Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura (if I did I would release all the subtitled episodes and translated manga and then give it to Nelvana to mutilate (for the record, I admit that Nelvana had to cut out some stuff that is a bit controversial, but they got rid of virtually all the S+S, and there isn't any subplot compared to Card Captor Sakura)).
Anyway, thank you for the reviews! I'll try to keep this story going, but because of school and such, updates might be rare and seldom at times. But with Christmas break coming up, hopefully I can write a lot!
Anyway, on with Chapter 1!
An End and A Beginning
Chapter 1: Syaoran, and the Second Book...
Thrust!
Syaoran struck at the air with his sword.
He was almost done with his sword exercises for the day, then dinner, and then off to bed.
And back to dreams of Sakura.
"That's enough," said his instructor, and his lesson was finished for the day.
He wearily walked out of the training hall.
Even after 3 years back in Hong Kong, he still couldn't help but think of Sakura nearly everyday. The only thing that drove Sakura from his mind was the constant training. Since he had missed 2 years of training while in Japan, he was making up for it with extra training now.
But still, when he was asleep, her image still haunted her.
***
Syaoran ate his food silently.
To nearly everybody at home, he was still the same frowning, serious Syaoran he had always been.
The only person who could tell that Syaoran was sad rather than grumpy was Meilin. She had known that Syaoran had loved Sakura from the very moment she had arrived in Japan. Well, maybe not love, but Sakura had managed to warm up Syaoran's cold heart enough that he even protected her instead of hurting her, like the Clan elders had ordered him to.
Syaoran finished his food, and stalked off to bed.
Meilin followed him, and knocked on his door.
"Xiaolang, can I come in?"
(A/N: Syaoran means small wolf in Japanese, and Xiaolang means the same in Chinese.)
Since Syaoran didn't say no, she went in and saw him dressed in his green pajamas.
"Xiaolang, you're going to have to get over her. You can always go back, right?"
"Who?" snapped Syaoran.
Meilin glared at him. "Don't play dumb with me Syaoran!" Syaoran winced at his Japanese name. He hadn't heard it since Japan. "I was there, remember? No one else in the clan, except for Wei, saw her. I saw what she did to you, and I didn't break off our engagement just so you could run away from her!"
"Who?" Syaoran said again. He was trying his best not to think of her, but with Meilin here drilling him, that was very difficult.
"Sakura!"
Syaoran sighed. If there was one thing Meilin wasn't, it was subtle.
Meilin continued on, ignoring Syaoran's sigh. "I remember what you were like before Japan! You didn't act very nice, but I knew that you had a kind heart deep inside. Sakura Kinomoto brought that out. Don't let all her hard work go to waste. I loved you before for what you were, but now I love you even more!"
Syaoran's head snapped up. He thought Meilin had given up on him.
But Meilin didn't have that obsessed expression she used to have. She was only looking at Syaoran sadly.
"I hate to admit to admit it, but even Kinomoto helped to improve me. So all I'm saying is don't revert back to the old Xiaolang."
With that, Meilin turned around and left Syaoran spacious bedroom.
Syaoran stared after her. Then he smiled. "Thank you Meilin. Thank you for being a friend."
Feeling better than he had in months, he went to bed, hoping for a dreamless sleep.
***
Syaoran turned around. He was floating above the ground, in a place he didn't know.
This was a very unusual dream. Most of his dreams consisted of happy memories with Sakura. But if he didn't know better, then this was a prophetic dream. But dreams like that were Syaoran were Sakura's specialty.
It looked like he was in a basement or something, and he was standing near the staircase. Somehow, it looked familiar, but he didn't know what.
He saw that one wall was lined with books, and then snapped his dream fingers. He knew where this was. This was the basement of Sakura's house. He had only been down here once, before Sakura's brother, Touya, had chased him out of the house. He had been curious to see where the Clow Book was before it was released by Sakura. She had shown him the spot, and he had inspected it. He had felt some magic there, but had thought it was just some residual traces of the Clow Book.
But now, another of the books was glowing in the basement.
He moved towards it, and saw that it was blue, with gold traces. It looked very old, and seemed to bear a resemblace to the Clow. How come he hadn't noticed it before?
Any further examination was forestalled by the fact that the door at the top of the stairs flew open.
Syaoran wheeled around, and tried to identify the figure, but he couldn't see any features.
The figure, a she, raised her staff, and the glowing book floated out of the book shelf and towards.
"No!" Syaoran shouted instinctively, and tried to grab the book, but his fingers passed through it.
For a moment, he thought he could be seen, when the figure looked towards him, but then she turned back to the book.
Halfway towards her, the book stopped, and Syaoran gasped as he could now see the front cover clearly.
A white lion, with red eyes, was engraved on the front, along with the word Clow.
It couldn't be...
The figure raised a staff, and lightening flew from the staff and hit the book, and the book opened, showing a full deck of cards.
The book started floating towards her again, but Syaoran raced up the stairs again, and shouted "NO!" again, and this time she definitely looked at him, though Syaoran still couldn't see her face.
His hand touched the book, and the first card, the Wind, activated.
A giant gale started in the basement, and all the cards started flying of the the book. Syaoran didn't have time to see many of them, but he did see the mysterious person at the top being pushed out.
Using the momentary distraction, he grabbed the book, and hugged it to his body to keep it close. He wasn't sure if there were any cards still in the book, but another full deck unleashed on Tomoeda would be a disaster.
The wind died down, and then the figure came back in. From the body language, she was mad, very mad.
She raised her staff again, and struck him with lightening.
He cried out in pain- and then woke up.
***
Syaoran bolted up in bed, panting, and sweaty.
The sun was streaming through the window. He was back in his own bedroom.
"Only a dream," he murmured to himself. But why? Why did he have that dream?
Syaoran then realized something. In his arms was a book. A blue book.
Syaoran paled. "Damn."
He flung it open, and found a few precious cards still inside.
He pulled them out.
The Wind, the Freeze, the Time. A few others, altogether, 7 cards. Some looked like the original Clow Cards, some didn't.
If he remembered the Legend correctly, then there were supposed to be 52 cards in total.
He had to go back to Japan.
***
Li Yelan was sipping her early morning tea when she heard a racket upstairs. Sounded like Xiaolang was awake, but usually he wasn't quite noisy, especially on Sundays, when his training started later than usual.
She was astonished to see her son, still in his pajamas, come rushing up to her.
"Ma-ma, I have to go back to Japan."
Yelan almost dropped her tea. She had known that her son had missed something in Japan greatly, but she didn't think that he would be so blunt in his demands.
Regaining her composure, she calmly replied, "And why must you go back to Japan, Xiaolang?"
"There is a new threat, and I've gotta help Sak- er, the Card Mistress to seal it. Ma-ma, the Second Deck has been released!"
Yelan scoffed. "Syaoran, I know that you always was interested in the Legend of the Second Clow Book, but it is just a legend."
"Then how did I wake up in bed with this?!" Syaoran demanded, and showed his mother what he was holding.
This time, Yelan did drop her tea cup. Good thing it wasn't one of the older ones.
The blue book had the sun symbol on the front, and the golden lion. The legend was true... She could feel the magic radiating from the book. Even more amazing was that the book seemed to have connected with her son's aura...
Syaoran quickly told his mother his dream, and again asked permission to go. "Mother, I think that the Second Deck is loose in Tomoeda, close to the First Deck."
She nodded. A threat as great as this needed decisive action, and quickly, or else it could be disastrous.
She stood up. "Wei."
Wei stepped. "Yes, Li-sama. I'll get the tickets for Syaoran-sama and myself to go back to Japan."
"I'm coming too."
The three turned to see Meilin close by.
"But Meilin, you don't have any magic, so you'll be in danger," Yelan said.
Meilin put on a determined expression. "So? I can still hold my own in combat, besides I have friends in Tomoeda too, and I can keep Syaoran company."
Seeing that the young martial artist wouldn't be convinced to stay, she sighed. "Wei, make that three tickets to Tomoeda."
Wei nodded. "At once." Wei left to make the arrangements to return to Japan.
Syaoran turned around to start packing, but his mother's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Son, be very careful. The Second Book would only have appeared if the Ancient Foe had reawakened."
Syaoran nodded. "I'll be careful, Ma-ma."
Syaoran was about to leave again, when Meilin asked a very important question? "Wait a minute. Shouldn't there also be a guardian for the Second Book?"
Everybody froze. She was right. At that moment, the book Syaoran was holding started to shake, and Syaoran dropped it to the floor.
The cover shined with white light, and a small white lion club started to rise out of it.
"Awww, what year is it?" it yawned as it slowly stood up. It looked down at itself and screamed. "Ahhh, I'm in my false form, but that means that..."
The talking plushie turned around and saw Syaoran and then tackled him. "Master, finally, you're here!"
"Huh?"
The Li family members were staring at the floating toy. Syaoran slowly got up, and the toy floated up to eye level.
"Hi, I'm Riyang, the Guardian Beast of the Seal of the Second Clow Book. You must be my new master. Before you ask, no, I'm not a stuffed animal, its just that because the Clow Cards are scattered, I don't have enough strength to stay in my true form. Now, don't get all freaked out..."
"Wait a second, aren't you supposed to be worried about the cards now?" Syaoran interrupted.
"Nah, they're supposed to be like a test for the Card Master, just like the First Book was for the Card Mistress. Anyway, I'll explain what the Clow Cards are..."
Syaoran shook his head. "Hold it. I'm Li Syaoran."
The guardian beast stared at him, and exclaimed, "Oh, so you're a Li, and must already know all about Clow Reed, and such."
Syaoran nodded. "But I never knew that the Second Book existed. I thought it was just a legend."
"What?!" Riyang nearly fell out of midair in shock. After he managed to regain control, he started muttering, "Geez, Keroberos was always such a glory hound, and that stuck up Yue..."
"Well Kero was always a glory hound, that's for sure," Syaoran agreed.
Riyang looked up. "You've already met Keroberos? How is he anyway? I bet he must have been furious when he found out that he was stuck in this tiny form. Heh."
"Yeah, he didn't seem to like it too much when I met him."
Riyang looked Syaoran up and down, sizing him up. "So I assume that you have magic? And that you know how to manage Clow Cards?"
Syaoran nodded again. "Good," Riyang said. "I don't know if I could handle a beginner. Anyway..."
Riyang zoomed around the room and glanced out the window at the Hong Kong landscape. "Good to see that the Cards will still be in Hong Kong, though Hong Kong seems to have changed a lot since I went to sleep."
"Weren't you supposed to be guarding them, though?" Syaoran asked a bit crossly. Catching 52 Cards takes a long time, and he didn't like having to spend the next 2 years catching all of them again. Though if it meant that he could be with Sakura again, then he was all for it.
Riyang shrugged. "Only against foreign presences. Now you, you're radiating with good magic, and besides, I can sense some traces of Clow's blood in you, so you're definitely the destined Master."
"Hey wait a second, what do you mean the destined Master?" Syaoran asked suspiciously.
Riyang looked startled. "Don't you know the legend? About the Master and Mistress of the 2 Decks of Cards, and how they'll defeat Clow Reed's ancient enemy?"
"What do you mean, Master and Mistress?" though Syaoran had a very good idea who the Mistress might be.
"The Mistress of the First Deck is supposed to be partners with the Master of the Second Deck. Oi, what are they teaching you kids these days?"
Syaoran blinked. Partners. Okay, he could handle being partners with Sakura.
Riyang looked around again. "So, where is the Card Mistress anyway? I don't sense my bro's aura, either. I thought you said that you already met them."
Li Yelan chose this moment to interrupt. "Actually, Guardian, the Cards and their Mistress are in Japan."
Riyang blinked. "Japan, huh? So, Clow did move there after all. He sealed me in the book when he left Hong Kong." The tiny lion club shrugged. "Well, I always wanted to see Japan. So, since you're just a kid, are you going alone, or is anyone else coming along?"
Syaoran frowned at the kid comment, but he didn't say it in the same way as Touya or Kero, so he let it pass. If Riyang was going to be staying with him for awhile, he should get used to him. Besides, Syaoran did like Riyang's serious personality better than that "stuffed animal's" obnoxious personality.
"No, my butler Wei, and cousin Meilin are coming along."
Riyang nodded. "Okay. Clow thought that sometimes the Li warriors were way too aloof. Now, down to business." He rubbed his paws together. "Where is the kitchen?"
Syaoran and Meilin fell down in shock. Yelan looked puzzledly at their behavior.
Riyang sweatdropped. "I'm just kidding. Kero was the one created with a huge appetite. But I am sort of hungry."
Syaoran got up. "Come on, the kitchen's this way."
Syaoran headed out the doorway and pointed Riyang down the corridor. Riyang took off.
Syaoran went to his room to pack, making sure that he hid the Clow Book well. The one thought on his mind was "I'm coming back Sakura."
While in Meilin's room, where she was also packing, the one thought on her mind was "Wait till I tell Tomoyo about all this! This means more chances to set my Syaoran up with Sakura! And this time, Syaoran isn't going to run away!
To be continued…
Okay, that's the second part. Syaoran-tachi is heading back to Japan now, what will happen when he gets there? What will be Sakura's reaction? Will Tomoyo get it on video? (Tomoyo: Of course! My Sakura-chan is always so kawaii….)
(me: sweatdrop what are you doing here? Out!) (Tomoyo vanishes)
That was weird….
Also, gomen, gomen, for taking so long. There is this annoying thing called school that kept me from writing. I'll try not to be so tardy next time.