Chapter Seven - Flying Lessons

"Cards, huh?" Eriol asked as he walked up behind Kerberos, "Your entire life, bound up in and wrapped around Cards."

"I don't mind," Kerberos responded, "I can't figure out how to make 'em work though," he admitted fanning out the Elemental Cards in his hands, "Even though I've seen the brat use them hundreds of times and Clow before that..."

"May I?" Eriol asked politely. At Kero's nod he took the Cards, "I remember making these. These are more like tools than the Clow...uhm, Sakura Cards are. There are very specific spells bound into each card. The Clow Cards were made to become allies, friends even, each Card predisposed to help its Master or Mistress. These...are simply pieces of raw elemental magic bound in Card form. Li-kun must indeed be a powerful magician that he is able to use them as effectively as he does," Eriol explained, thumbing through the deck.

"Really? I thought these were a lesser magic..." Kerberos stated.

"No...just different. You know how easily Clow became bored. I...he...was always looking for new challenges. Do you have the sword?"

"Yeah, it's right here," Kerberos brought it out.

"And what have you done to align properly with the sword?" Eriol asked.

"Huh?"

"Humph...Kerberos, I aligned you to the Sun and the Cards when I made you. Li, as a human, had no such help. He aligned himself to the sword in order to access its magic. He then aligned each of the Elemental Cards to the sword. If you align yourself to Li's sword, you should be able to use the links he has already made to use the Cards," Eriol explained.

"Hold out your hands and close your eyes," Eriol commanded. He placed the sword across Kerberos' hands.

"Now, feel the Elemental forces around you...solid Earth underfoot, swift Wind on your face..."

********

"Uhm...aren't you going to be Yue?" Li asked hesitantly.

Yukito smiled, "I could, if you want; but I thought I could help!"

"No offense, Yukito-san, but you don't even have wings!"

Yukito smiled again, bent down and picked Li up. He flipped him over and stroked along the toy wings. Li shivered and arched against Yuki's hand in pleasure.

"These? These aren't how Kerberos flies! At least not entirely...it's magic!"

"Magic? But he doesn't...do anything, say something or cast a spell..." Li argued.

"I know you know physics and because of that you know such small wings could never generate the lift to support even the slight weight you have now..." Yukito hefted Li's toy body a few times, "Logically, it must be magic!"

Li waited, enjoying the stroking along his wings, and listened.

"I can help you better than Yue-san right now because I know what it feels like to be a human," Yukito smiled, "(well, mostly!) wrapped around a core of magic. The magic in me is Moon, and the magic in you is Sun, but that really shouldn't make a difference!"

"Sun magic?"

"It's what animates Kerberos and gives him life. Right now, it's got to be doing that for you. He doesn't have to eat, you know. He just likes to!"

"How do I attune...I don't have my sword or Cards or anything to use as a focus..." Li began.

"Your body is your focus, just like mine is for Yue. The magic is inside of you!" Yukito told him.

Li closed his eyes and sat very still for a long time.

"I don't feel anything! Are you certain, Yukito-san?" he finally asked.

"Yes! I think you can't feel it yet because you aren't yet in tune with the body you are in. You still think of yourself as a human trapped inside a stuffed animal, don't you?" Yukito asked in return.

"I don't want to turn into Kerberos! I don't want to lose...myself..." Li admitted.

"I don't lose myself when Yue-san comes forth. Granted, I am also a being of magic, not a true human as you are, but I am certain the magic can't change your mind or your soul. You will still be Li Syaoran no matter how attuned to Kerberos' body or magic you become!" Yuki reassured.

"First you have to really admit, deep in your heart, that right now you are only a stuffed animal, a toy...stop fighting the body, Li-kun...truly be what Kerberos is..."

********

"Well," Eriol waved his hand in front of his face, clearing the acrid smoke, "Not surprisingly you have Fire magic down!"

"Master! I'm sorry!" Kerberos threw his sword down, rushed over and patted out the small fire burning on Eriol's shoulder.

"No matter! I should have been shielding! It's a good thing Spinel wasn't here to see how careless I was being..." Eriol laughed.

********

"Hoi! Yuki!" Touya's voice sounded behind him on the street. Yukito turned, saw Sakura, Tomoyo and Touya and waited for them to catch up.

"Hi guys!" he smiled.

"Yuki! I thought you were going to be working with Li-kun today?" Touya asked.

"I am! He's right here!" Yukito moved his arm allowing a view of Li's head poking out over the top of the pocket of his jacket.

"Uhm...hi guys," Li mumbled.

Unexpectedly Touya smiled and snatched him from Yukito's pocket.

"Hi-ya, 'Trouble'! Are you having fun yet?" he asked in a friendly manner as he patted Li's head.

"Uhm...I guess so!" No one was more surprised than Li at Touya's friendliness. It was a well-known fact that the two of them didn't get along.

"Spending the day in Yuki's pocket. I am jealous!" Touya teased, "Maybe I should ask to switch with Kero for a day or two!"

Li thought about that. It was true that he had gotten to spend more time with Yukito than ever before, time he wasn't embarrassed about and time he didn't have to share with Sakura. He loved her, true, but sometimes it seemed as if his life and everyone else's revolved around her. Li suddenly realized that everyone was concerned about him and helping him for once. He looked up at Touya's huge, friendly face and smiled. Again, completely unexpectedly, Touya winked.

"Must be fun being a toy!" he remarked.

"Yeah!" Tomoyo took Li from Touya's hands, "Who would have thought that our serious Li would ever find himself being so...frivolous! I really have to design a special costume for Li-kun-in-Kerberos'-body now!"

Her hands were gentle as she held him and stroked his left paw. Sakura took him next from her friend's hands.

"I don't know, Tomoyo-chan. Your fashions got a little out of hand every once in a while," Sakura teased as she gently pulled Li's tail and played with the puffball at the end of it absently.

"Are you okay, Syaoran-kun? You're not still upset, are you?" Sakura asked with worried eyes, holding him across her palms up at eye level.

Li sat on her hands, gazed into her wide, huge, lovely, green eyes and realized that he could never see her quite this way as himself. The friendly attention from everyone he had just experienced was not something they would ever be comfortable offering to him in his own body.

"I'm not upset anymore...though I do want to Change back. It just doesn't have to be right now. Whenever it happens is okay with me! This is actually kinda fun!" Li admitted.

"Oh! I'm so glad, Syaoran!" Sakura abruptly smothered him with a hug. Tomoyo laughed.

"How did you know?" Yukito asked Touya under the fuss.

"Know what?" Touya whispered back.

"Know what to say to help Li-kun see how much fun what has happened can be?"

Touya smiled wryly, "I didn't. I would love to spend a day in your pocket! The kid really isn't so bad. It's good that he's not being so serious for once!"

On cue, Li's laugh rang out. Sakura and Tomoyo were tussling over him and obviously it tickled.

"See?" Touya said, "I haven't heard him laugh like that before!" Yukito looked at his friend and smiled.

"You've given me a wonderful idea!"

"Okay, okay! Give him back to me!" Yukito demanded, "We've got lessons to get back to!" he retrieved Li and placed him back in his pocket.

Touya, Sakura and Tomoyo strolled back to their shopping. Yukito took Li to the park. There, they watched the children play.

"Your bear looks cute, mister," a little girl finally braved approaching Yukito, "Can I hold him?"

"Of course!" Yuki smiled, holding Li out toward the girl. He could sense, in Li's sudden stiffness, that he was terrified.

"Oh! He is darling!" the girl gushed, hugging him tightly, "What's his name?"

"'Li'," Yuki told her.

"Can I play with him on the swings? Oh, please?!"

Yukito nodded and sat back to watch the child entertain her new playmate.

"Let's see how high you can swing, Li-chan!" the girl said, placing him on the swing and pumping it for him. She kept up a steady stream of patter, talking a mile a minute at her new friend.

"Who is that, Dori-chan?" another little girl asked.

"This is Li-chan. He's that nice man's over there!" she pointed toward Yukito who waved.

"Oh, can I play with him too?!" the new girl called. Yukito smiled, granting permission.

"Goody! He looks so huggy!" she suited actions to words and hugged Li tight.

Yukito watched carefully as the little girls played. There wasn't much they could do that would actually hurt Li, but Li might not know that. Yukito kept an eye out that the level of play didn't become so rough that Li might give himself away by moving or talking. Finally, the game developed that Yukito had hoped for.

"Let's see how high Li-chan can fly!" Dori decided, "Go over there and I'll toss him to you!"

The girls giggled as Li tumbled head over tail through the air between them. Yukito reflected that there might be a special magic in the play between children and hoped that Li was not so serious that he had grown past the reach of that magic. He watched carefully as the distance between the girls grew and Li spent more time in the air. A subtle flash of magic on one throw told him that what he had hoped would happen, did. He walked over and caught Li from the air just as Li began to hover.

"I'm sorry, girls. I have to take Li-kun home now!" he told them, "Do you want to hug him good-bye?"

Each girl did, Dori even planting a kiss on the top of his head.

"You were so brave, flying in the air, Li-chan!" she told him, "Thank you for letting us play with him, mister!"

Yukito held Li up next to his ear as if he was listening to something Li was saying, "Li-kun thanks you for playing with him too! Good-bye!"

He placed Li in his pocket again and walked out of sight between the trees.

"Are you all right?" he asked, bringing Li up to eye level.

"You knew!" Li accused him.

"Knew?"

"You knew I was just about to fly! Why did you stop me?" Li demanded.

"A stuffed animal can't fly where it can be seen. What happened?"

"Oh, you were watching..." Li hedged.

"No, tell me from your point of view," Yukito insisted.

"They were both so nice, treating me as if I were real, even though they didn't know that I am. I could feel something in them. They wanted me to fly so badly...it was almost as though I had to try for them..." Li explained.

"Sun magic is giving," Yukito told him softly, "You almost flew because they wanted you to. Didn't you feel something...glowing...inside of you, while you were in the air?"

"I...I did...almost..." Li stammered.

"I want you to fly, too," Yukito told him very seriously and slightly wistfully. Li looked at his face sharply.

"I...I feel...warm and bubbly and...happy all of a sudden!" Li told him.

"Good! Little Li, that is the Sun magic welling in you. Touch it...and you can fly!" Yukito told him.

Li floated right out of his hand.

"Oh! So light! I'm light and free! Look, Yukito-san! I'm flying! And it isn't a spell, I'm not fighting against gravity to stay in the air..." Li took off into the forest, "This is wonderful!" he called back behind him.

Li reveled in the power of his newly discovered flight, dodging around trees and branches as he darted through the woods. Finally, he calmed down a little. The happy glow of power was still in him, but it was not quite so overwhelming. Abruptly he wondered where he had left Yukito.

He slowed, stopped and hovered.

"That really wasn't very nice of me!" he realized aloud.

"No, but I'm sure you will be forgiven!"

Li pivoted in the air to see Yue hovering behind him. Yue held out a hand for him. Li obediently came to rest in it.

"Can I admit to you that your stuffed animal body corners through the trees much better than my human-shaped form does?" Yue asked, "That was quite a first flight, Li! It is time for us to go home."

Li realized it was dark as Yue scooped him in to carry him home. He snuggled deeper into the crook of the Moon Guardian's arm and fell asleep.

"Wake up, Li," Yue commanded a short while later, "Eriol wants you to see something!"

Li poked his head over Yue's arm and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, sorry!" he noticed they were in the living room of Sakura's house. Eriol and Kerberos were the only other ones here.

"Not to worry. You have had a full day! You can go to sleep soon," Yue told him gravely.

"What do you want me to see?" Li asked Eriol.

"Show him, Kerberos!" Eriol commanded.

Kerberos held up a Card balanced between two fingers. With two fingers extended on his other hand, he shaped the magic of the Card. He evoked a single flame, causing it to dance on the edge of the Card.

"Wow! Pretty! Really nice control too!" Li admired, impressed in spite of himself.

"Yeah, watch and learn, kid!" Kerberos told him jauntily.

"Grr!" Li growled before darting from Yue's arm, hovering before Kerberos and blowing the flame out.

"I compliment you and you insult me!" Li shouted in Kero's face.

"Hey! That wasn't very nice!" Kero shouted back.

"Well done, Yue!" Eriol complimented under the uproar.

"Actually, it was Yukito who helped him. Yukito and two little girls," he clarified.

"Children's magic?! I hadn't thought to use it..." Eriol pondered. He strode over and took Li from the air.

"May I commend you on your ability?" he told Li, "Not only did you learn how to fly, you have also started accessing Kerberos' greater magic as well. There is no way to simply blow out an elemental flame. You must have suppressed it with magic!" Eriol noted.

"Really? I did?"

"He did? Nuts! It took me days to figure out how to dispel magic like that..." Kero complained, "Nice going, kid!"

Kerberos rocked back at Li's hostile look.

"No, I mean it! You're learning fast!"

"Hmm. Then I declare tomorrow a holiday...a play day! No one tries to learn anything tomorrow. Let's go to the beach!" Eriol declared.

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Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde@stargarde.com

Next chapter teaser - Chapter Eight - Soul Wings