The Shadowed Prophecy
Jo-chan
Disclaimers: Standard CCS disclaimers apply. I do not own any of CLAMP's wonderful characters, I'm only borrowing them for the moment. Some characters that would appear are solely my own.
Chapter 5- Unexpected Allies
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From the way he talked, everybody expected that Aka Yuichi was much older than they were. But upon closer inspection and in broad day light, it turns out that Yuichi was actually around their age! He was an extremely annoying know-it-all and trying to get answers out of him was not only potentially dangerous for one's mental state but also tougher than trying to talk Kero-chan out of eating sweets.
"AGH! I can't stand him anymore!" exclaimed Meilin as she threw her hands up in surrender. Everyone was taking turns in questioning him and so far, Syaoran almost skewered him with his sword after Yuichi called him nut-boy. Eriol lost his patience and had to distance himself from Yuichi or else turn him into a frog or something and Sakura grew all dazed and spiral-eyed after listening to the tall tales Yuichi kept giving them.
Yuichi smirked. "It's your loss bun-girl! Too bad, you were kind of cute you know," leered Yuichi as he gave Meilin a wink.
Meilin's face turned scarlet. Partly out of embarrassment but mostly out of anger. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" she screeched as the others covered their ears.
Syaoran sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't mind him Meilin, I'm sure he's all hot air," advised Syaoran looking at Yuichi with barely concealed dislike. Kero and Nakuru both nodded their agreement, having had their share of upsets with the red-haired kid.
Yuichi snorted. "Look who's talking! You've got it bad pal! You're all talk too and you're nuts to let such a beauty go," Yuichi said as he appeared beside Sakura suddenly and had his arm draped over Sakura's shoulders in a blink.
"HOE!"
"Take your filthy hands off her you red-headed freak!" warned Syaoran as his eyes glittered dangerously. // How the heck did he know about me and Sakura? //
Kero-chan reacted quicker and had clamped his teeth around Yuichi's hand forcing the shrine guardian to yelp in pain. "Don't touch Sakura you carrot-top brat!" exclaimed Kero-chan his teeth still firmly clenched Yuichi's fingers.
"OUCH! Let me go! You carnivorous stuff toy!" shouted Yuichi, tugging violently to free his hand. Cursing loudly, in a way that made Sakura cover her ears, Yuichi tried to jerk his hand away from Kero-chan's mouth. Kero suddenly opened his mouth wide, freeing Yuichi so unexpectedly that Yuichi stumbled and lost his balance.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed and fell straight into Meilin's chest!
"AHHHHH! ECCHI(PERVERT)!" screamed Meilin as she punched him smack in the nose, sending him reeling away from her. Because the of the force of her impact, Meilin's punch knocked Yuichi out cold and Yuichi swayed drunkenly before collapsing on Tomoyo's lap who was serenely taping from the bench.
With spiral eyes and three Kero-chan images dancing around his head, Yuichi slumped fully on Tomoyo's lap smiling idiotically.
"Ara(Oh my)?" said Tomoyo, lifting her videocam carefully out of harm's way as she looked thoughtfully at Yuichi. Suddenly, she smiled and patted Yuichi's head as though he was a toddler.
"Tomoyo, don't touch that pervert!" shouted Kero-chan with anger sparks appearing on his forehead. "IIIIIEEEEEE! I've been defiled!" wailed Meilin as Sakura and Syaoran both sweatdropped. Eriol said nothing and merely crossed his arms over his chest. "That red-haired weirdo is probably having the time of his life with a beauty like Daidouji-san comforting him," observed Nakuru as Spinel nodded his agreement.
Like a mother, Tomoyo carefully assisted Yuichi back up on his feet and off her lap. She smiled gently as she asked him, "Daijoubu(are you all right) Aka-san?"
With his dark eyes that slowly became normal again, Yuichi turned to look at his sweet helper. With eyes wide with discovery, and with violins and pianos playing in the background, Yuichi's eyes suddenly became two big hearts.
"Oh my!" murmured Tomoyo uneasily when Yuichi suddenly grabbed both of her hands and looked into her eyes while his eyes were still shaped like pink hearts. There was a hanyaan (shweeet) expression on his face.
"It's true! It's true! The fortune I received said that soon I'll meet the woman of my dreams who'll save me from a horde," he exclaimed with tears running down his face dramatically. He suddenly threw his arms around Tomoyo who looked at him in horror. "Arigato, arigato gozaimasu(thank you, thank you so much)! You're my angel, my sweetheart! I'll give you everything--"
Eriol scowled as the rest of the men glared at Yuichi. Kero-chan began muttering, "Stupid brat! Worse than those two Chinese brats put together!" Meilin sighed as she placed her hand on her forehead. Sakura sweatdroppped.
"Why don't you start by giving me the answers to their inquiries awhile ago?" suggested Tomoyo with a sweet smile that Yuichi found completely irresistible. He nodded up and down vigorously.
Everyone sighed in exasperation. They've wasted 3 hours listening to Yuichi ramble about his unbelievable merits while Tomoyo, without even breaking a sweat, asked him one question and began to spill it out!
Yuichi went into a HANYAAN mode (Sakura's swheeeet) and began to immediately give out all the information he'd been withholding deliberately on the others. "My father is Aka Nagasaki and the Aka clan has descended from a line of prophets and empath. My dad, died when I was in grade 4... I'm in first year junior high right now..."
"Oh I see...Please go on..." urged Tomoyo softly as Yuichi continued on with his story.
" Well, since my dad's gone, I'm the current host for the shrine. My relatives all have magic but not as much as my dad or even mine, even though my magic hasn't fully developed," narrated Yuichi seriously.
For that brief moment of solemnity, everyone was able to see past Yuichi's obnoxious and arrogant attitude to see a gifted child of magic. He looked even cuter serious and his eyes seemed wise and yet so sad.
"Can you tell me something about the dark forces Yuichi-san?" asked Eriol as he broke the silence.
Yuichi gave Eriol a hostile look before turning to gaze at Tomoyo with puppy dog eyes. "Tomoyo-sama(Lady Tomoyo), your friends are in danger you know," he told Tomoyo.
Alarmed, Tomoyo asked, "Why? And from whom?"
Yuichi shook his head solemnly. "It has something to do with an ancient prophecy. Everything that's happening now has been pre-ordained. One of you here is the mistress of the cards right? And there's a Chinese wolf here too if I'm not mistaken. I may not know the exact prophecy because its pretty vague but I do know that it revolves around the both of them."
Pale-faced, Sakura asked Yuichi, "Me and Sya-- I mean Li-kun?" carefully avoiding the use of Syaoran since it connotes their lost intimacy.
Syaoran, who also looked ashen in hearing the prophecy he tried so hard to forget, asked, "Can we avoid the prophecy?"
Soberly, Yuichi shook his head, "Iie(No), it's fate. I know it myself that there are certain things in life that are predetermined... I'm sorry."
Meilin looked from Syaoran's drawn face to Yuichi's sympathetic expression. "The weird carrot-head is actually human," exclaimed Meilin in amazement as Yuichi heard and gave her a glare.
Eriol shook his head, contradicting Yuichi's statement. "You're wrong Yuichi-san... I have lived two lifetimes and I know for a fact that not everything falls so neatly into place because of a prophecy or a prediction.... it is those who lead their own fate who decides what happens next," said Eriol as he gave Syaoran a meaningful glance.
Syaoran looked away but his eyes glittered, in thought and in dawning hope.
// Maybe.... I can still love Sakura //
"Everyone, there's trouble!" shouted Sakura as an eerie aura enveloped the shrine. There was a strange buzzing sound, faint at first but growing louder and louder until it consumed their sense of sound and direction.
"Where's it coming from?" shouted Syaoran, unable to pinpoint the angle of attack because of the sound.
"Oh key that holds the power of the stars, reveal your true from to me! I, Sakura call upon our contract. Release!" said Sakura as her magic circle came out and the magic transformed her key into the star wand. As soon as she held the wand in her hand, she gazed warily from side to side, trying to anticipate the attack. //What will it be this time?//
"It's coming!" shouted Eriol as a gigantic swarm of bees, wasps, and hornets suddenly appeared, their number so great that they covered the sky, literally. The bees separated itself from the horde and quickly aimed for Sakura who was horrified by the insects. The rest went for Yuichi and Eriol as the guardians transformed into their real forms for combat.
"EEWWWW BUGS!" screamed Meilin as she ducked under Cerberos' protective wings. Yue turned to see his Mistress immobilized. "Sakura!"
"HOE!" exclaimed Sakura, closing her eyes against the onslaught of the disgusting bug-eyed bees.
"WATCH OUT!" shouted Syaoran as he dived forward, wrapping an arm around Sakura's slim waist as together, they rolled for cover from the bees. As they rolled, Sakura's eyes were spiral.
"That is SOOO romantic!" sighed Tomoyo as she stood up on the bench, filming from a distance with huge, starry eyes.
"Tomoyo-sama, get down from there!" warned Yuichi as the bees that were chasing Sakura went for Tomoyo instead. Yuichi began to run towards Tomoyo, hoping to reach her in time and he whipped a sealing paper out--
"OH MY!" cried Tomoyo, closing her eyes in fright.
But even before Yuichi can even conjure his holy fire, Eriol was already standing in front of Tomoyo protectively, his staff raised high as he conjured a shield. The bees crashed against the shield as they disintegrated into dark smoke. The hornets that were also chasing after Eriol met the same fate as Eriol's shield protected them.
"Are you all right?" asked Eriol, glancing over his shoulder briefly to look at Tomoyo.
Tomoyo opened her eyes to look at Eriol with an expression of warmth and naked caring. "Arigato(thank you) Eriol-kun," said Tomoyo but Eriol has already turned his back and did not see Tomoyo's face.
"The dark forces must be after Yuichi-san. They seem to be hunting down those with prophetic powers like Yuichi-san and Kaho. Kaho must have faced the dark force alone like this!" said Eriol, his normally imperturbable eyes reflecting raw anger.
Yuichi was distracted by the scene between Eriol and Tomoyo. It was only he who noticed the way Tomoyo's shining eyes were veiled once more by the same hidden sadness he has seen earlier in her eyes. "Iie(no), Tomoyo-sama..." whispered Yuichi , as he completely lost his focus in the battle.
The horde of bees saw his loss and concentration and attacked him with vicious intent.
"Yuichi-kun, watch out!" warned Sakura from beneath Syaoran protective grip.
"IDIOT!" screamed Meilin as she jumped down from the tree, knocking Yuichi down as the horde of bees missed them by a few inches. The horde of bees reared back in the air, their buzzing growing louder and angrier.
Jumping back up on her feet, Meilin took her jacket off in one swift motion and held it in front of her like a sword as she moved into a fighting stance. "I hate stupid insects!" shouted Meilin as she began cutting through the horde in lightning swift movements that was like a rope cutting though flies. She moved as gracefully as a dancer.
"Sugoi(wow)..." said Yuichi , watching Meilin go through a flawless kung-fu routine that has been so ingrained in her that it looked as natural as a willow bending to the wind. Slowly, Yuichi's eyes turned into stars that would have rivaled Tomoyo's starry eyes.
"Meilin-chan's awesome," said Sakura before she noticed that Syaoran was still holding her protectively. She blushed brightly but then turned pale as she remembered the horrible pain of his words. I can't love you anymore
"KASSHIN SHOU RAI!" commanded Syaoran as his god of fire disintegrated the bees' first line of attack. He felt something soft and warm in his arms and when he looked down, he suddenly remembered that his arms were still around Sakura, even as he held his sword out and commanded a fire. He turned red and dropped his arms away from her in a heartbeat.
"They keep coming back!" exclaimed Tomoyo, taping the entire fight from behind Eriol and from under the protection of his shield. The guardians were all fighting side by side, covering each other's backs.
"Cerberos!" warned Spinel as his dark fire obliterated the hornets that were covering Cerberos. Sighing in relief, Cerberos rolled over, shaking the sharpness of the hornet's sting off his broad back. "Kuso(Damn)! Those bugs are disgusting!"
Yue and Ruby Moon were standing back to back in the air as Yue slowly finished off the line of wasps from his powerful arrow. Ruby moon was using her own ruby crystal to defeat the horde. "There's too many!" shouted Ruby Moon.
Sakura and Syaoran were fighting on the ground, standing back to back as they both fell back into the rhythm of fighting together as a team. Both were combining swords and magic, for both offense and defense. "SWORD!" commanded Sakura as she was also releasing FIERY. Syaoran was combining his sword techniques and his god of fire, not noticing the fact that both he and Sakura were using the same sword and fire combination.
"Soulmates..." sighed Tomoyo as she continued filming the battle.
From the left wing of the shrine, Yuichi and Meilin were fighting marvelously together, with Meilin using her jacket as a weapon and with Yuichi using his magical seals to cover Meilin's back. "How about more fire Aka-kun?" demanded Meilin, panting a bit from her exertion.
Tomoyo had never filmed such a marvelous battle scene before. It almost makes her wish that she also had magic so that she could fight alongside her friends... on second thought, she'd rather stay on the sideline so that she could film them all! // Ohohohohoho... //
Sakura and Syaoran were both tumbling through the air as they avoided the sudden and overwhelming onslaught of all the horde as bees, wasps and hornets attacked them with renewed vigor. As Sakura took one last backflip, she sent forth fiery to cover her back. She staggered a bit as she regained her footing but immediately held out her wand as it transformed into Sword again.
"Behind you!" shouted Syaoran as he commanded a blazing fire that disintegrated the wasps that tried to attack Sakura from behind. Sakura eyes widened and she also screamed, "Syaoran, watch out!" as Sakura sent Fiery to kill the hornets that were also trying to attack Syaoran from behind.
"Arigato(thanks)!" said Syaoran, pausing to give Sakura a rare smile. But even before they could catch their breaths, the horde renewed its attack and seemed to even grow more in number. Meilin was already panting tiredly, her arms beginning to ache from the pressure. Yuichi also looks worn out from the amount of magic he's been using.
"I've had enough!" muttered Eriol, as his staff flashed a red aura. Clearly, from his observations, Sakura's fiery and Syaoran's fire wasn't strong enough to exterminate the horde. Focusing his energy and magic, he called for a deluge of magic as his ERIOL card, which he'd been working over in England came out, it's back similar to Clow cards.
"FIERY! MIST!" commanded Eriol as a blazing flood of fire and at the same time, released mist, effectively disintegrating every insect.
The others paused fighting, watching the awesome display of magic. There was not one inch that Eriol's Fiery and Mist left in the shrine unscathed as it blazed through the area. Black smoke began to rise up from where the insects were destroyed.
"Forces of darkness, discard thine old form and be reborn again under the name of Eriol, your new master," chanted Eriol as the black smoke began to gather together and from into a card where Eriol's red aura was sealing the dark forces. Slowly, an Eriol card appeared and it flew over into Eriol's hand.
"It's over now," said Eriol as he looked at his new card, the HORDE. It had a picture of a hive. Eriol rubbed his eyes tiredly, feeling exhausted.
"Eriol-kun! Are you all right?" asked Tomoyo as she hurriedly set down her camcorder and touching Eriol's shoulder gently.
Eriol smiled tiredly at her and answered, "Aa." Sakura and the others were already running up to him and Tomoyo as he looked back at his card bleakly.
// This is definitely trouble. //
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"Meilin-sama(Lady Meilin), honto ni arigato(thank you so much really)," said Yuichi as he bowed deeply before Meilin. "I owe you my life," said Yuichi as he turned to look into Meilin's eyes with utter seriousness.
Meilin flushed a little before she tossed her head haughtily. "Just watch your back Aka-san," grumbled Meilin as she added with a touch of her typical attitude, "'Coz I won't be around to save your butt next time!" She winked at him mischievously before turning to run after Syaoran and the others.
Yuichi smiled at her in a way that Meilin found strange. "If you say so Meilin-sama..."
"So we're going to Tomoeda now Yuichi-kun," said Sakura cheerfully.
Bowing solemnly, Yuichi said, "I'll be seeing you then...."
"Hoe?"
"Not anytime in the future I hope," sneered Kero-chan from Sakura's knapsack as both he and Syaoran gave Yuichi a 'I-don't-ever-wanna-see-your-face' look that made sweatdrops appear on both Suppi and Nakuru's faces.
With their farewells said, the Sakura-gumi(Sakura-gang) all boarded the train.
Yuichi watched the train leave as he took something out of his sleeve.
It was a train ticket for TOMOEDA at the 6 PM schedule tonight!
Yuichi began to whistle as he headed back to his shrine so that he could pack his things.
// What an interesting group of people... they're so lucky they'll soon have the awesome Aka Yuichi as their guide! Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Wait for me my beautiful angel, I'll be coming for you..... //
TBC
Author's Notes:
Thank you so much minna, for the kind reviews... even if they're not that many, they mean a lot to me... *sniff* Anyway, here's a short omake.... not that much really but by the way, my chapter 6 will be a special chapter, lots of character plays. Please R&R, tell me what you think... ja! The title of chapter 6 is "Reach for the Dream"
OMAKE
Early Monday morning, in Sakura's classroom....
"Ohayo gozaimasu!" greeted Sakura cheerfully as she entered the classroom.
"Ohayo!" came the muffled reply as the rest of her classmates, including Tomoyo and Meilin were all gathered around Yamazaki.
"Well, going on with my 'Your Name Analysis'...." said Yamazaki as the others nodded their heads encouragingly.
Yamazaki paused and looked around. "Who's it gonna be this time?" Syaoran's face turned blue and so did Sakura's in memory of Yamazaki's 'Your Name Analysis'
"Ohayo gozaimasu!" greeted Eriol as he entered the classroom. He paused in dismay when all eyes turned on him, eyes that were shining as brightly as thieves in front of their booty.
Eriol, normally placid, frowned. "What's going on?" he asked a bit crossly.
Tomoyo, smiling in her usual close-eyed smile clapped her hands in glee. "Eriol-kun, why don't you sit down and listen to what Yamazaki-kun has to say?"
Yamazaki was stroking his chin thoughtfully as he looked at Eriol up and down. "Hmm, what a complex personality..." he said as Syaoran snickered.
-E-
Your greatest need is to talk. If your date is not a good
listener, you have trouble relating. A person must be
intellectually stimulating or you are not interested
sexually. You need a friend for a lover and a companion for
a bedmate. You hate disharmony and disruption, but you do
enjoy a good argument once in a while it seems to stir
things up. You flirt a lot, for the challenge is more
important than the sexual act for you, but once you give
your heart away, you are uncompromisingly loyal. When you
don't have a good lover to fall asleep with, you will fall
asleep with a good book. (Sometimes, in fact, you prefer
good book.)
"Books Hiiragizawa-kun?" asked Naoko with shining eyes.
Eriol's face was blue as their classmates began dissecting the meaning.
"Intellectually stimulating? Tomoyo-chan is smart!" said Sakura although not getting the entire meaning of Yamazaki's analysis.
"You get turned on by brains?" asked Syaoran with an amused expression on his face.
Eriol sweatdropped as he turned around. "Oh boy... I like it better when I tell the story..."
OWARI