Syaoran glared at Eriol.

" Li-san," Eriol replied in a long-suffering tone, " I know he's your idol and all, but he had sex with a water nymph. Probably ashamed as he could ever possibly be, which would explain why he did not just say it, but posing as a servant girl and getting him intoxicated? It is obvious what happened."

" I don't see it either." Sakura shook her head.

" Me neither." Tomoyo blinked. " How does that translate into them…er, having sex?"

" You know," Fujitaka broke in, giving the three youngest members of the group a stern look, " I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that you three are taking this sex thing so casually. You two are eleven."

" We're old enough!" Syaoran protested. " Besides, I have older sisters."

" Oni-chan's manga has a lot of naked people." Touya's face reddened at this.

" We know what sex is." Tomoyo replied. " Learned it in school. Well, kind of. Something about sperms and eggs."

At Fujitaka's glare, Touya retorted, " Hey, they were just there. I didn't buy them because of the naked, er—"

" Considering it's Japanese manga," Eriol interrupted wearily, " Unless Touya only reads Powerpuff girls, I think drawings of naked people would come with the package. But we're straying off topic. The point is, Ao Sheng apparently slept with the Third Eastern Prince's girlfriend, whatever her name is, who happens to be a water serpent demon that is actually in love with a Water Scorpion lieutenant. Now the Third Prince killed her in an angry brawl with Ao Sheng and for some reason decides to displace all his guilt on Ao Sheng and manages successfully to do so despite the reputed omniscience of deities. I think we have a slight problem here."

Despite their declaration that they were old enough, neither Sakura nor Syaoran could understand what the significance was.

" Suffice to say," Yue replied moodily, " What ended up happening was very bad for your dear prince."

" But that in itself would not be so bad if we did not have a homicidal third prince." Eriol pointed out. " And if he managed to frame the Second Prince so thoroughly, I'm not sure there is anything we can do."

" Well, as long as he is truly innocent, there has got to be some way." Syaoran stood up with a jerk, his hot chocolate slushing in its mug. He set it down in the sand and stomped off.

" Syaoran-kun," Sakura started, but Kero held her back.

" That gaki, heading out like that with the tide coming up." He muttered. " You stay here. I'll go after him before he hurts himself."

But Syaoran had only gone to the edge of the rocks. The water splashed at the wall below and some splattered over his shoes, but he was hardly even wet. He sat down staring over waters at the moonlight glistening on the surface.

" Hey kid," Kero landed on the ground next to him, " We ought to stick together. Beaches aren't safe at night, you know.

Syaoran heaved a deep breath. " I need to do some spying."

Kero decided not to point out that there was no way Syaoran could mess with immortals and get away with it. " Why?"

" Third Eastern Prince must have left some hints." He folded his arms. " We just need to know where to look."

" Come back." Kero urged. " Let's discuss this. Don't sit out here alone. It's getting cold."

Syaoran sighed.

" Don't do that." Sakura said as she took Syaoran's mug away. " And don't put your mug in the sand either. Now it's all full of sand and you can't drink this chocolate anymore."

" Here, have another one." Yue held out another steaming cup neutrally.

" We'll all have to pee a lot tonight."

" Are you taking it or not?"

Syaoran took the mug.

" We heard you back there, by the way." Eriol said to him gravely as he sat back down on the mat. " Not all of it, just when you were yelling. We're your friends too, you know. We'll be glad to help you help him, but don't give us the cold shoulder like that."

Syaoran remembered instantly how he had yelled at the prince. " Ugh." He groaned.

" What?" Touya huffed. " Got something to hide?"

" What's the point?" Syaoran swallowed the hot liquid. " Argh!" He exclaimed.

" It was steaming you know." Kero deadpanned.

" He did it on purpose." Touya observed.

Tongue and palate tingling from the burn, Syaoran wiped at his eyes as the sand blew into them. " What utter rot. It may come as a shock to you, but I do happen to care about those who were good to me, and I don't appreciate hearing that I'm supposed to sit here and do nothing while he's awaiting execution."

" He's getting executed?" Sakura asked.

" Penalty for hurting a mortal." Syaoran wiped his eyes.

" Why didn't you tell the King the truth then? To delay it all? Or the princess?"

" I did!" Syaoran snapped at her. " You think the King ordered the execution?"

" Well…" Sakura looked like she had just been snapped. " I mean…who else would?" She asked, hurt.

" The Jade Emperor." Eriol replied, as Syaoran purposefully burned his mouth again by taking another gulp of the steaming chocolate.

" Stop doing that." Fujitaka took the mug away from the boy. " This is not your fault, and hurting yourself like this isn't going to help."

" Hurting mortals is a serious crime from a deity. It means they have fallen from godhood and become evil demons." Eriol continued to explain. " When a demon becomes good they don't necessarily become deities, but they are granted titles and privileges of a deity as a reward. When deities become evil, however, they must be executed. It is too dangerous to leave them running around."

" But he didn't become evil. It was all the Third Eastern Prince." Tomoyo protested.

" He's the third Eastern prince." Syaoran spat. " Fine choice, I think, youngest son of the most powerful freaking Dragon King. No wonder he got away with it all. West was always the weakest. And what with the Jade Emperor never bothering to interfere with stuff until someone tattles to him. He's always sitting up there watching fairies dance."

" You don't know that." Eriol pointed out. " It was just how he was portrayed."

" Well he sure isn't doing anything to dispel that portrayal, is he?"

" So what, appeal to the Jade Emperor?"

" Would he listen?"

" I think," Yue reminded everyone, " The issue we should consider first is how we're going to even reach said Jade Emperor."

A silence fell. The fire flickered. Touya groaned.

" Can someone else take care of the fire for once?" He complained.

Before Eriol could move, Syaoran was already up, slamming several sticks into the pile. He heaved a deep breath as he straightened. " Kami-sama." He then looked at everyone. " Gomen nasai."

" What for?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran shook his head and rubbed his temples. " I didn't actually intend to drag you all into this."

" You didn't know there was anything to drag us into." Eriol said quietly. " I was half expecting your prince to be either mad or simply nonexistent."

" Well he's not."

" That much is clear."

Syaoran turned away from the group, facing the ocean. " He had everything planned out. Except for me."

" What do you mean?" Kero asked.

Syaoran sat down again. " He can't possibly have planned anything about me. He doesn't even know me."

" Sounded like he knew enough. He certainly recognized you."

" Hai." Syaoran replied. " He recognized me by…matte—how did he recognize me anyway?"

" Good question." Yue replied. " I would assume it would require some spying about the Li clan, and then, once it became clear you were actually in Tomoeda, some spying about you."

" He's probably been spying on all of us." Kero huffed. " Assuming he isn't still doing so."

" Wouldn't have a reason to." Syaoran shook his head. " Er Taizi is already locked up, waiting to be executed. If he does any more he'd let everyone know that Er Taizi was not the one responsible. He's probably back in his palace, gloating." He frowned. " Oh great. What if he hears we visited, say."

" How would he learn?"

" Word gets around." Eriol rose to his feet. " Especially as Otohime is his sister."

" She was talking about helping. Is this what she meant? She's going to turn on her brother for her cousin?"

" Why would she do that?" Touya asked.

" Probably they were closer." Syaoran looked like he was sore, and Fujitaka went to his cooler to get him some cold water.

" You shouldn't have burned yourself like that." He said gently, handing Syaoran a water bottle.

Syaoran took it wordlessly.

" Are you alright?" Kero asked.

" What do you think?" Syaoran took a drink, rinsing his mouth as he did. " Everyone seems keen on taking advantage of me."

" What do you mean?" Sakura exclaimed, aghast.

" I hardly think the Dragon Prince would have the mind to take advantage of you." Eriol said gently. " From what you told us, he gave as much love to you as he took from you."

" Yeah, I know." Syaoran capped the bottle. " Still sucks that the only reason he hung around was because I was such a loser back then that I'd latch on to anyone who is even remotely nice to me."

" You weren't a loser." Eriol stared at him, while everyone else in the group felt like they were losing track of the conversation.

" Certainly felt like one." Syaoran muttered moodily.

" Li-san, Dragon Princes don't just pair up with any lonely kid on the block."

" You know, I hate it when you decide to be all patronizing." Syaoran snapped, even though Eriol did not feel he was patronizing at all. " I know. He did not have to hang around with just me. Probably more love in the world than just one person, after all. And heck, he probably would have gotten better a lot faster if he just went and gathered all that 'adoration' from millions and billions of people. He did not have to hang around for a whole year." He tossed the bottle in the cooler. He started chuckling a little. " Kami-sama. I had no idea."

" Li-san." Eriol sighed.

" I'm fine." Syaoran held up his hand. " I'm fine. I just want to…want to help him. Any way I can. Curse it all, he's just going to go away again."

" You still have us." Eriol said solemnly.

" What's going on?" Sakura asked Yue, who shook his head grimly.

" What was he to you, exactly?" Kero asked.

Syaoran swayed, like he was about to faint. " He was my idol." He said quietly. " He was the only person who ever cared at all about me."

" We care about you." Sakura reminded him.

" Well, I meant in Hong Kong." Syaoran looked at her, tiredly. " He was the only person who believed I could be someone, someone that wasn't a loser punk."

Touya snorted.

" Why would you think that?" Tomoyo asked.

" What was that whole thing with not having magic?" Sakura asked. " I mean, you have magic…is it not yours, or—"

" Oh it's mine alright," Syaoran snapped, incensed. " I'm not sick enough to go around stealing other people's magic."

" Then what?" Sakura asked, ignoring the way Yue flinched. " What did you guys mean?"

" I explained this to you already! I might as well not have any magic, according to my relatives! It was like world news, son of the Li clan is your average magician that barely had enough to do card tricks!" Syaoran rubbed at his eyes furiously. " Not that it's any of your freaking business!"

" We have more important things to worry about." Kero tried to stave off any more lashings. " We need to figure out what to do about the prince."

" Well I have to get him out. If it's the last thing I do." Syaoran sniffed. The firelight lit his eyes so that they looked almost feral. " I need to figure out how to show it was the Third Eastern Prince."

" He's a god. Even with Otohime's help, you wouldn't be able to reverse a whole year's worth of—"

" Well I have to try. What, are you going to stop me?!"

" I say we sleep on it." Yue broke the potential quarrel. " We've all had a long day, in our own way, and either way it is not safe to do anything until morning."

" What if the prince is executed tomorrow?"

" He is not. End of the year, remember." Yue pointed out. " Now. Which tent."

It was easy to pair Sakura with Tomoyo, which left Fujitaka, Touya, Eriol, Yue, and Syaoran between two tents.

" Li-san and I can take that one." Eriol gestured to one of the tents. " Is that alright with you?" He turned to the boy.

But Syaoran was already making his way over there. Receiving no response, Eriol cautiously followed.

" You can join Otou-san and me." Touya said to Yue behind them.

Inside the tent Syaoran changed into his pajamas, his back turned to Eriol, who silently did the same. They heard Fujitaka and Sakura put out the fire. Eriol reflected, a little wistfully, that Syaoran had never been the one for courtesy.

Then again, perhaps that was what made him special. Never one for pointless considerations, but when he does consider, they always had profound meaning.

" It will be alright, Li-san." He said to the boy, who had crawled under the cover of the blankets.

Syaoran did not reply, but in the new darkness Eriol could see the flicker of his eyelashes as he blinked. The boy was awake, and alert.

With a soft sigh, Eriol slid into his own blankets. He shut his eyes for a while when silence fell and almost started to fall asleep when Syaoran spoke again.

" Clow Reed never saw me, huh."

Eriol opened his eyes in surprise, but did not reply at first. " He did not see many people." He answered at last.

Silence descended again after that. Syaoran dreamed he was five years old again, trying not to think that he would never see the prince again. He dreamed that his sisters poked fun at each other and laughed as if the world had not just shattered around him. His mother was as oblivious as ever, ordering him to go to bed despite not having seen him the entire day, not even at dinner. He walked through the entire night in his dream, while in the real world, Eriol turned to face Syaoran's quietly sobbing form. Instead of waking him, however, he slid his arm around the other boy and drew him close. Within the dream, Syaoran felt the warm arms circle him and thought it was the Dragon Prince, who was there for him again. His sobs quieted, and his dreams turned to more mundane things, of seawater and lotus blossoms and a full moon against a starlit sky.