"Zachary! You can't just walk away from me!" Torako seemed to be loosing her patience.
"Just watch me." He yelled, without even turning around.
"Wait."
"Okay, imagine that there's a wall separating us. You can't see me, and I can't see you. The wall is soundproof so I can't hear you either."
"Aargh! Quit being so difficult!"
"Wall, that's all!!!" he yelled.
"Fine! Be like that! See if I care. I'll capture the cards by myself!"
"Can't hear you!"
Torako threw her hands up and stomped off in the other direction towards her apartment.
When she got home she slammed the door, making Saruko (her brother) jump.
"Bad first day?" He questioned her from the kitchen.
"You have no idea." She sighed, flopping down onto the couch.
"Well it'll only get worse."
"That sure was an encouraging thing to say." She brushed a strand of golden hair out of her eyes.
"There's plenty more where that came from. So spill the beans, what's he like?"
"How did you know it was a he?" she raised a curious eyebrow at him. "Anyways, it turns out that he's a pathetic idiot who doesn't have a clue what he's doing."
"That must mean you like him." Saruko said after taking a sip of his cappuccino.
"Actually, he's just like you." She challenged him.
"Hey now Angel, that's uncalled for."
"Don't call me that. And stop changing the subject. He hasn't caught any of the cards. He doesn't even care who I am."
"I bet you're wrong. He probably cares a lot about who you are, but he just doesn't want to show it outwardly."
"If you say so."
"I do."
"Humph. Well I have something else interesting to tell you about. There was also another boy at school today. His name is Li Syaoran."
"Li? As in-"
"I think so. He kissed my hand. I could feel he knew who I was right away, which means he probably knows about the cards too. That idiot Zachary probably told him."
"Oh, so the idiot has a name, huh? Well, I wouldn't worry too much about the Li kid. He has bigger fish to fry. He's been helping the captor of the Clow cards for many years now."
"How do you know all of this, Saruko?"
"The bond of friendship between our families goes back many generations. Plus I've been chatting with one of his sisters online for a couple years now. We were friends when we were kids, but after …well, you know, that bond began to fall apart quickly between our families. We still wanted to be friends, his sister and I, but our family was forbidden from contact with the Li clan."
"This could be a problem. He's bound to hold ill- will towards us. We are the reason his father died." Torako sighed.
"Don't let it bother you now. That's all in the past, and it happened when you were too young to remember anyways. The Li's are the unreasonable ones, not us. His father made a choice to put himself in a dangerous situation, and when a person does that you can't always expect the best."
"I know that! But the look he gave me…it made me feel like
it was all my fault."
"Well it isn't, and anyone who says it is has a date with my brass knuckles."
"You don't have brass knuckles."
"You get the point."
"I still don't understand why he kissed my hand though." She looked curiously into space.
"He probably knew it would intimidate you, because you wouldn't know why he did it. Either that or he's just a big show-off."
"Hmm mm. I can't help feeling bad though."
"FORGET about it. It doesn't have anything to do with you so you have nothing to worry about. You just concentrate on getting those cards."
"Who made you Master of the Universe? I'll concentrate on whatever I choose, thank you very much."
"Hey, I was just trying to help. And by the way, you shouldn't be thinking about your new teacher that way. It's dirty."
"Humph. I hate you when you do that!" She stood up and stalked down the hall to her room.
Saruko sighed when she slammed the door. "Girls. Of all the people that could have gone with her, I got the chore." He ran his hand through his spiked blonde hair.
"I heard that!" came a shout from inside her room, followed by the sound of what was probably a shoe hitting the door.
~*~*~*~
"So what did she say?"
Sakura, Zachary, Li, Madison, Kero and Quan were all sitting around the living room of Li's apartment.
"She told me that she was here to take what rightfully belongs to her family. Then she got all high and mighty like she owned the world or something, and I had to put an invisible wall between us."
"Okay, I just won't ask about that wall thing." Madison said.
"It's probably best that way." Zachary told him.
"She sounds a lot like somebody I know." Sakura threw a sideways glance towards Li.
"Well what was I supposed to do?! Would you have given them up if I just tapped you on the shoulder and said "Excuse me? Would you be so kind as to hand over the Clow cards?"
"No, but I didn't give them up anyways."
"Erm, if I could just interrupt this little trip down memory lane folks? Li, what's the deal with that girl? Is she an old girlfriend or something?"
"Huh? No, what makes you think that?!" Li lost his cool for probably the first time in his entire life.
"Well, how come you kissed her hand?"
Li blushed. He could feel Sakura's eyes on his back. "Well, I…erm…it's the customary way of greeting a noblewoman of England."
"England?" Madison seemed awestruck.
"Noblewoman?" Sakura seemed surprised. "Li Syaoran, you have some explaining to do! You've been leading me off the whole time with that book too haven't you?!"
"It's not as simple as that, okay Sakura?" he said frustratedly.
"Not that simple? You didn't say anything about Rhan the whole time, and you already know all about this girl?!"
"You weren't meant to open it anyways, okay?! And it isn't that simple, so just get over it!" he stood up and began to pace the kitchen.
"Li, I'm sorry I got mad. You're right, I wasn't. If you have something important hidden it's usually for a good reason."
"Thank you." He sat down again.
"So as you were saying? What about this girl being a noblewoman from England?" Zachary prompted him.
"Well," Li began, "Obviously Kaylelle is not an oriental name, so there's your first clue Sherlock. Give your guardian beast a good listen and tell me his accent isn't English. Rhan Kaylelle was part of an old English wizard family. Where they came from, they were royalty, as far as wizards go. I mean, they had a castle and everything.
Unfortunately for them, they sold quite a bit of their property to people who formed a town, and turned out to be a community who liked a good witch-hunt from time to time. The only things I know are the stories I've been told, but what I've heard is that the elders used magic to conceal the castle, and they decided to go into hiding until people lost interest in hunting down witches. All this happened when he was sixteen years old. They travelled east, until they came to Hong Kong. That's where they settled, and that's where he met Clow and they became best friends. They did almost everything together, and after a long time Rhan and Clow's sister fell in love and got married. They stayed in China until they were old, but Rahn wanted to see his old home again, so they took their family back to England. After that the family kept two homes, the castle for summers in England, and another estate for winters in Hong Kong."
"So…since Torako has the blood of Rahn's family and Clow's family, does that mean that she has all of their magical strength combined?" Sakura thought out loud.
"No." Quan spoke, "Clow's sister was common, not a drop of magical blood in her."
"Hey, that's my relative you're talking about!" Li growled at the monkey.
"Well it's the truth, unless you count her kindness and beauty as magic." He grinned nervously.
"That's better." Li said.
"So Li, you're related to her?"
"Yes."
"I guess that explains the freaky similarities between you two," Sakura said.
"Well, now that that's settled," began Madison, "It's time for Zachary to pick out a design for his battle outfit!" her eyes went all starry, and Zachary got a huge sweat drop.
~*~*~*~
The next day was Saturday. Torako was woken up early (Well it was early for a Saturday) at eleven by the door slamming. She groaned and curled into a ball, trying to go back to sleep when she heard Saruko's voice.
"Torako, visitors! Wakey wakey little sister!" he sang in a weird voice.
She sat up and ran her hand through her squashed hair. "Coming." She croaked as she pulled on a bathrobe to cover up her pyjamas.
"Look who I found this morning when I took a leisurely stroll down to the market? Some of your friends from school, I believe?" He gave her a grin and left the room.
"How did you know I knew them?" She yelled to him.
"I know everything!"
"Right, I forgot." She rolled her eyes at the wall
"Like for instance I know that you probably just rolled your eyes at me, didn't you?"
Sakura and Madison stood in the doorway uneasily.
"It looks like we caught you at a bad time. Maybe we should leave." Sakura said.
"No, no it's alright. I had to get up anyways. What have you got there, Madison?"
Madison was holding a bag full of fabric for Zachary's outfit. "Oh, just some new material. I want to be a fashion designer."
"Oh. Well come in, have a seat."
"We thought it was a bit weird, your brother just inviting us up like that out of the blue. It was a little creepy, if you know what I mean." Sakura said.
"Oh! Don't worry about Saruko." She paused, and said with a grin, "He's gay."
"No I'm not." He said from the living room. "Mom said if you don't stop telling people that, she's going to ship you off to a leper colony."
"See? Gay. Anyways, what shall our topic of conversation be?"
"Well…you and Zachary. You're going to have to work together to capture the cards." Sakura said.
"That's what you all think. I have no intention of sharing the cards with him."
"Whether you like it or not that's the way it's going to work. I was just trying to save you some trouble by telling you now."
"Well, I think now that you've said that, it's time for the two of you to be getting home. Bye." She waved and ushered them out the door. "See you at school on Monday." She closed the door.
"Well, that was a bit rude." Sakura muttered, but Madison wasn't listening. She was in her own little fantasy world at the moment. Sakura knocked on the door again to do one last thing before she left.
~*~*~*~
"You WHAT?"
"Got her to agree to meet us all at your house tonight."
"When did you ask me if that was alright?"
"I didn't, I'm sorry, but I had to get her to meet us somewhere, and your house is the best for keeping this a secret."
It was Monday morning and Sakura had just broken the news to Li.
"Let me just tell you something Sakura. Torako and I are like two toxic chemicals. You shouldn't mix us up unless you know what you're doing, because there might just be an explosion. There's something between us that couldn't possibly understand, not in a million years."
"Well I'm sorry I'm so stupid okay? I really am."
"Sakura, I don't think you're stupid. It's just…well, it's something between our families, and I don't feel like bringing it up."
"I'm sorry."
"You didn't know. So to change the subject, what's wrong with Madison?"
"Oh, I'm not sure. Every time I ask her she goes red and says it's nothing. She's been like that most of the weekend."
"Maybe it's a Clow card." Li joked.
"Maybe it's a Rhan card." Sakura said seriously.
~*~*~
"Come in."
Li took the dripping wet raincoat that Torako had been wearing a moment ago and hung it behind the door with a sigh.
"Torako, Hi!" Sakura greeted her.
"Hello. Did I miss anything?" she sounded a bit uncomfortable.
"No, nothing. Zachary isn't even here yet. He's not exactly Mr. Punctuality." Madison said. "So, is your brother coming?"
Everyone in the room turned around and stared at her with that expression that says "huh?"
"No, why would he?"
"Oh, I don't know. I wonder where Zachary is?" she said, changing the subject.
Five seconds later there was a knock on the door.
"Speak of the devil, there he is!" Madison laughed, apparently relieved.
"Sorry I'm late. There was an emergency down at the hospital and they wouldn't let me go until I preformed another double bypass brain transplant. Sakura, Madison, Li, Flying Rat, Torako." He nodded to them all in greeting (in case you didn't guess, Kero was the flying rat). Quan flew out of his backpack.
"I say, your lunch shouldn't be kept in there more than a day, let alone two months. Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?" he wrinkled his nose.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take." Zachary said, giving Quan the look. "Li, what's wrong?"
Everyone turned to Li, who had a very creepy expression on his face for a second, and then he shook his head and looked normal again. "Nothing, I just got this weird feeling," he said, and chuckled to himself.
"Oh. Well let's get on with this little get-together, hmm?" Zachary said. "Why are we all here?"
Madison bent over and began pulling things out of a big plastic bag beside her on the floor. "Well, this is your battle outfit, and as you requested, it doesn't look gay."
"I'll be the judge of that, thank you." He gathered up all the stuff that Madison had lain out and went to the bathroom to change.
"Torako, I just have to ask you this. Do you need any battle outfits? Pleeeease say yes? I'd absolutely LOVE to make them for you." Madison begged her.
"Um, maybe?" Torako sweat dropped.
With no warning, Li burst into a fit of giggles.
"Li, what's wrong with you?" Sakura asked him.
"I (hee hee hee) don't (har!) know! (Snort)"
"Well I don't see what's so funny." Madison said, insulted.
"I bet I know what's going on." Torako said. "Li, you're mother's a fat cow."
In response, Li just laughed harder.
"Torako, that was uncalled for!" Sakura yelled at her. To make things worse, Zachary came into the room with half his outfit on to see what was so funny, sending Li onto the floor.
"Oh that's real encouraging Li, thanks." Zachary said.
"That's not it. Something's wrong with him!" Madison told him.
"Can't you see?" Torako looked at Zachary like he was an idiot. "It's a card! I would have thought at least the monkey could tell!"
Li was now laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes and his face was going red from lack of air.
Torako jumped out of her chair and grabbed the amulet she was wearing around her neck. "Release!"
In a flash of green light, a golden staff appeared in her hands. At each end was a green orb surrounded by five gold rings, floating in place, held by some invisible force.
"Giggle Card! Reveal yourself in your true form!" She pointed the staff towards Li, and a smoky blue image of a feathery bird exploded out of his mouth with his last howl of laughter. It circled around the room once, then started heading for Madison.
"NO! Return to your power confined, Giggle Card!" She spun the staff in the air over her head making a vortex of wind, which sucked the form of The Giggle card into it. When the wind died down, a card in shades of blue and gold appeared, glimmering in the air, and floated into her waiting hand.
The others stared at her, windblown with shocked looks as Li gasped for air.
"Yamazaki?" She turned to Zachary, "You need to get on top of things or you'll never capture any of the cards. I'll beat you to them every time." She looked at the card with satisfaction.
"I guess this means I won't have any time to work on my website?"
She turned away from him and back to the three people on the floor.
"Why did the card target Li, Torako?" Sakura asked, still watching Li gulp down air.
"Quan should be able to answer that question, but he seems a bit speechless right now, so I'll tell you. It seems to me that Li is a very serious boy who doesn't let loose very often. The Giggle effects people who need a good laugh by giving it to them, as you saw. Uncaptured, there's no telling when it will stop. Have you ever heard the phrase "almost died laughing"? Now Li can use that and it will be true. Do you see why it's so important to capture these cards now Zachary? Some of them could have deadly effects."
"Why would Rahn make cards that are deadly?" Li asked.
"Under normal conditions, when they have a master, they aren't, because they can be controlled. The only ones that are possibly deadly are the very first ones he made, because he was inexperienced. He didn't know how powerful they were when he made them."
"Well that just makes me feel SO much better."
"Look, is there any particular reason you wanted me to be here Sakura, or can I go home now?" Torako asked sceptically.
"Yes, there is a reason. Please, work together with Zachary. In the end it'll save a lot of trouble. If you don't believe me, ask Li. You two are so much alike. Why not learn from your cousin's mistakes? He…what's wrong?"
Torako's gaze had shifted from Sakura to Li, and she didn't look too satisfied with herself now.
"You told them?" she questioned him quietly.
"Torako, I-"
"I can't believe you would do that to me! I'll see you all at school tomorrow. I'm sorry."
She lowered her head as she walked towards the door. She put on her raincoat and was just reaching or the knob when
Zachary jumped in front of her and grabbed it before she could.
"Oh no you don't. You're not leaving until this is settled."
"SHUT UP! I don't have to settle anything with you so just leave me alone!" She grabbed his arm and tried to wrench him off the doorknob. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her off of his. Amazingly Zachary's strength won out over hers and he managed to wrestle her (kicking and scratching) to the ground.
He leaned close to her face, her eyes scrunched up. "We are going to settle this tonight." He said with an air of finality as he pinned her to the linoleum.
Torako opened her eyes to find Zachary about three inches away from her face.
"Get_off." She said through gritted teeth as a tear ran down her cheek and she tried to push him away.
"Huh?" his expression turned to surprise. "How did I make her cry?" he wondered as he sat up and got off her. He reached out his hand to help her up, but she totally ignored it and pulled herself to her feet. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve as she opened the door.
"Goodnight." She stepped out and slammed it behind her, leaving her raincoat on the floor.
Zachary turned and looked from face to face around the room. "Does somebody want to tell me what all of this is about? Li? What was she talking about? I feel really bad now…" he looked at the ground.
"Don't." Li said. "It's my fault. I have to catch her."
Without another word, he jammed his feet into a pair of shoes and took off into the rain.
~*~*~**~
"Torako! Stop, I have to talk to you! Torako!" Li ran after her through the park. She finally gave up and collapsed on the floor of the pavilion, the only place remotely dry in sight.
Li went up the steps cautiously. He didn't know exactly what he was going to say.
"Torako, I…I didn't tell them about…you know…"
"Well what exactly did you tell them?"
Li sat down beside his distant cousin. "I told them that Rahn was married to Clow's sister. That's all."
"But I thought…you didn't tell them about my…father?"
Li took a deep breath. It was as hard for him to talk about as it was for her. It was also hard for him to bring comfort to someone he was supposed to hate with every shard of his existence.
"No, but you know that they'll have questions after that scene. We should just tell them. Trust me Torako, they aren't the kind of people who would persecute you for what happened back then."
"But…I don't want to…It's not exactly the kind of thing I want to go flashing around."
"I know, but you can trust them."
Torako stood up and walked to the edge of the pavilion. "Aren't you supposed to hate me? I seem to remember something about an all-important family feud." She sniffled.
"Yes, I guess I am. But I've been thinking, what's the point? It isn't really your fault entirely."
"What?"
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't see why I should hold a grudge against you. Nothing good comes out of it. So I guess…let's be friends?"
"Really?"
There was a moment's hesitation, but then they hugged, and Torako laughed a little bit. "You know, I was so afraid that you hated me that I didn't stop to think that you might not."
"Hmmm. Well, we have some explaining to do. We'd better get back to my apartment before we die of hypothermia and Zachary dies of guilt."
"What?"
"Oh, he thinks he made you cry."
Torako snickered as they walked back out into the rain.
"So I guess we have some catching up to do. I heard that you and Melin are-"
"DON'T even get me started about her." Li rolled his eyes and chuckled. "That got cancelled."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me."
Torako laughed. "So I'm not the only cousin you have problems with."
"Hey, forget about it. By the way, thanks for saving my life. I honestly did feel like I was going to black out or something. It felt good though, for the first minute or two."
"You got the message though, didn't you?"
"Hey, don't go trying to make this into one of those educational stories. You'll scare all the readers away."
They were at the door of Li's apartment. They suddenly became very serious and both took a deep breath, getting ready to tell the five beings inside the biggest secret of their lives.
"Ready?" Li asked
"Ready."
They joined hands, and Li opened the door…
~*~*~*~*~
Don't you just hate cliffhanger endings? Catch ya later!
