The New Cards
Working Together: Chapter Nine
By: Sakura
"Are you two fighting again?"
Syaoran and Di Shang broke the gaze between them and turned to look at their cousin, Meiling, who was leaning against the doorway watching them, and shaking her head. The two boys were on the tiled courtyard in front of their home, fists flying, and at times those same fists crossed and struck at the same moment. Meiling walked down the steps and joined them.
"Xiao Lang, Di Xuan, isn't there a better way to resolve your differences?" asked Meiling.
Neither Syaoran nor Di Shang had changed their position since being interrupted by Meiling. They both stood in a combat stance, knees bent, each of their fists clenched tight right next to each other. "What do you mean?" sputtered Syaoran defensively. "We were just duelling." Di Shang nodded.
"Yeah, right!" exclaimed the exasperated Meiling, throwing her hands up in the air. "Just admit it; you were fighting over the Card Mistress again."
"I will not admi-ah!" Syaoran was cut off in mid-sentence as soon as he felt something jump onto his wrist and he crashed to the ground. Di Shang had a similar situation. Meiling ran down the stairs and joined her cousin.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "What happened?"
Syaoran rubbed his head with his right hand. "I don't know," he said. The moment he lifted his left wrist, he heard a yell and saw Di Shang being dragged upward.
"Put your arm down!" yelled Di Shang.
"Huh?" said Syaoran. He brought down his left arm and Di Shang was able to sit back on the ground. "Wah! How did I get stuck to you?" he cried, staring at his wrists. Di Shang looked down at his right hand. Around his right wrist and Syaoran's left wrist was some kind of handcuff-like object that linked his arm to Syaoran's. He tried to pull it off. It didn't budge.
"Don't move," warned Di Shang. He lifted his right hand (and Syaoran's left) and studied the object. "There's no hole or anything. If there's a key for it, I don't know where we're suppose to fit it." Syaoran jumped up, pulling Di Shang to his feet, too.
"That's ridiculous," he said. "There has to be a way." He unleashed his sword and slashed down on the material. Nothing happened. The bondage held. Not even a scratch was to be seen. He hacked away at it several times more, but to no avail. Syaoran put his sword away. Desperate to get this thing off, he suggested, "How about you and I try to use our strength to pull it apart?" Di Shang nodded.
Both boys found a firm grip on the ground and began moving slowly in opposite directions. But the material still held and, after going as far as the bondage would allow, both boys crashed to the ground, attached by the wrist. Meiling looked on, unsure of how to help them. It was at this time Sakura appeared. She had been taking a morning walk on the path behind Chun Hua's home and it wound back to the courtyard. As she stepped onto the tiles, she saw Syaoran and Di Shang lying in a heap on the ground and Meiling watching them.
"What's going on?" she asked as she walked toward them. "I heard a lot of shouting."
"Syaoran and Di Shang are stuck to each other," responded Meiling. "By the wrist. And whatever it is, the thing just won't come off."
"Let me try," said Sakura. Syaoran and Di Shang held out their arms, showing Sakura the bondage. Sakura took out her star key and transformed it. Flipping a card in front of her, Sakura cried, "Sword Card; release and dispel!" Gripping the sword in her hand, Sakura brought it down in one swift motion. Sword and bondage struck, but nothing happened. Sakura lifted her sword and checked it, ensuring it wasn't damaged. "I guess the sword isn't strong enough," she said.
A scowl embedded itself into Syaoran's expression. "Great," he muttered sourly. "That means I'll be stuck with this guy for the rest of my life."
"I don't like it any better than you," Di Shang shot back. Sakura and Meiling glanced at each other and sweatdropped.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Couldn't Kam Un have found a better time to release a Jiao Card?" wondered Syaoran, rather grumpily. Neither cousins were successful in removing the chain since it connected them this morning and Syaoran was in a very bad mood. Di Shang wasn't holding up any better. The day hadn't been easy for either boys. Both were constantly arguing over everything; from which direction to go to what they were doing next. At that moment, though, the four Card Captors were trailing another Jiao Card and this card was believed to be The Armour, an equivalent of The Shield.
Sakura suddenly came to a halt, as did Meiling and Di Shang. But Syaoran, not paying attention, hadn't stopped in time and he went flying, pulling Di Shang to the ground with him. Syaoran rubbed his head with a groan and roughly shoved Di Shang off of him. "Why did you stop?" he asked crossly. Sakura pointed ahead of him. When he looked up, he saw Kam Un sitting on a branch of a tree, the Armour Card by his side. Kam Un stood up and laughed.
"How are you holding up, Syaoran?" he said with a smirk. "I doubt The Bond can be a very pleasant experience for you. Especially when you're stuck to the person you despise the most."
Syaoran glared at Kam Un, an angry spark in his eyes. "You better get this card off, Jiao User," he said in a low growl. "Or I will personally go over there and wipe that smirk off your face." Both Sakura and Meiling with astonished at the severity of Syaoran's tone. Syaoran pulled himself up as did Di Shang.
Kam Un laughed. "I'm sorry," he said, chuckling. "The Bond will never be released without the right key. That is, if you can find it."
Sakura's gaze turned toward the Armour Card. "What's that thing it's protecting?" she thought to herself. It held a key-shaped object underneath its protective form. "Meiling, Syaoran, Di Shang," she said. "The key; it's being protected by the Armour Card!" Syaoran nodded, and after brandishing his sword, ran toward the Armour Card, with his cousin in tow.
"Syaoran, wait!" cried Di Shang. He pulled on his cousin's sleeve, trying to stop his approach. "You can't get near that card without a card of your own!" Too late; the moment Syaoran touched The Armour's shield, the energy from the card repelled them, and they were both flung into the bushes.
"Di Shang! Syaoran!" cried Sakura as she ran toward the card, her star staff in hand. Kam Un jumped down and landed in front of Sakura, cutting her off. Meiling was right behind her.
"Going somewhere?" he hissed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Unknowingly to either Sakura or Meiling, when the two boys had landed in the bushes, they didn't just land there; they fell right through them. Syaoran and Di Shang were sliding down a very steep hill, in the middle of a thick forest. Every time one or the other caught onto a branch or a stone to break their slide, that object would break free because it was weighted down by two people and they would continue skidding down the hill. And yet, abruptly, the hill ended and both Li's found themselves suspended in the air. Then they continued to fall.
Somehow, by sheer luck, a branch protruding from the cliffside caught them. There they hung by their wrists, ironically, the troublesome Bond Card the only thing keeping them from falling. Looking down, Di Shang could see nothing but air. They both held onto the cliffside with their one free hand. But when one boy was able to pull himself higher than the other, they were both faced with the danger of falling even further down and neither could ascend a single step. They had to maintain the same balance in order to not endanger the branch.
"If it weren't for you," scowled Syaoran. "I would be able to climb back up; no problem."
"Yeah," responded Di Shang. "But if it weren't for you, I would never have done something as stupid as approach the Armour Card without using a card myself."
"I only went to it to get rid of this stupid thing on my wrist!" retorted Syaoran. This brought on a fresh bout of arguments. Finally, when both cousins ran out of things to blame each other for, they hung there silently.
"It was never like this before," thought Di Shang. "Things used to be so…different." Di Shang turned to look at his cousin. "Hey, Syaoran?" he called quietly.
"What?" snapped Syaoran.
"We…we weren't ever like this, were we?" he asked. "We fought, but not like this. What changed?"
Syaoran's expression softened a little bit as he thought back for a moment. "I'm not quite sure," he admitted. "I suppose it was during our last battle, before the first time I left for Japan."
"You're referring to the one when you beat me in front of the Elders and was then sent by them to Japan to retrieve the Clow Cards?" Syaoran nodded.
"That's the one."
~*Flashback*~
Ten-year-old Di Shang stood at the end of the arena, sword poised in his hand, his body in a battle stance, ready to strike. Confidence surged in his eyes and his blue aura glowed strong and bright. Opposite him stood Syaoran. His eyes were aloof, his expression betraying no emotion whatsoever, and his green aura radiating around him. Over the past two years Syaoran had grown colder and much more distant. Di Shang could hardly believe this was the cousin he had worked with just three years ago. And this was the one he had to defeat if he wished to go to Japan to bring the Clow Cards back to its rightful place with the Li Clan.
"You ready?" asked Di Shang.
Syaoran positioned himself into a fighting stance. "More than I'll ever be," he answered coldly. Di Shang made the first move, using his new sword, taking the offense. Syaoran, with his own sword, met every one of Di Shang's strokes, counteracting them perfectly. The Elders stood at the side of the arena, watching the two cousins in combat. They would decide who would be sent to Japan.
The battle continued for more than an hour, neither boy gaining any real ground. That is, until Meiling showed up. Now, to both Syaoran and Di Shang, Meiling was their closest female relative. She was the only one they allowed to train with them and to learn the same lessons they did. When they were younger, they did everything together and Di Shang always retained a brotherly care toward her. But something had changed.
Meiling stood by the side or the arena, opposite the Elders, watching her cousins in combat. When Di Shang slashed his sword down, Syaoran brought his up to meet his; both swords clashing against one another. Di Shang and Syaoran pushed together with all their strength, trying to push the other back, but they were equally matched. And then…
"You can do it, Xiao Lang!"
Di Shang blinked disbelieving eyes at Meiling. She was cheering for…Syaoran? Why? With Di Shang distracted momentarily, Syaoran knocked Di Shang's sword out of his hand and it flew out of his grip, clattering to the ground several feet away. Di Shang was forced to drop to his knees, Syaoran's sword tip pointing at the base of his neck.
The Elders signalled the end of the contest and Di Shang felt his face turning crimson with shame. He abruptly stood up, bowed respectfully to Syaoran and the Elders, then turned and fled from the arena, anger and hatred filling him. Meiling, after throwing her arms around Syaoran in a big congratulatory hug, watched Di Shang storm off curiously.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked Syaoran, still hugging him.
Syaoran didn't answer. Besides feeling self-satisfaction for having won the contest, a part of Syaoran's heart suddenly felt very empty, as if he had lost something very important…
~*End Flashback*~
Di Shang laughed bitterly. "I hated you after that day," he said. "I really shouldn't have lost that match; not that way. I was stupid enough to break my concentration when it was needed most. That's what really killed me that time. I knew it was my fault, but I still hated you anyway. How is it that you got the honour of going to retrieve the Clow Cards instead of me? Of course, when you came back with nothing, no one was more pleased than I."
"Resentful words," commented Syaoran. "I'm surprised to hear this coming from you. Out of our entire clan, you were the most liked. Wherever you went, you were welcome. If it was me, they'd ask why I was always underfoot and tell me I ought to change my attitude and behave more like you."
"But you were the one that acted so cold and insolent toward them," pointed out Di Shang.
"Perhaps."
"When you returned from Japan," continued Di Shang. "I could see the immediate change in you. Meiling had informed me of some of the events that occurred, but I didn't believe it. You came back so…much more open than one may have expected. It's like the Card Mistress had made some sort of impact on you. You weren't even concerned your mission had completely failed."
Syaoran was silent for a moment. "Well," he said slowly. "Sakura deserves to be the Card Mistress. No one else has worked so hard when it came to capturing the Clow Cards; or fought so arduously to win against Yue the judge; or even in transforming Clow Cards to Sakura Cards, no one could have done more. She's tried her best - no, she's surpassed even that - and she always came out on top because of it. But sometimes, she just doesn't realize her own strength."
"She is strong, as the successor of Clow Reed should be," said Di Shang. "I'm glad to have met her; she's the kind of person who can make you feel better just by seeing a smile on her face. When she's happy, I feel happy, too." Syaoran didn't answer his cousin, but he agreed with Di Shang, and Di Shang knew it.
"We shouldn't be fighting each other," said Syaoran softly. "At least, not at a time like this."
Di Shang nodded. "Let's put aside all of our anger and hatred to each other and make a temporary truce. We'll work together to get out of this mess."
"Work together?" repeated Syaoran thoughtfully. "That sounds familiar. We had to…do that once, didn't we?" Di Shang nodded again.
"We did," he replied. "Eight years ago; when we were both seven years old."
~*Flashback*~
"Xiao Lang, Di Xuan, you can do it," encouraged Chun Hua. Both boys stood aloof from each other, neither making a move. In an almost exasperated sigh, Chun Hua said, "If you boys don't get your act together soon, you'll both lose this tournament. Working together is the key." Syaoran and Di Shang nodded to their trainer. Neither wanted to let her down for she had spent much time in preparing them both. And they were ready; more than ready, really.
As the Li cousins stepped onto the ring, the Tam brothers, their opponents, greeted them with laughter. In comparison, the Li cousins were much smaller than the Tam brothers were in stature and the Tams were confident of their victory. They were older as well, by at least three years. Tam Ling Shun, the taller and swifter of the two, folded his arms and stared condescendingly at the younger boys. Tam Sik Ying, physically stronger than his brother, pounded his fist into his hand, showing off his strength.
"You babies won't win this," sneered Sik Ying. "Even if you were taught by Li Chun Hua. It doesn't matter, because you'll both be squashed like bugs as soon as we're through with you."
Syaoran and Di Shang positioned themselves, opting for a defense stance, knowing that the Tams would choose to start off aggressively. The sight of the cousins in identical stances set the Tam brothers off laughing. "Are you just going to laugh?" asked Syaoran through clenched teeth. "Or are we going to fight?" They stopped laughing and smiled.
"Of course we're going to fight," said Sik Ying. "Just prepare to lose."
Before Syaoran had time to answer, Ling Shun knocked Di Shang to the ground with a swift punch. Syaoran cried out with surprise when Sik Ying punched him in the gut and he, too, fell. Getting up, he fought, blinded by fury, and slammed into the older boy. But it was no good. Syaoran hadn't used enough strength to take him down and was now down himself. When he looked over at Di Shang, he saw him getting beat up and knocked down as well.
After hitting the floor for the fifth time, Di Shang pulled himself to his feet and with a series of kicks and punches, took offense against Ling Shun. Ling Shun blocked them easily and at one point, he was able to hold Di Shang back, then shove him into Syaoran, who was fighting off Sik Ying.
The Tam brothers paused and laughed at the cousins lying in a heap on the cold, tiled floor. But then they each pulled up a boy and delivered their own blows, each harder than the last. When Syaoran and Di Shang showed no signs of consciousness, they released the boys from their tight grips and they fell facedown to the ground.
"Ha!" laughed Sik Ying. "We win everytime! We're the unbeatable duo!" Ling Shun nodded in agreement and they both laughed heartily. The two judges on the sidelines made no comment as they continued to watch. Apparently the judges had caught on to something that the Tam brothers had missed.
Still flat on the ground, Di Shang's fingers slowly began to twitch. He was boiling with red-hot rage. How dare they! How dare they underestimate their power, simply because they were smaller and in their eyes, considerably weaker. If only…if only he and Syaoran had worked together, instead of individually. They could have defeated the Tams…but it was too late now.
Syaoran forced his eyelids open and slowly looked about him; every bone in his body sore. If he hadn't thought only about himself, about how he could beat the Tams, he would have realized that by working as one with Di Shang was the only way they could have beaten the unbeatable duo. As he was about to close his eyes and accept defeat, he locked gazes with Di Shang and both understood what they had to do. There was fire in both pairs of eyes, the same fire seen in amber as the one viewed in hazel. Without moving, they planned, just by looking into each others' eyes, what they were going to do.
Without a sound, both Syaoran and Di Shang leapt to their feet. But as quiet as they were, Ling Shun had sensed their movement behind him and whirled around. Too late; for two fists impacted his jaw and he went flying into his brother. Though battered and bruised, neither Li cousins looked beaten. Then the brothers got up and angrily began attacking them.
But Syaoran and Di Shang worked as a team, their movements completely synchronized, and if Syaoran left one side exposed, Di Shang covered for him and vice versa. They even used the brothers' size against them. Though small, the cousins had great agility and powerful hits. In the end, the outcome was obvious. The judges declared Syaoran and Di Shang as the victors. The Tam brothers sulked and left. Syaoran and Di Shang shook hands, smiling at each other.
Hidden by the shadows, Chun Hua smiled. "See what you can accomplish when you work together?" she thought. "I'm proud of the both of you. You have learned a valuable lesson: co-operation."
~*End Flashback*~
"So what do you say, Syaoran?" asked Di Shang. "Should we give it a try?"
Syaoran nodded. "Only until we get this card off our wrists."
Though the protruding branch had chosen that moment to break, neither cousins minded; they had already vaulted up the cliffside and were running through the trees, back toward Sakura, Meiling, and the Jiao Cards.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What are we going to do?" muttered Sakura to herself.
"I don't know," said Meiling, answering her question. "But if you have a trump card up your sleeve, I suggest you play it.
Sakura smiled wanly. "Unfortunately, I have no such card."
Both Sakura and Meiling were trapped by the Armour Card. After Syaoran and Di Shang had disappeared, Kam Un made a spell that moved The Armour. It flipped over Sakura and Meiling and trapped them underneath. Then it proceeded to shrink. When she tried to touch the card, Sakura felt a shock that rippled lightly through her body, a very unpleasant feeling. As it shrunk, Sakura and Meiling backed away from it's walls and finally into each other. Back-to-back, neither girls had anywhere to go.
Looking past The Armour's shield, Sakura could see the now unprotected key lying on the ground. "If only I can reach it," she thought. She shut her eyes and bowed her head slightly as The Armour got closer and closer to her. "Syaoran, Di Shang, I hope you're both okay."
Kam Un was sitting on the branch of the tree, controlling The Armour's reduction. At some intervals, he would taunt the two Card Captors within the dome by making it slightly larger than suddenly shrinking again. Neither girls could move now, completely trapped within the confines of the Armour Card.
"Lightning! Strike!"
Kam Un jumped up. What was that?
Jolts of lightning surrounded The Armour's dome and since it could not take the combined force of lightning from the two Li swords, the dome disintegrated and The Armour transformed to its visible form, still surrounded by lightning. Sakura and Meiling dropped to the ground, trying to catch their breath.
Sakura quickly stood up, her star staff in her hand. "Armour Card!" she cried. "Return to your power confined!" The Armour changed into its card form and landed in between Syaoran and Di Shang. Sakura helped Meiling stand up and they both watched Syaoran and Di Shang curiously. Syaoran took the card with his left hand while, at the same time, Di Shang took it with his right. Both nodded and smiled at each other. Sakura and Meiling looked at each other with disbelief.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kam Un retreated into the night, enraged that another card was captured and the fact that Syaoran and Di Shang - no matter how temporary - had made peace with each other. "There's always tomorrow," he muttered sourly to himself. "I won't let them get off so easily. But then again, neither will the creator…"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Sakura picked up the key lying on the ground and studied it. "Jiao" was written along the side in several languages, one being Japanese. She let go of the key and it floated in the air before her. "Jiao Card, I command you to return to your power confined!" The key disappeared and was replaced with a Jiao Card reading simply "The Key". After transforming it to a Sakura Card, Sakura used her wand to release it.
Walking to Syaoran and Di Shang, she held up the key, near the Bond Card. Magically, a keyhole appeared. Sakura fitted the key into the hole and turned it. The Bond unlocked and fell to the ground with a loud clatter.
Syaoran glanced at Di Shang and then Sakura. "May I?" he asked. They both nodded. "Bond Card, seal!" cried Syaoran, thrusting his sword just above the Jiao Card. The Bond was encased in its card form and picking it up, Syaoran handed it to Sakura. Sakura smiled happily at Syaoran and Di Shang.
"This is great," she said. "Both of you are working as a team."
Di Shang smiled back at her. "We both relearned that by working together, we are able to conquer anything and anyone." He turned to Syaoran, his hand outstretched. "Syaoran, I know The Bond is gone, but I'd like to call for a longer truce between us. Maybe until the end of the Jiao Cards? Then you and I can go back to fighting each other like before." There was a twinkle of laughter when Di Shang thought of them fighting again later, after these events had passed. Syaoran stared at the hand for a moment, no words crossing his lips. Finally, Syaoran took his cousin's hand in his and shook it firmly.
"Together we can beat Kam Un," responded Syaoran, a faint smile on his face.
Author's Note: So we learn a few more tidbits of Syaoran and Di Shang's past. I don't know why exactly, but I like using the names "Xiao Lang" and "Di Xuan" =). I think they'll be in Hong Kong for one more chapter and so they'll either leave at the end of the next chapter or the beginning of the one following it. Okay, no more hints! ^_~ (But there was a major one somewhere in this chapter…Did you spot it?) The Tam brothers don't have much of a role, except as figments of Syaoran and Di Shang's past, so I don't think we'll be seeing them again. But then again, you never know.
I can't believe I finished nine chapters. This is my longest Animé-related fic yet! ^_^ Please let me know what you think of this chapter and others.
*Sakura
~The Animé Archives Team
