Author-chan's note: (*Singing*) I'M SO HAPPY! I'M FLOATING ON CLOUD 9! I'M SO HAPPY!!! (*Author-chan continues to sing as she floats away. Bunny hops into view. Bunny holds up sign that says…*) Please excuse Author-chan. She's just happy that everyone reviewed her story and that she finished her homework too. Anyway, I think I'm going to be the one to take over fic. (*Author-chan comes back, grabs Bunny and throws her over the fence.*) YEAH RIGHT!!! THERE'S NO WAY I'M GONNA LET SOME EVIL RABBIT TAKE OVER MY STORY! Okay, now that the evil bunny is gone we can go on with the story. One of you reviewers out there asked who was older; Syaoran or Arthur. In my story, they're both fourteen. But I think Syaoran is older because his birthday is in July, and I'm planing on making Arthur's birthday somewhere in the fall. Since that's all cleared up, LET'S GET ON WITH THE FIC!!!
1500 Years in the Future
(Chapter 5)
"Sorry I took so long," Sakura said as she returned to the parlor. The three in the parlor turned towards Sakura and the dark-haired man behind her.
"Lin-san, Arthur-kun," Sakura began, "May I introduce to you my onii-chan, Touya. Yukito-san is in the kitchen getting extra cups."
"How do you do, Touya-san?" Merlin asked, extending a hand. Touya shook it.
"I'm fine. It's nice to meet you Lin-san and Arthur-san," Touya said politely. Then Touya's eyes landed on Syaoran.
"Hello, brat," Touya growled with menace in his voice.
"Hello, Touya," Syaoran replied with equal menace. Soon sparks flew between them as yet another glaring-contest began.
"Hoe," Sakura sighed, "Syaoran is the only human alive who gets into more glaring-contests than I can count!"
"Hi, everyone," Yukito said cheerfully as he came into the room. He was smiling his classic "closed-eyed" smile (You know, the cute smile he does with his eyes closed). In his hands, he held two empty cups. Syaoran and Touya stopped glaring at each other to turn to Yukito. Arthur smiled to himself. This Yukito was obviously very nice.
"You must be Yukito-san. I'm Lin and this is Arthur," Merlin told the young man.
"H –" suddenly, Yukito stopped. He had opened his eyes to look at Merlin, and his eyes widened. It was almost as if he recognized Merlin.
"It can't be," Yukito murmured. The cups slid from Yukito's hands and they crashed on the floor. But Yukito didn't notice.
"Yuki! What's the matter?" Touya asked, reaching out to his friend. But before Touya could touch Yukito, Yukito began to glow.
"Oh no," Touya muttered. Sakura gasped. When Yukito glowed, that only meant one thing.
Yukito seemed to fall asleep as he levitated off the ground. A golden seal shimmered to existence beneath his feet. Large white wings appeared out of thin air and surrounded Yukito's body. When they opened, Yukito Tsukishiro was gone. Yue, the Moon Guardian, had come out to play.
"Merlin. It's been awhile," Yue said in his usual icy manner. Everyone stared at Yue.
"Yue!" Merlin cried, surprised, "But I thought you would be in the Clow Book with Cerberus until the next Card Master arose."
"She has," Yue replied, turning his purple gaze to Sakura, "Sakura is my Mistress now."
"Sakura-san?!" Merlin cried, also turning towards the fourteen-year-old Card Mistress.
"Hoe!" Sakura sighed.
"What's going on?!" Syaoran, Touya, and Arthur asked at the same time.
"That's a long story," Merlin sighed, "One which should be discussed over tea, don't you think Sakura-san?"
"I'll get more cups," Sakura sighed.
"No need," Merlin said with a smile. He bent down to retrieve the shattered cups on the floor. Muttering a brief spell, Merlin was able to make the cups whole again.
"Lin-san, you're a magician too?" Sakura asked. Merlin nodded, and he handed her the cups.
"In fact, I was a friend of Clow Reed before he died. I'm sure you heard of him," Merlin said.
"More than we wanted to," Syaoran muttered, his left eye twitching with annoyance.
"You're part of the Li Clan, aren't you," Merlin said.
"Yeah," Syaoran muttered, his left eye still twitching. Merlin raised an eyebrow, then he changed the subject.
"Hmm. We have an extra cup now. If I remember Yue correctly, then he won't be having tea."
"Good memory," Touya muttered, "I remember the time when we tried to make Yue eat with us. He choked on the first bite." Merlin grinned.
"Clow and I tried that too," Merlin said, "It's a very interesting experience watching a Moon Angel choke on an oatmeal cookie."
"You used oatmeal cookies?" Touya asked, "Funny, we used double fudge brownies."
"With nuts?" Merlin asked. Touya shook his head.
"Nah. If we did that, then we would have had a dead angel on our hands."
"Good point," Merlin agreed.
"I wish you two would stop talking about that," Yue muttered, "I never had to eat, so I never learned to swallow. It's not my fault."
"Well I do know one Guardian who would like a cup of tea. With extra sugar, of course," Merlin said with a smile.
"Oh you mean Kero-chan," Sakura said.
"Kero-chan?" Merlin was puzzled. He was talking about Cerberus. Sakura nodded.
"KERO-CHAN!!! TEA!!!" Sakura yelled. Several people had to cover their ears.
"The kaiju has a loud voice," Touya commented.
"I am not a monster!" Sakura shrieked. She stepped on his foot, and he yelped.
"Are –" Touya began, but was interrupted by a high pitched voice from the stairs.
"Yay! TEA!!!" cried Kero as he flew down the stairs. Merlin and Arthur stared at the living toy. Sakura giggled, and poured two more cups of tea. One she gave to Touya. The other, she placed on the table after plopping three lumps of sugar in. Kero practically dove into the cup.
"Cerberus," Yue began, "It is not a Guardian's duty to stuff himself with sweets."
"Aw, Yue, lighten up," Kero said when he lifted his face up from the cup, "You're just sore from the oatmeal cookie thing sixteen hundred years ago, and the brownie thing last month."
"The brownies were two months ago," Yue said stiffly.
"Last month, two months, what's the difference? It was still fun watching you try to eat and fail miserably! Ha, ha!" Kero laughed as he pointed a paw at the other Guardian. Yue twitched. He summoned an ice crystal, and slammed it, point fist, into the coffee table, very close to Kero and his cup. Then he placed his face very close to Kero's, so that their noses almost touched.
"Remember, Cerberus," Yue hissed, his voice very low and dangerous, "The Moon can defeat the Sun, even during the day."
"Touché," Kero muttered when Yue drew back.
"Cerberus!" Merlin cried cheerfully.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kero cried, startled. Yue snickered at him.
"M-Merlin!" Kero gasped when he calmed down, "It's been awhile! I see you still haven't shaved that beard of yours. It's even longer than Yue's hair! And aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"Fine way to greet an old friend," Merlin snorted, "Scream at him, insult his beard, and say he's supposed dead. After all these centuries" Arthur spit out his tea at this remark.
"One of these days," Arthur muttered, "I'll find out how old you really are Merlin."
"Do you want to talk about old?" Merlin asked, "Yue and Cerberus are even older than me. And Clow Reed, their creator, was at least five hundred years older than them." Arthur, Touya, Syaoran, and Sakura stared at the other three.
"Um, can we change the subject?" Syaoran asked.
"Um, Lin-san, why are you really here?" Sakura asked.
"The time crystal we had was separated from us on our way here," Merlin said.
"Ah ha!" Kero exclaimed, "That explains it. No wonder when you're supposed to be dead, you show up in Sakura-chan's house drinking tea."
"Hoe?" Sakura was confused.
"A time crystal is a magical item that can transport people through time," Yue explained.
"Oh," Sakura said, "So you and Arthur-kun came from the past?" Merlin nodded.
"Hold it!" Kero ordered, "Did you say, 'Arthur'?"
"Yeah, why?" Sakura asked. Kero grinned at Yue. Sakura was surprised when her Moon Guardian had an embarrassed expression on his face. Kero flew up to Arthur's face.
"So this is the little baby that caused us all that trouble," Kero said. Yue snorted.
" 'Us'? If I remember correctly," Yue said, "I was the one doing all the work."
"Oh yeah," Kero's grin got even wider, "If the oatmeal cookie thing or the brownie thing wasn't funny, the watching Yue take care of a baby is! Ha, ha!" Kero fell on the table, laughing his head off. Yue began twitching again. This time it looked like he was going to hurl an ice storm at his fellow Guardian.
"Um, Lin-san," Sakura said, trying to change the subject before her Guardians could kill each other, "Maybe we can help you find that crystal."
"That would be great!" Arthur cried.
"Hold it!" Touya ordered, "The last time Sakura went off finding magical things, she nearly got killed! There's no way I'm going to let my baby sister go off and get herself killed."
"Come on, Onii-chan!" Sakura cried, "All we're doing is finding a crystal."
"And Gilligan only went on a three hour tour," Touya muttered.
"You know you can't stop me," Sakura said.
"You're right," Touya sighed, "But if you're going to go off, and put yourself in danger, I'm coming too."
"We can't watch your back," Syaoran warned.
"I can watch my own back, brat."
"Whatever," Syaoran muttered. Touya glared at him.
"Not another glaring-contest!" Sakura sighed. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Touya offered.
"No. I'll get it," Syaoran argued. Sakura sighed.
"I'll get it," she said as she walked towards the door. Syaoran and Touya followed her, still in a glaring-contest."
Author-chan's note: Hmm. I wonder who could be at the door. I won't tell you now, because I've got to go to sleep. So see ya later!