The Key

Chapter 11

Weekend rolled by. Yamazaki and some other friends headed over to Syaoran's apartment to pick him up for Penguin Park. Syaoran had to hurry out to meet them outside before they decided to try to find the apartment themselves. He made a note to ask Sakura to link the doorbell to the buzzer somehow.

The actual team needed the standard soccer equipment, but since Syaoran was just getting introduced, everyone decided to forgo the stuff designed to keep their bones from breaking; they were uncomfortable, and they would get bruises anyway, so the band of boys headed over to the park armed with two soccer balls and for some reason a baseball bat.

Syaoran was not so far removed from society that he did not know the basics. He knew, for example, that he could not use his hands or arms or shoulders, but he could use his head and his torso. Being able to cartwheel with his head allowed him to bump the ball into the goal a lot more easily without really feeling any pain, but kicking the ball proved, after about two misses, to be a little more tricky for him. Still, he learned very quickly, even if he kept breaking rules, which then served to remind the boys that such rules existed and they should explain it to him.

With homework due on Monday, the plan was for the boys to head over to the library afterwards to do it together. Syaoran, having learned most of the stuff already and was only fairly behind on Japanese history, was to tutor all of them in math, English, and Japanese, while Yamazaki offered to catch Syaoran up on history. Syaoran found it very funny that he was tutoring Japanese kids their own language. He was impressed by how easily he was able to speak and understand Japanese. It turned out all that solitary studying paid off.

Several hours later the hot, sweaty boys entered the library. It was horribly crowded and was soon apparent that it was probably better if they all studied outside. A little disheartened, since they all wanted the air-conditioning, the boys selected a wide oak tree where several feet away a couple sat making out. After some grimaces of distaste, they took out their assignments.

The teachers wanted the students to wake up from their summer languor by giving them eye-opening first assignments.

" Shucks." The boys muttered. " Glad we started this early."

" It's not that bad." Syaoran read the math problems briefly. He looked at the science questions, which also did not look too bad, although he was unfamiliar with some of the terms. " An essay in history?"

" Only five hundred words, it's okay." Yamazaki looked at the assignment.

" Five hundred words." Syaoran could not hide his displeasure. " Joy."

" You'll be fine." Yamazaki assured him. " It's just discussing the Taika Reform and the Taiho Code."

Syaoran did not mention that he had no idea what those were.

" First chapter." One of the boys read from his assignment sheet. " Well guys, we all saw this coming. Tale of Freaking Genji."

" Four hundred people." Even Syaoran bulked at that one.

" I hope we don't have to keep track of them? Do you guys even know four hundred real people?"

" Well it's abridged. Maybe they cut some of the minor characters out."

" One hundred real people?"

" That's actually more reasonable." Syaoran told Yamazaki. " Come on. This book's like Shakespeare. I don't think even the teachers understand what it's talking about."

Everyone laughed at that one.

Even abridged, however, everyone discovered that the chapter was not an easy read, and even if every page was paired with a page with lists of explanations and 'translations', it was going to be a long assignment. " Thank Kami we don't have to write an essay. Yet." Even Syaoran agreed.

They decided to do math first, since Syaoran had declared it was rather simple. Unfortunately, Syaoran sped ahead of them so much that they were resigned to let him finish first before helping them. Fifteen minutes later, Syaoran already finished his assignment and began describing how to do the third problem out of fifteen.

" You have to do a little bit of manipulating. You multiply the second equation by three and then divide by two to get three halves y. Then you subtract from the first equation."

" Crud! Who thinks of that?"

" Apparently Suzuki-san here." The boys chuckled.

" Well, I encountered problems like this before." Syaoran explained.

" Does Tokyo actually teach this stuff?"

" Well," Syaoran said uncomfortably, " I don't know about all of Tokyo. I did some studying on my own too, since I like math."

" We got ourselves a powerful ally here." Yamazaki grinned. " I'm getting your phone number after this that way I can call you."

" Sure." Syaoran saw no harm in that.

" I'm getting your phone number too!"

" Maybe we can go over to your house?"

" His mom's sick." Yamazaki waved it off. " Don't go bothering here."

Syaoran sent Yamazaki a grateful look. Yamazaki merely smiled.

" Alright, I got the next question and the one after that. What about..."

oO

" You talking?" Sakura demanded. The crow merely warbled unhappily. Its feathers were completely covered in vegetable oil and feet trapped to the table with Woody. " You know, you won't get that off in a hurry."

" She'll find you." The crow cawed.

" Oh I'm sure she will." Sakura folded her arms. " I'm not exactly hiding from her, you see."

" She'll find that boy too. She'll unlock the realm and take the crystals."

" Now you're just being lame." Kero leaned toward the miserable crow. " Of course, we can spare her the trouble of looking for us if you tell us where she is."

Getting frustrated, Sakura turned on the stove. The crow cried out in alarm, but was barely able to move, as the oil made its feathers stick painfully.

" You realize all that stuff's going to make it hotter." Sakura told it. " Then instead of fried crow I'd burn you to a crisp."

" You won't eat me!"

" I won't. I can't promise anything about Kero though. He can stomach a lot of interesting stuff." Sakura made the flames flare to make her point. " Tell me what's going on and I'll wash the oil off of you and give you your magic back." She held up the Erase Card. " I can undo spells, you know."

" And I'm hungry." Kero bared his teeth. " Sakura, why don't you erase his feathers, for good measure? Feathers aren't that tasty."

" Alright! Alright!" Really freaked now, the crow desperately yelled, " I'll talk! I'll talk! Just get that lion away from me!"

" You'll tell us everything?" Sakura asked, cocking an eyebrow.

" I'll talk! Just get him away from me!"

" Kero-chan, move back." Sakura sighed. She then whipped out the Bubble Card, and through muffled protests it scrubbed the crow clean. " There. I even got the oil off of you. See, I can be generous. Now talk."

Throwing them a dirty look, the crow warbled, " What do you want to know?"

" Well, for starters, what do you know about the Key?"

" That he's here."

" What else?"

" He's that new kid, Suzuki Akira." The crow snapped its beak. " Mistress Aileen didn't believe it. What did you do, introduce him to the neighborhood or something?"

" We're asking the questions." The sun guardian stalked around, his feral eyes glaring at the bird guardian. " Do you know how to use the Key?"

The crow squawked. " Hai, everyone knows. The soul flies when the heart is reached. The Key to using the Key."

" Nani?" Sakura frowned. " What does that mean?"

" Means you pierce the heart." Kero said without hesitation. " I guess Eriol forgot to mention that."

" Your Lady Aileen," Sakura suddenly asked. " Why did she not believe Suzuki Akira?"

" She saw the students were all very comfortable with him." The crow croaked. " Can I go now?"

" Not so fast. What is she using, a mirror? How did she see the students?" Kero asked, alarmed.

" She can see things you cannot imagine." the crow snarled as much as a raven could.

" Oh really?" Kero bared his teeth again. " I don't suppose she's seeing this, is she?"

" Kero-chan," Having heard enough, and believing she knew what was going on, Sakura pulled Kero back. " What does your mistress want to do with the Key? Does she want to use him to unlock the crystals?"

" Of course." The crow snapped. " If she doesn't, someone else will! You're all fools for letting him live."

" Maybe so. But he is under my protection now. I will release you one more time." Sakura glared at the bird. " If I catch you again, I will make you wish you were dead. That vegetable oil? You haven't seen anything yet." With one move she gave it back its magic and released Woody.

Sulking, the crow fluttered off.

Sakura turned to Kero. " I'm scared of your interrogation techniques."

" I'm scared of yours!" Kero shot back.

" I'll have to say I'm scared of both of you right now." Fujitaka, who was watching this, announced. " You two certainly seemed to match each other's moves very well."

" The vegetable oil was his idea." Sakura told her father.

" The eating was hers."

" Just don't make a habit of it, okay?" Fujitaka looked at his daughter strangely. " In fact, if this is something I should expect very often, I would prefer if you don't play with magic that much, sweetheart."

" Otou-san!" Sakura cried in dismay.

Seeing his little girl again and not some stranger with magical powers, Fujitaka smiled and kissed her. " Though it is good that you are helping that Li."

" Akira." Sakura insisted. " I don't want to accidentally call him Li."

" Akira." Fujitaka smiled. " I feel bad that we can't help him more. Maybe he should live with us, instead of all by himself at Tsukishiro's."

" I take care of him!" Kero cried indignantly.

" He has to maintain his alibi." Sakura ignored her guardian.

oO

" This is not a book for sixth graders."

" Iie, it isn't."

They had decided to leave Japanese for last. When they finally got up to it, everyone was too tired to absorb the strange grammar.

" I'm going home." Yamazaki announced. " We still have tomorrow."

" Hai." Another boy agreed. " Sounds like a good idea.

Syaoran began packing up. He headed towards his apartment, as expected, even though it was farther away from the library than Yukito's house. Tomorrow he had to go shopping. He is running out of food. Food is so ridiculously expensive here in Japan, but then, he realized the economy in general was not that good. Yukito's riches were a far cry from the wealth of the Li Clan, but Syaoran could handle it. He never wanted much anyway.

" I'll see you all on Monday!" One of the boys called as they left. " Ja!"

" Ja!" They all called back, and Syaoran basked in the glow of being included in a group.

That night Yukito called. He had called for only a few seconds the previous night, promising a longer chat over the weekend.

" You never played football? I thought the Chinese were huge fans of it."

" I didn't have anyone to play it with." Syaoran replied, shrugging. " Most of the stuff I did were solitary stuff."

" Well, they're treating you well. That's good."

" Hai." Syaoran grinned. " How's college, so far?"

" Classes haven't started yet; it's just orientation, which begins Monday, so the freshman could get used to living in college." Yukito replied. " I'm really glad I roomed with Touya. Some of the people here have weird habits. We have the only double in the building."

" What are the others?"

" Triples at best. Most are like, five-person rooms."

" Oh." Syaoran scowled. " Well at least you got a better deal."

" Haha, try keeping that room for next year." Yukito chuckled. " So everything's going okay?"

" Hai." Syaoran smiled as Kero flew in through the window. Soon it would be too cold to keep the windows open.

" Alright. Call me if you need anything."

" Hai." Syaoran assured him.

" What's for dinner?" Kero hovered around Syaoran. One of the reasons he did not object to staying with Syaoran all the time was because Syaoran was in fact a better cook than Sakura.

" Gomen ne." Syaoran smiled at Kero. " I haven't started yet. We're kind of running out; I plan on going shopping tomorrow."

" Really? Can I come?"

" Sure. You can pick out what you want. Discreetly, of course." Syaoran eyed Kero and poked the guardian on the nose. Kero wrinkled his nose.

" Hey!"

Laughing, Syaoran headed to the kitchen to begin.

oO

The crow headed back to Aileen despondently.

" You look ruffled." Aileen was puzzled. " What happened to you? Why did you not meet with me after school? Where were you all this time?"

" That Card Mistress is on my tail!" The crow squawked and cawed. " She and that furry guardian threatened to eat me!"

" Indeed?" Aileen blinked, then started chuckling a little. " Well I see that you are not missing any limbs. You escaped, then?"

" They let me go." The crow cawed.

Aileen frowned at this. " Why?"

The crow fidgeted, moving from one foot to the other.

" What did you do?" Aileen shot up in her chair angrily.

" I did not tell them much." The crow replied morosely. " I told them what they already knew. They think you're watching them through a mirror."

" So you did not tell them about Zhanna Lebedeva."

" No. But I am not spying again! She catches me every time!"

" She recognizes your aura." Aileen replied. " No, having you spy would not be wise. You have done well, I must say."

The crow cawed and preened itself under this compliment.

" She is more powerful than I thought." Aileen blinked. " Or more crafty. Very deserving, for a new Master of Cards. We shall have to tread carefully."

" Cah! What should we do now?"

" We do as before." Aileen frowned. " She did not seem to sense my aura, even if she sensed yours. Perhaps we can work with that. She is bad at math," She contemplated this, " Perhaps if I offered some tutoring sessions."

" But the boy is good at math."

" I can use that to my advantage as well." Aileen replied. " Non-magicians hold competitions and have teams. We can set up a math team in the elementary school. Li Zhineng can be a member."

" Cah! Would they approve?"

Aileen paused. " Why not? We can even hold our own competition, with a reward. Math is part of the standardized exams, after all."