Sorry this update took so long. I had it partly done when the stupid PDA erased it so I had to start over. Oh, and everyone (the Cardcaptor gang and Kit and Nita) is in 9th grade. Well...On with the story.
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"You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely."
-Unknown
Syaoran:mutters accusingly: "Eriol."
Eriol: "What's that my cute little descendant?"
Syaoran:innocently: "Oh, nothing, nothing at all. And don't call me that! It's not my fault you've been immature for several centuries."
Eriol: "So sorry to disappoint you, but that quote cannot possibly apply to the great and glorious me."
Syaoran:gags: "Don't make me sick."
Sakura: "Why?"
Eriol:smugly: "I've been young twice."
Tomoyo:rolls her eyes: "Anyway, please read and review."
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If you happened to walk into the living room of the Kinomoto house unexpectedly, you might have been surprised to find a group of four lounging in various places on the furniture (or in the air) studying a book. Unless you happened to be Kero, Yue, Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun, Touya, Fujitaka, or any member of the Li clan, in which case you might not be surprised, but think it a waste of energy sitting in the air. And if you mentioned it - or even thought it loudly - the person in the air would protest that it was perfectly comfortable, thank you very much, and you would be smart enough to leave it at that.
Eriol, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Sakura studied their books, mostly in silence, drawn by the need to learn as much as they could before whatever they felt would happen did.
"I don't understand why this works though," said Sakura breaking the silence. She frowned.
"I think if you know its name, know it's true name, it will do what you ask. It's like when you captured Mirror. You had to know what it was before it would do what you wanted it to. In that case, you wanted to capture it," explained Syaoran.
"Oh, I get it," said Sakura with a smile. "Arigato Syaoran."
Syaoran, inevitably, turned a bright fire engine red. "Is it just me, or is it hot in here?" he asked nervously.
Eriol smiled with his best I'm-just-an-innocent-boy-and-not-an-evil-half-reincarnation smile as he replied, "It's probably because you think Sakura is ho-." He broke off as he felt the spell that kept him in the air begin to dissolve.
Watch it Hiiragizawa warned Syaoran telepathically.
Watch what my cute little descendant?
Syaoran looked ready to blow. Don't call me that.
Eriol smirked while trying to look righteous. And it's my duty to protect my daughter when you're hitting on her. He thought a moment. Well, my other half's daughter.
I'm hitting on your daughter?! Why I...Of all the...You little...
Luckily he was saved from trying to form a coherent sentence when Sakura said, "Why don't we try this spell? On page 23. It's called The Calling."
"But I have the Siren's Song on that page," said Tomoyo puzzled. "Why's that?"
"It seems that these books are attuned to out interests or special skills," said Eriol. "Since Tomoyo likes to sing, she probably has more of those spells. Syaoran and I have Cat Eyes because we like working with the raw magick."
"Oh Lord that's scary. I have something in common with Earl Evil," muttered Syaoran.
Eriol smiled evilly, glad to oblige.
"What's Sakura's specialty?" asked Tomoyo as she searched the index for the correct page.
Eriol floated over to Sakura and looked over her shoulder. He looked puzzled. "She doesn't seem to have one. There is an equal number of each different type of spell."
"Is there something in here that explains about it?" asked Sakura.
Syaoran scanned through the pages when something caught his eye. "Listen to this," he said and began to read.
"Since no person is just alike, each manual is attuned to that person's talents and interests. Based on the wizard's input it gives the information that would help the wizard learn in the best way possible. Some wizards, however, do not stay in a certain area of familiarity. Rather, they dabble in all areas. These wizards are rare and tend to become Area Supervisors, Advisories or Seniors. It is also a sign that the wizard is very powerful. Even more powerful than the rare talents, such as the raw magick, song, and energy. The regular power levels do not always apply to these wizards."
"Huh. Cool. I'm powerful," said Tomoyo. "And I never thought I had any magick."
"What was this spell you wanted to do?" asked Eriol to Sakura.
"It calls to us the power that we need to learn this as fast as we can. It's supposed to help us with some kind of test we have later on," said Sakura. She frowned. "I'm not to clear on what the test is."
"What do we need to do?" asked Syaoran.
Sakura studied the spell. "All we need is a telephone cord. I'll read the spell." She looked up. "Who has a telephone cord?"
"Be right back," said Eriol. He disappeared dramatically with a boom in a cloud of colored smoke.
"Hm. He's in a yellow kick now," commented Tomoyo absently.
"It was better than the time he was into pink," murmured Sakura.
"Yeah," agreed Syaoran emphatically. "That was disturbing."
Eriol soon returned to the sound of fanfare.
"The Lone Ranger again?" asked Syaoran in a bored tone of voice.
"Would you rather have this?" questioned Eriol and the music began again.
"No no. The Lone Ranger is fine," reassured Syaoran hastily with a pained expression on his face. His expression became one of righteous anger.
"Damn you Hiiragizawa!" he shouted forgetting to do it telepathically. "You have the stupid song stuck in my head!"
Eriol responded by humming It's a Small World After All. He was barely saved from being torn apart at the hands of his cute little descendant by Sakura, who had discreetly looked up a spell to keep Syaoran in place.
"Cool it you two. And there's nothing wrong with It's a Small World," said Tomoyo haughtily.
"Now apologize," chimed in Sakura.
Syaoran responded by trying to lunge at Eriol.
"Syaoran!" Sakura rebuked.
"I apologize," said Syaoran through gritted teeth, for when dealing with the most powerful sorceress in the world, there wasn't much else you could do.
"Now it's your turn Eriol," said Tomoyo.
"I also apologize, Syaoran," said Eriol graciously, knowing that he wouldn't get very far if he didn't.
Tomoyo traded looks with Sakura. "I don't know," she said doubtfully.
Sakura nodded her agreement.
Eriol and Syaoran began to look worried.
"Maybe they could do better," suggested Sakura, "but..."
"I suppose we can't keep them there forever," finished Tomoyo.
They burst out laughing at the same time and Sakura let the two boys go.
"Now let's begin the spell," said Eriol in a business-like tone, as if nothing had happened.
"Place the cord in the middle of that circle Tomoyo drew while you two were going at it," instructed Sakura. "It's my turn to try a spell."
Eriol did as he was told, careful not to smudge any of the lines.
"Now come check this and make sure everything's right, especially your names," said Sakura.
They all did this, albeit slowly, since they did not know the Speech.
Eriol added a little to his name and modified a little until he thought it described him accurately. The others let theirs be, determined to make them more detailed later.
Eriol glanced up and then stood slowly. "Ready."
Sakura began to read. Although she read slowly, she sounded sure of herself and the words took on a subtle, song-like quality. Her voice drifted off as she reached the last words.
"Well, that's that," said Tomoyo and began to disband the circle.
A thought struck Syaoran. "How long until we get results?"
"Ano...I didn't look," confessed Sakura sheepishly.
The group sweatdropped.
Sakura scanned the page until she found the answer. "Four to six weeks." She did a double take. "Hoeeee. I can't wait that long."
"We're going to have to wait," sighed Tomoyo. She brightened immediately. "Oh well! Let's keep practicing."
~*~
"We are now landing in Tokyo, Japan. The time is 2:47. Please keep your seat belts on until the plane makes a complete stop. Thank you for traveling International Airlines. Have a nice day."
Nita assumed the message was repeated in Japanese since she couldn't understand what the stewardess said next.
Note to self. Do quickie language spell as soon as possible.
If there was one thing she hated, it was not understanding what was being said right in front of her.
"Ready?" asked Kit.
"Ready as I'll ever be," answered Nita as she put away the book she had been reading.
As soon as the plane rolled to a stop Nita stood and stretched, wincing as her back popped.
"Ow," muttered Kit, rubbing his legs.
They gathered their stuff and followed the line of people into the terminal. Nita stopped and looked around at everything. It was just as crowded as her own airport at home, but the snatches of conversations she heard were in Japanese instead of English. On the far wall was a large banner proclaiming "Konnichiwa" and underneath it, "Hello" in smaller letters.
She and Kit didn't see the man until he tapped Nita on the shoulder.
"Konnichiwa (Hello)," he said with a bow. "Anata wa Rodriguez Christopher-san desu ka, Callahan Juanita-san desu ka? (Are you Christopher Rodriguez and Juanita Callahan?)"
"Hai (Yes)," answered Kit as both he and Nita bowed.
"Hajimemashite (Nice to meet you)," they said in unison.
"Hajimemashite," he replied. "Watashi wa Area Senior no Hitoko Kenji desu. (I'm Kenji Hitoko, the Area Senior)."
"I don't suppose you speak English?" asked Nita.
"Wakarimasen," said Mr. Hitoko confused.
Nita sighed. "Chotto matte kudasai," she said to Mr. Hitoko. Then to Kit, "Is there anything we can use for the quickie language spell?"
"We could ask Mr. Hitoko. I mean, I don't know enough Japanese to go looking for a brochure or something without seeming rude," suggested Kit.
"And you think I know enough to ask him about a spell?" demanded Nita. "I barely had time to learn how to introduce yourself in the survival Japanese class."
"Why don't you just show him the Manual?" said Kit.
"Okay," said Nita and flipped the book to the correct spell before showing it to Mr. Hitoko. She wasn't surprised to see the words seem to blink and melt to form hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
Understanding dawned on him and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flyer. "Douzo (roughly means 'please take')" he said gesturing for them to use it.
"Domo arigatou gozaimasu (thank you very much)" said Kit with a bow as he took the flyer.
The Area Senior made a sweeping gesture and they were enclosed in a bubble only seen with a magic-user's eye.
"This will keep non-wizards from hearing you read the spell," he murmured to them in the Speech now that no non-wizards could hear.
"Thank you," responded Nita before turning to the spell.
"Now all we need are our good intentions," instructed Kit. "Ready?"
Nita just began reading the spell in response and Kit read with her, anticipating what she was going to do. The area around the quieted as all of the forces of the world waited for them to give their request.
Something inside of Nita burned with a cold fire and time for her sped up as the energies whispered to her, first in English, and then in Japanese, filling her with the gift of the tongue. And because it was the energy, the wizardry speaking to her, she would not forget it.
Next images floated in front of her, hiragana, katakana, and kanji. She blinked and they became their English counterparts, instantly understood for forever.
Suddenly the images stopped, cut off as if by a pair of scissors, and the wizardry let her go.
She quickly gripped the armrest of the closest chair, willing her knees not to buckle. Her breath became harsh, tearing itself out of her throat. Glancing to her left she saw Kit in the same predicament.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Mr. Hitoko. "Daijoubu desu ka (are you alright)?" he asked and she understood him and answered as if she'd spoken Japanese every day of her life.
"I'm okay," she responded as her breathing slowed and her legs stopped trembling. She looked over at Kit and saw that he was noticeably better.
Mr. Hitoko smiled as he ended the healing spell.
"Thank you," said Nita.
"Yeah, thanks," echoed Kit as he stood at Nita's side.
"It's the least I can do to the two who are helping our wizards," said Mr. Hitoko. "Follow me and I will take you to your apartment. Tomorrow I'll come back at noon to take you to Sakura Kinomoto's house."
"Thanks again," said Kit as the two grabbed their luggage and followed the Senior out of the airport and onto the crowded streets of Tokyo. They had arrived.
~*~
Eriol, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Sakura once again congregated in the Kinomoto household. Sakura was busy making lunch while Tomoyo, Eriol, and Syaoran sat at the kitchen table. She had adamantly refused to let them do any work, her reason being they were guests.
"Sakura," Eriol protested with a faint smile, "we practically live here."
"I don't care. Sit down before I make you," said Sakura, hands on her hips.
Her friends obeyed and Eriol thought ruefully of the time before he had taught Sakura the numerous new spells she could do with her magic. As the most powerful sorceress in the world she couldn't rely only on her cards. She had to have other options in an emergency. Each day her powers grew, and he noticed an especially prominent surge of power directly after taking the Oath.
Sakura quickly busied herself turning on the rice maker and stirring the sauce for the noodles they were about to have. She absently sent a train of dishes, glasses, and silverware floating over to the table. It had taken her a few weeks to learn how to do that trick only using a small part of her concentration. There had been many broken dishes in the past until Fujitaka and Touya began using paper or plastic plates until she had mastered the skill.
Just then the doorbell rang. Sakura wiped her hands on the dishtowel hanging on the chair nearest her. It only took a little concentration to keep the spoon stirring. As she headed toward the door she silently asked Syaoran to watch the sauce.
She opened the door. A girl and a boy stood on her porch, both looking about her age. They're from my dream, she remembered in shock.
The boy looked Hispanic and was slightly chubby and taller than the girl next to him. He was wearing faded blue shorts and an off-white shirt.
The girl had long dark hair and brown eyes. Her stance was relaxed, but she looked as if she could be ready and aggressive at any moment. She wore dark blue jeans and a loose white tank top.
"Yes?" asked Sakura looking from one to the other. She wasn't unduly worried, but made sure to stop the spoon just in case. There was a small splash and a yell as the spoon clattered to the floor. It had probably overbalanced. She would have to remember to make sure it slowed before stopping next time.
The two looked puzzled, but did not inquire.
"Are you Kinomoto Sakura?" asked the boy.
"Kit! Where are your manners?" exclaimed the girl, aiming a kick at him.
He dodged it easily. "You're asking about my manners?"
She turned to Sakura, ignoring the boy. "My name is Nita and this is Kit, my partner. We're looking for Kinomoto Sakura. Might you be her?"
"Yes, do you need something?" replied Sakura.
"We're wizards sent here to teach you about the wizardry and protect you," explained Kit.
There was a snort when Kit said the words "protect you."
Sakura turned towards the kitchen. "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to eavesdrop on other people's conversations?" she called.
"They tried," called back someone darkly.
"Try having my mother teach you. Maybe then it will stick," said another male voice loudly.
"Honestly," said a female voice, "why don't you two grow up? Mentally Eriol," she added warningly.
"Sorry, they're always like that," apologized Sakura as she let the two bemused partners in.
"I resent that implication," said Eriol as the trio trooped into the kitchen where Syaoran was ladling out the noodles.
"Everyone, this is Nita and Kit. They've come to help us with our wizardry. Nita, Kit, this is Eriol, Tomoyo, and Syaoran," announced Sakura pointing to each person in turn.
"Oh good," said Tomoyo. "I can't wait to get started."
"Would you like some lunch?" asked Sakura.
"Sure," said Kit. "Popping over from our hotel sure gives me an appetite."
"Popping over?" questioned Sakura.
"We used the Beam-Me-Up-Scotty spell after Mr. Hitoko, your Area Senior, gave us the coordinates," explained Nita.
The group gave various signs of recognition of the spell.
"If you don't mind my asking," began Eriol after a bit, "why are you so early? You should be here in 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 weeks."
"What do you mean?" asked Kit confused.
"Well, Sakura did the Calling only about half a week ago," explained Eriol.
Nita and Kit looked at her, amazed.
"You must be extremely powerful," said Nita in awe. "Even my little sister Dairine wasn't that powerful and she was younger than you!"
"What does age have to do with anything?" asked Tomoyo.
"The younger a wizard is, the more power he or she has. It's based on their belief of what they can do. I'm still not too clear on the details," said Nita.
Kit nodded in agreement.
Sakura turned to the group with a slightly dreamy expression. "Why do we have the magic? I mean, why does taking the Oath somehow enable to do spells?"
"You must have used magic before or something to be able to come up with that question so fast," said Kit half jokingly.
Sakura jumped slightly and immediately became alert. "Oh no, no. Nothing like that. We just study a lot," she explained nervously. Some inner sense told her not to reveal the most powerful sorceress thing just yet, and she always listened to that inner sense. It had saved her life countless times.
Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Eriol gave her quizzical looks, but did not challenge her.
"Ah," said Nita. "Well, you know how humans only use a small part of their brains? About 10% or so? The Oath somehow unlocks the other 90% of your brain. Psychics are really just people who by some means or other use more than the normal part of their brain. That's how it works for humans anyway. Any other species were a bit complicated to understand."
"Take Nita for example. No brain use, yet she's a wizard," interrupted Kit. He winced as Nita's toe connected with his shin.
There was silence as Nita glared at Kit.
Sakura looked around absently and noticed that the bowls were empty, so she began to levitate them over to the sink. At the last moment she remembered that she couldn't do anything but wizardry and the bowl dropped with a clatter. Luckily it had only a centimeter or two above the table.
Everyone jumped.
"What was that?" asked Kit.
"J-just the table. It's a little wobbly," Sakura hastened to explain. An alarming thought struck her. "You can't see auras can you?" she asked.
They looked surprised at the question.
"Not unless we do a spell," answered Nita.
"Why?" asked Kit.
"Er...no reason," replied Sakura looking at her friends pleadingly for help.
"Shall we adjourn to my house?" questioned Eriol.
"I'll just leave Touya a note," said Sakura. "My brother's at his part time job," she explained to Nita and Kit as she wrote, "and my dad's on a business trip. My mom's dead," she added softly.
"I'm sorry," said Nita softly. "I have an idea of what it feels like. My mom almost died of brain cancer."
There was an awkward silence until Eriol cleared his throat. "Everybody ready?" he asked.
They trooped out into the quiet summer heat. Sakura paused to lock the door behind her.
Eriol opened the door and braced himself out of habit, half expecting Nakuru to come rushing out the door. But she, Spinel Sun, Yue, and Kero were in Hong Kong. Probably giving the Li clan hell, he thought with a mischievous smile.
Nita and Kit's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when they saw the mansion that Eriol lived in. "Who lives in here besides you?" asked Kit as they walked down the dim hall.
"Nakuru and Spinel," replied Eriol. "They're away in Hong Kong."
"What about your parents?" asked Nita.
"I don't have any," answered Eriol. (AN: Forgive me if this isn't correct. I don't know anything about Eriol's family, so I'm just making this up.)
Nita and Kit left it at that.
Eriol led the group into his rather large living room. It had three dark red sofas scattered about, along with several chairs and a fireplace built into the far wall. The walls were white washed with a huge window in facing the garden, and the floor was made of mahogany.
"This is beautiful!" exclaimed Nita flopping onto a couch.
The others followed her example and sat down as well.
"Where are you staying?" asked Tomoyo.
"In Tokyo."
"That far away?" asked Syaoran in surprise.
"It's easy to use the Beam-Me-Up-Scotty spell," replied Kit.
"I have an idea. Why don't you stay with me? I have plenty of room," suggested Eriol.
"Are you sure? I...mean."
"Of course I'm sure," replied Eriol.
"And you're doing us a favor after all," chimed in Sakura.
"If it's okay," agreed Nita. "We'll bring our stuff over and check out when we're through with this session. Oh and when we stopped in Seattle we met a Kimberly and her friend who told us about you. She said to tell you 'hi'."
"So Kimberly's a wizard now?" asked Sakura absently. "Wait, what exactly did she tell you?"
"Just that the whole group of you became wizards instead of just Sakura, and you needed to learn as much wizardry as possible."
"And actually," said Kit, "I'm not sure if she is a wizard. When I looked up her name, she wasn't there, and neither was the spell she did. There were close ones, but none exactly like what she did to keep Neets on the space needle."
The cardcaptor gang exchanged significant glances as Nita said dangerously, "And you were going to tell me this when?"
"I didn't think it was important," said Kit cringing.
She said she wanted to keep busy after we captured the Bind cards, said Sakura telepathically to the other three. She must be helping the wizards over there.
I wonder why she didn't tell us, said Tomoyo.
She must have known something like this was going to happen and didn't want to interfere with it, suggested Eriol.
"How far have you gotten in the Manual?" asked Kit, changing the subject and getting down to business.
"We're up to chapter 31 and we know several simple phrases in the Speech," answered Syaoran.
Kit whistled. "Wow. You must be really into this."
"Well, it wasn't really that hard," said Tomoyo.
"By chance, have you looked at your ratings yet?" asked Nita exchanging glances with Kit.
"Ratings?" asked Sakura.
"Right...here," said Kit flipping her to the beginning of the directory.
"Who's first?" she murmured to herself. "Daidouji...Daidouji...Here it is."
DAIDOUJI, Tomoyo,
382 W. Chikara Rd.,
Tomoeda, Japan 35978
(856) 651-3843.
Novice Rating
(RL +12.4 +/- 0.19)
On Ordeal: no calls
Kit's and Nita's mouths dropped open. Good Lord.
Yeah, agreed Kit numbly, picking up on her thought.
Next was:
HIIRAGIZAWA, Eriol,
368 SW Tchi Blvd.,
Tomoeda, Japan 35978
(856) 395-1245.
Novice Rating
(RL +12.4 +/- 0.19)
On Ordeal: no calls
Sakura accidentally skipped her name, so went on to:
LI, Syaoran,
374 SW Kaado St. Apt. #5,
Tomoeda, Japan 35978
(856) 684-0305.
Novice rating
(RL +12.4 +/- 0.19)
On Ordeal: no calls
T-they were all the same!
Uh huh, said Kit.
They had a real shock when Sakura came to her name.
KINOMOTO, Sakura,
384 S. Hoshi Drive,
Tomoeda, Japan 35978
(856) 637-0389.
Novice rating
(RL +14.7 +/- 0.16)
On Ordeal: no calls
Sweet Powers That Be!
When they said nothing Sakura asked timidly, "Are they good?"
No response.
Eriol chuckled. "Judging by their response, I'd say very good," he said amiably.
Kit looked at them. "You have powers that not even the youngest wizard has access to and control that would take several years of practice to reach."
Sakura was caught up in the moment as was everyone else and said without thinking, "It's probably the ca- er...cat!" She realized at the last minute that she was about to slip.
"Cat?" asked Nita.
Technically it was true. Kero had tutored her and he was cat-like in his true form.
"What cat?" replied Sakura, wincing inwardly at how suspicious that sounded.
Syaoran, meanwhile, was mentally banging his head against a wall. It was the second time she had slipped today.
Kit and Nita exchanged looks.
They're hiding something, sent Nita to Kit.
Yep, he replied.