The New Cards
Breaking the Seal: Chapter Eight
By:
Syaoran watched as the ground below him seemed to drop away. Then he turned and faced Touya, who was holding him up in the air by his collar. "Touya," said Sakura, pleading with her brother. "Stop it; put Syaoran down."
Touya ignored the calls by his younger sibling, his focus entirely on Syaoran. There was fire in his eyes as he asked through clenched teeth, "What are you doing with my sister, brat?" Syaoran reached for a charm, and after taking it out and lighting it, attached it to Touya's sleeve, as he had once done four years ago. Touya loosened his grip on the younger boy as he swatted at the small fire, trying to put it out. Taking himself out of the self-proclaimed avenger's grasp, Syaoran leapt back, positioning himself into a fighting stance. But the moment his feet touched the ground, his legs were swept out from underneath him, causing him to hit the pavement. Looking up, he saw Di Shang with folded arms, anger alighting in his eyes.
Without another word, both Touya and Di Shang attacked Syaoran with a series of kicks and punches. Syaoran continually blocked them, unable to find any opening to put out his own attacks. It was two against one; the odds were against him.
Sakura, standing aside from the others, closed her eyes, concentrating. Her eyelids flew open. Just as she suspected; Jiao Cards were the main reason for Touya and Di Shang's attacks. But it wasn't like the Possess Card, because neither were being controlled entirely by the cards. The cards were merely fuelling their emotions, making them stronger and unfortunately, more unpredictable.
The battle continued, even with Sakura on the sidelines, for both Touya and Di Shang were furious with only one person and at the moment, to them, no one else mattered. Syaoran was hesitant to attack Touya for, after all, he was Sakura's brother and he doubted she would be happy if Touya was hurt by his hand, especially before her eyes. Neither could he attack Di Shang; so Syaoran had nothing left but to defend. If and when he did attack them, he only sent out some mildly aggressive charms, like water or even a little fire, but his cousin could counteract them easily with his own.
Battling right in the middle of the park in broad daylight, Syaoran was surprised not to draw the attention of curious passerbys. For that reason, though, he was grateful. Who would be able to explain that Touya and Di Shang were attacking him because they were under the influence of Jiao Cards? But he could not just defend himself. He was becoming overwhelmed by their swift and sudden attacks. Under normal circumstances, he would probably be able to battle both Touya and Di Shang at the same time, but because of the influence of the Jiao Cards, their skills had been greatly enhanced.
Di Shang threw another swift punch at Syaoran, who held one hand up and caught the hit, trying to push him away. Touya, coming from behind the pair, was not seen by Syaoran, too busy dealing with Di Shang, and rearing back with fists clenched, he brought it down upon the younger boy. Stepping in, Sakura caught hold of her brother's arm, disallowing him to cast a single blow. With anger clouding his eyes, Touya struggled to free his arm from his sister's grip, and succeeded in throwing her off. "Ah!" screamed Sakura.
"Sakura!" cried Syaoran. When he attempted to go after her, both Di Shang and Touya stood directly in his path, blocking his way.
As Sakura prepared to hit the ground, she was swept straight into someone's arms. Looking up, she saw the familiar-friendly, though cold, face of her guardian. "Thank you, Yue," she told him. Yue nodded and landed on the grass, depositing her gently on the ground. Cerberus appeared by her side, smiling at her. Then, with a quick look at Yue, both guardians sprang out with their wings outstretched at Touya and Di Shang. Touya was held against a tree by Yue and Cerberus pinned Di Shang to the ground.
"Seal them, Sakura!" shouted Cerberus.
Sakura nodded and approached them. "Jiao Cards!" she cried. "Release Touya and Di Shang and return to your power confined!" Two shadows escaped from within Di Shang and Touya and each took the form of a card. Di Shang exhaled wearily as Cerberus released him, still lying flat on the ground.
Touya, his vision returning to normal, was confused at the sight of Yue. "Yukito?" he whispered, before collapsing against the tree and dropping to the ground. Syaoran breathed a sigh of relief as he took a minute-break. Sakura held her two new cards in her hand: The Anger and The Jealousy. She understood why the Anger Card linked with Touya, but she didn't understand why Di Shang had been joined by The Jealousy.
"What could Di Shang be jealous about?" she wondered. As she put her cards away, Sakura found an envelope in her hand. It hadn't been there a moment before…Opening it, she discovered its contents to be a short letter and three tickets. Syaoran joined her, as did Di Shang, and together they unfolded the letter and read it.
Card Mistress…and her fellow Card Captors,
I cannot but admit that you are better than I have given you credit for. You've managed to capture quite a number of my cards. You may have won a few battles, but in the end, the war will be mine. It's also been brought to my attention that you three have a - how should I put this? - a home-court advantage. I will be taking my leave now and you three are welcome to join me. If you have not reached my destination within twenty-four hours, I will just assume you have accepted defeat. But until then…
Kam Un
Syaoran took one of the three tickets from Sakura's hand. "They're…they're for Hong Kong!" he exclaimed with surprise. "He wants us to go to Hong Kong? Why did he choose there - of all places?"
Taking a ticket himself, Di Shang added, "They're only one-way, too. I guess he's assuming that he'll beat us and we'll never be coming back."
"Or maybe it was just cheaper to buy three one-way tickets instead of three round-trip tickets," muttered Syaoran sarcastically. Di Shang glared at Syaoran but didn't say anything.
"Whatever the reason, we're going to Hong Kong and defeating him," said Sakura resolutely. "I won't let him have his way." Syaoran and Di Shang nodded their agreement.
"You're not going anywhere, Sakura." All turned and looked at Touya, the one who had spoken. Sakura, realizing her staff was still in her hand, quickly hid it behind her back. Touya had been sitting against the tree the whole time, watching everyone silently. From time to time he would steal glances at Yue, then he'd shake his head, unsure of what was going on and what he was seeing. After hearing Sakura's resolution, he got up and approached the Card Captors. "Do you think you can just run off like that?" he demanded. "I'm not letting you go."
"Touya," Sakura said pleadingly. "I have to go. If I don't, who knows what else Kam Un will do. I'm the only one that can stop him."
"I don't care," answered Touya. "You're not going. I have no idea what's going on, but I do know it's too dangerous. Besides," he said, glaring at the Li's. "The Li-brats can go home and take care of whatever this is themselves. They don't need you."
"Let her go." Cerberus looked up, astonished at his fellow guardian. "She's got a point, Touya," added Yue. "She is the only one capable of completely defeating Kam Un. The Li cousins are strong, but without Sakura, they're not strong enough."
"Who are you?" asked Touya, confused again. "You look like Yukito, somehow…" Yue seemed hesitant for a moment, but then he transformed back to his false form.
"It's because I am," he replied. Cerberus returned to his false form as well.
"You…you're…" Touya backed into the tree, speechless. He looked at Kero, too, immediately recognizing him as the doll always in Sakura's room. He closed his eyes and turned around. He always knew there was something different about Yukito. He wasn't like he seemed…It was obvious that whatever his sibling had gotten herself into, she was in pretty deep. What could he do? He couldn't oppose her leaving. Everyone seemed to depend on her so much…"She's grown up so fast…" thought Touya. Facing the others again, he finally nodded his assent. Sakura, tears in her eyes, ran to her brother and threw her arms around him.
"Thank you," she said through her tears. Touya ruffled her hair as their father had often done.
"I guess you had…better get going," he said. "Take care of yourself, Sakura." He glanced over at the Li cousins, then looked at Yukito. "Isn't there some way you and that stuffed toy can go? Instead of them?" Yukito shook his head, while Kero was steaming about the "stuffed toy" remark. Glaring at the Li's, he said, "If anything happens to my little sister, you're going to hear from me." Looking down at Sakura, he added softly, "Goodbye, my cherry blossom."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Sakura felt strangely excited about going to Hong Kong again. When she had visited it last time, she had had a wonderful time, even if she didn't completely understand Chinese. That was the time she had captured the Arrow Card and met Syaoran's family: his mother and four sisters. She looked out the plane window at the sun, now setting down into the depths of the ocean. The plane had been up in the air for approximately fifteen minutes now and there was about four and a half hours left of their flight.
The three Card Captors had immediately gone home soon after the "battle". Each packed a small suitcase and hurried to the airport. Not being an especially large plane, there was one aisle that separated the two sides of the plane's seating area, with two seats in each row, about thirty rows altogether. The trio sat at the back of the plane; Sakura by the window in the second last row with Di Shang beside her and Syaoran in the seat directly behind Di Shang. Beside him was an empty seat.
Syaoran disliked being stuffed in the back row and he detested the fact that his cousin sat with Sakura. But feeling rather tired - for he had been in a fight just early that afternoon - he tried to forget his disappointment and went to sleep, all cares in the world being put to rest for a little while. Sakura yawned and she herself felt extremely tired. She was still recovering from the fight the night before. Di Shang offered her to use his shoulder as a pillow, which she accepted, and leaning against him, fell promptly asleep. Di Shang smiled as he watched her. "Just like a sweet angel," he thought. But he did not notice two cards slipping out of Sakura's pocket.
Suddenly, the entire plane rocked violently. Frightened murmurs could be heard spreading throughout the small plane. Syaoran and Sakura were both woken by the sudden turbulence, Syaoran having hit the aisle, his seatbelt not being buckled. As he stood, he steadied himself by holding onto the arm of the seat. The plane continually rocked, and people were more than a little nervous, despite the announcements made by the pilots. But those announcements didn't bring good news anyway. But suddenly, as swiftly as it began, the swaying stopped. When Syaoran looked up, he found the other passengers in the plane had already calmed down, but realized they had quieted down far too quickly. Sakura stood up, as well as Di Shang. "Everyone is asleep," commented Di Shang, looking around.
"But how?" asked Sakura. As she glanced around, a figure at the front of the cabin caught her attention. "It's the Slumber Card!" exclaimed Sakura. "But it's in my pocket…" Checking her pocket, she realized she couldn't find the card anywhere. The Gust Card was missing, too. She looked back at the mischievous card. "How did it escape?" Suddenly, they were all thrown to one side of the plane as it tottered again; Di Shang and Syaoran both hitting the walls while Sakura landed in Di Shang's arms. The two blushed for a split second, something that did not escape Syaoran's notice, then split apart. Sakura pressed herself to the nearest window to get a view of what was happening outside. And what she saw was the Gust Card. "The Gust Card is causing the commotion outside," Sakura told them.
"How could it break its seal?" asked Di Shang, dumbfounded. "It's a Sakura Card now."
"I don't know," growled Syaoran. "But we - and all these people - will be in big trouble if it isn't sealed again."
"The Gust is outside," said Sakura thoughtfully. "That means we have to find some way to go outside, too."
"Agreed," nodded Di Shang. "But you better seal the Slumber Card first."
With her star staff in hand, Sakura ran down the aisle, shouting, "Slumber Card! Return to your power confined!" The Slumber disappeared into its card form. Before Sakura could touch the card, Syaoran picked it up and held it up, studying the card. Sakura stared at the card. "It's a…Jiao Card, again," she said. "But why?"
Di Shang shook his head. "I have no idea. It was changed to a Sakura Card so it shouldn't have found a way to return to a Jiao Card. What's going on?" Before anyone could speculate further, the plane swayed once more, rocking unsteadily. Several of the sleeping passengers tumbled out of their seats, their safety belts unbuckled. "We'll get it figured out later. Let's find a way to seal that card." As the three ran toward the door, Sakura noticed that the plane was neither ascending nor descending. It was simply being pushed from one side to the other.
When they reached the door, the sign on it simply read "use only in an emergency", indicating the opening mechanism. "I'd qualify this as an emergency," muttered Syaoran. When he turned to Sakura, he found she wasn't there. Looking around, he saw her seating the few fallen people back into their seats and buckling their safety belts. She rejoined them a moment later.
At Syaoran's raised eyebrow, she said, "We're fighting the Gust Card and it's bound to get more than a little windy in here. I don't want anything drastic happening to these passengers like them falling out of the plane or something." Syaoran didn't answer because he was busy trying to pull the latch on the door down. Di Shang assisted him by pushing it down and they both pushed the door open. All were greeted by a sudden hail of wind. Fighting against it, Sakura pulled out the Fly Card and released it. Wings grew on her back and she stepped out the door, wings outstretched, flying in search of The Gust's visible form. She was swept away by the card's sudden blast of wind, but recovering quickly and pouring more energy to her wings, Sakura flew back and clutched the doorway of the plane.
"How are we going to defeat it?" she yelled over the wailing gale of wind. Syaoran and Di Shang, similarly, were hanging onto the doorway. The cousins exchanged a glance and nodded.
Working in tandem, both released their swords in their palms, and shouted, "Lightning! Strike!" Static bolts flew from the tips of their swords, striking the winds. The winds decreased in size and the visible form of The Gust appeared, obviously enraged.
"Use The Thunder like you did before, Sakura," suggested Di Shang.
Sakura nodded her head. She threw the Thunder Card and also The Lightning before her and released them. The Thunder joined with the lightning from the Li's and the Lightning Card to form one powerful attack. The two cards charged The Gust, knocking it down with a single blow. The Gust fell and landed on the left wing of the plane. Sakura quickly flew to its side. "Gust Card! Return to your power confined!" The Gust sealed and Sakura, after staring at it thoughtfully for a few moments, put the card away. But even with The Gust gone, the plane still rocked uncontrollably. Thinking fast, the Card Mistress took out the Balance Card. "Balance Card! Stabalize the airplane before it flips out of control!" The Balance Card, jester hat and all, wrapped itself around the outside of the plane, holding it in a stable position. With the plane no longer in danger, The Balance returned to a card.
After flying back to the doorway, Di Shang helped Sakura into the plane and Syaoran shut the door by pulling up the latch, locking it. All sank to their knees with relief. Sakura held up her staff. "I have one last thing to do," she told her friends. "Forget Card! Erase the memory of this event from the memories of all of the people affected by it except for us, Card Captors; release!"
When passengers on the plane destined to Hong Kong began waking up, they all commented on how smooth their ride was, even if their arrival time had been delayed for about an hour. But on the left side, in the last two rows, no words were passed between anyone. The three Card Captors were fast asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~
At the airport in Hong Kong, Sakura stifled a yawn. She was still tired out from the events of the last few days. "I'm just glad school's finished," she thought to herself. The time was nearing the end of June, marking the beginning of their summer break.
Syaoran lagged a little behind Sakura and Di Shang. He was beginning to find Di Shang's constant presence…annoying. Okay, not beginning to; it had been this way for several months already; but still, he was a strong ally against Kam Un. His mind drifted to other topics. What did Kam Un have in mind, calling them here? And why did The Gust and The Slumber break free from their seals? How could it be possible? Unanswered questions whirled dizzily in his head.
Reaching the baggage claim area, the trio stopped and waited for their luggage to appear. They watched each and every suitcase imaginable go by. After a few passed by, Di Shang found his, as did Syaoran, but Sakura waited and waited and hers still didn't show up. By then, all of the other passengers from their flight had claimed their luggage and left. Finally, her suitcase appeared, the very last one. As Sakura picked up her little suitcase, she found a note attached to it.
"What's this?" she murmured, opening the note. Di Shang and Syaoran looked on over her shoulder.
Welcome to Hong Kong, Card Mistress,
I trust your flight went well? Oh, don't tell me; the seal to your cards was broken. How sad. It goes to show, Card Mistress, that you and the Li cousins can never underestimate my true power. I have just barely scratched the surface. Afraid yet? Well, you shouldn't be. Not yet, anyway. More challenges lay ahead for you and I will be testing you every step of the way. But remember, Card Mistress, seals are never permanent and they can always be broken.
Kam Un
Sakura crumpled up the letter, suddenly disheartened. Did that mean nothing could fully defeat the Jiao Cards? She looked over at Di Shang. He shook his head.
"I honestly don't know, Sakura," he said, as if he had read her mind. "I thought that if the Jiao Cards became Sakura Cards, the problems with the seal would go away. Now I just don't know anymore."
"But what was it that Clow Reed used to seal the Jiao Cards?" asked Syaoran. "Whatever it was, it had worked effectively up to about a year or so ago."
Di Shang shrugged his shoulders. "That's another question I don't have the answer to," he said. All stood silent for a few minutes. "Come on," Di Shang said finally. "Let's go home. We'll figure out what to do there." Sakura and Syaoran nodded in response.
As the Card Captors made their way to the arrival area for passenger pick-ups, they saw someone waving to them from a distance. From that far away, no one could see who it was. But, whoever it was, drew closer to them. The figure was running toward them, and as soon as the person came into view, they saw she had a happy smile on her face. It was Meiling.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's great to see you all again," said Meiling, sitting in the left passenger seat in the front of the car. Syaoran, Di Shang, and Sakura sat in the back.
"How did you know we were coming?" asked Syaoran.
"Di Shang called and told me," answered Meiling. Beside Meiling was the person in the driver's seat, a woman that looked to be about twenty to twenty-five years old.
"Xiao Lang," spoke the woman for the first time, in Mandarin. "It's good that you're back in Hsiang Kang. Who's the girl?"
"She's the Card Mistress," he answered, also speaking Mandarin. "Her name's Kinomoto Sakura, Chun Hua." The older woman peered at Sakura through the rear-view mirror with a smile.
"Welcome to Hong Kong, Card Mistress," she said, switching to Japanese. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Sakura nodded in response, and replied, "Thank you. And you, too." Sakura turned to Di Shang, a confused look on her face. Di Shang smiled at her.
"Translation: Syaoran, it's good you're back in Hong Kong. Who's the girl?" explained Di Shang. "That is Li Chun Hua. She acts as Meiling's guardian. She and Meiling are the only people out of our entire clan that doesn't have an inkling of magic powers in them." He paused when Meiling turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, then faced the front and folded her arms with a pout. Chun Hua glanced over at Meiling and giggled. "Anyway," continued Di Shang, sweatdropping. "Chun Hua takes care of Meiling while she's in Hong Kong. She takes Syaoran and me in sometimes, too, when the rest of our family is in Guangzhou or some place like that." He grinned at her. "I can become your official translator if you'd like, because Chun Hua doesn't have the best Japanese." Sakura nodded with a happy smile and Chun Hua laughed.
"Well, we're here!" called Chun Hua, stopping the car after an hour's drive. Sakura opened the door and stepped out, Di Shang behind her. She stared open-mouthed at the grand house. It may not have been as big as Tomoyo's home, nor as elegant, but there was something about it that made you feel honoured to be within its presence. It was not a modern type home; it had been styled after some of the traditional homes in China back many centuries ago. The house was no more than a story tall, with a dark golden-tiled roofs that curved upward at the ends. The walls of the house had most likely had a harsh red hue, but mellowed out after years of existence.
Since they were now in the outskirts of Hong Kong, the size of the home did not matter. A large courtyard sat in front of it, with once white tiles covering the entire ground. A few cracks ran along the floor and it became apparent to Sakura this place was used for duelling. Running along the edges of the last set of tiles were rows and columns of trees. High above, stars twinkled against a midnight-blue backdrop.
"It's beautiful," Sakura said in awe, as she turned to Di Shang. Di Shang nodded, smiling.
"It's always great to come back here," said Di Shang. "Chun Hua is also a great teacher when it comes to martial arts. She taught me shaolin and t'ai chi chuan when I was younger. I think she taught that to Syaoran, as well. She's also my older sister." He made a comical little face. "Anyway, come on," he added, taking Sakura's hand in his. "I'll show you around the place." Sakura nodded and Di Shang led her in, describing things as they went along. Syaoran watched them enter the house and scowled darkly. Meiling caught the scowl and sidled to his side, her arms on her hips.
"You still haven't told her, have you?" she asked. Syaoran turned around and cast her a glare.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said sullenly.
"What am I going to do with you, Xiao Lang?" she asked him in exasperation. "You'll never win her if you don't tell her!" Syaoran ignored her and entered the house. Meiling looked downcast for a moment, then she remembered something. "Hey!" she cried. "You're not going to leave me to carry all your luggage are you?" Chun Hua laughed as she locked the passenger doors and opened the trunk.
"I suppose Xiao Lang is just too preoccupied with his thoughts, Meiling," she said.
"I guess," she said with a sigh. "But he'll lose Sakura if he doesn't tell her."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What happened to them?!"
"Calm down, Meiling," said Di Shang, his hands held up in defense, a large sweatdrop behind his head.
Meiling stared with disbelief at the three torn battle costumes, especially Sakura's. She shook her head, muttering dark thoughts to herself. "You guys are just impossible," she said in a scolding tone. Her hands rested on her hips. "I suppose you want me to fix them up now?"
Di Shang laughed nervously. "We can sew when needed," he said. "But we need new pieces altogether and neither me nor Syaoran is capable of putting that together. You're our only hope, Meiling."
"Don't worry, Meiling," said Sakura, smiling. "I'll help you out." Meiling looked at the blue, green, and pink battles costumes in her arms and nodded thankfully.
"All right, but you all owe me big time," she warned.
Syaoran was sitting sideways on a chair, his legs dangling over the arm of it. He was by himself, brooding in anger, not paying attention to what was going on around him. Meiling plopped down beside him on the chair, the battle costumes spread out on a low table. Di Shang and Sakura sat on the two-seated chair opposite them. Meiling took out materials she would need; needles, scissors, rolls of cloth, etc.
"Well?" she asked. Syaoran, Di Shang, and Sakura stared at her blankly. "Tell me what's happened the past ten months in Tomoeda," said Meiling. "And Di Shang, include those months you were in northern China. I don't really know much about that." Meiling began cutting away the seams that attached Sakura's robes right sleeve to the rest of the costume. She was planning to replace it.
"Oh," replied Di Shang. "Sure thing." Syaoran changed from his earlier sitting position and sat down properly, curious to hear Di Shang's account of the last few months and of the times before he went to Tomoeda. Sakura was interested to know as well in detail. "Let's see," started Di Shang. "It all happened when the Elders told me I had a new mission…"
Author's Note: Prepare for a very long "note". Meiling is back; and I've added another original character, Li Chun Hua. I made up the name. It's suppose to mean "Spring Flower". The scene change came earlier than I expected. I thought it would be at the very end of this chapter, not two-thirds down. *shrugs* Oh, well. Not a big deal. Yep, I moved all the Card Captors to Hong Kong, but not the Card Guardians =( I'm going to miss them. But remember, this won't be the last scene change; there's tons more to go!
You may have noticed I switch between using Xiao Lang and Syaoran. Xiao Lang is the proper romanization for the Chinese version of his name. For Mandarin, anyway. In Cantonese, it's Siu Long. I'll be using Xiao Lang when a character like Chun Hua is speaking to/about him and the Clamp version for every other time or when they're supposed to be speaking in Japanese. Di Xuan is the proper romanization for Di Shang, by the way, and Hsiang Kang is most commonly known to everyone as Hong Kong. Did you know that these different last names in English - Chan, Chen, and Tan - are the same in Chinese? They're just pronounced differently depending on dialect. Chan = Cantonese; Chen = Mandarin; Chin = Taisan; Tan = Fukien. ^_~
Shaolin and t'ai chi chuan are both different forms of kung fu (martial arts). There are more varieties than just two, of course.
I noticed I never made a disclaimer before. Well, it is more than a little obvious I don't own CCS, but here's my disclaimer. Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or any of its official characters. They belong to Clamp, Nelvana, and other related companies. The only thing that is mine are my original characters (e.g. Li Di Shang, Chen Chi Yuen, Kam Un, Jiao Wan, Li Chun Hua, etc.), the Jiao Cards, and the plot/storyline. If you copy anything of mine, I will flame you. I've had this idea for ages - since last August, anyway - and I've spent quite a lot of time and energy into it. (I'm completely devoted to this. ^_^) I have also taken time to research some aspects for my fic and I will be really upset if you copy any of my ideas.
Phew! That note is really long! Well, please read and review and let me know what you think of the fic so far. I'm really having fun with this fan fic. =)
*Sakura
~The Animé Archives Team
