The Sword of Frost
Prologue
Approximately 16 years ago…
A child bearing midnight blue eyes was born into the world. At the instant he let out his first cry, a tremendous blast of force erupted from out of nowhere and zoomed off at lightning speed.
Approximately 12 years after the mysterious force appeared…
"I'm really sorry, Sakura, but my clan in Hong Kong insists that I complete at least secondary school there. Please wait for me. When you see me again, you'll find me worthy of you." Li Syaoran looked seriously into Sakura Kinomoto's eyes as he spoke.
Sakura gazed back longingly, then nodded her head at last, bracing herself for the long wait ahead of her…
~ 4 years after Syaoran left Tomoeda ~
Ding Dong! Sakura Kinomoto jumped at the sound of the doorbell, quickly scrambling up to answer it. "Coming!" She called out, thinking, who could it be? Must be some salesman. How irritating. Tearing the door open, she recited as though it was the thousandth-time she was speaking the exact words, "Sorry, but I'm not interested in any of your pro-" She stopped abruptly in mid-track when she saw who it was.
"Syaoran-kun! Mei Ling-chan!" Sakura called out in shock, at the same time trying her best to study her two loved ones' appearances without yelling hysterically.
Mei Ling's features more or less remained, except that she had grown taller and much prettier. Her buns, as always, were tied neatly at the two sides of her head.
Syaoran, on the other hand, was now much taller and fitter, with his usual big amber eyes and refreshing brown hair. He also carried a mature, calm and serious atmosphere around him, such that one found him deadly attractive but almost impossible to reach out to. He must be at least a head taller than me, and he's much bigger-sized than me! Sakura realized with a start, staring at Syaoran.
At the same time, Syaoran studied Sakura closely. Ever since he left, he had been training furiously and was allowed to write Sakura a letter once every few months, nothing more. Sakura's hair was already past shoulder-length, and she now tied a loose ponytail that swung freely to wherever she turned her head to. Her brilliant emerald eyes and mesmerizing smile remained, and the beauty of her features had grown to a few times of its original throughout the years. It was also interesting to note that she was much shorter than him now, although she used to be almost of the same height as him when they were younger. Well, used to be. He thought.
"Sakura, I'm ba -" Syaoran barely got started when Mei Ling cut him off and enveloped her into a tight hug with a loud and cheerful cry.
"Nei-hou, Kinomoto-san! I missed you so much!"
"Why… are you guys here?" Sakura smiled widely, unable to conceal her delightfulness.
Tearing Mei Ling away from Sakura (who could barely breathe by now), Syaoran explained, " Daidouji said you're living alone, and that we could stay here, so that we don't need to rent another apartment all over again."
"Then… what happened to all your luggage, if you guys are staying here?" Sakura asked, baffled.
"Oh, I sent it here by magic. Should be here by now." Syaoran replied smoothly, just as a humongous dark green suitcase appeared out of nowhere. A similar red one appeared shortly after that, tangled in the branches of the tree outside the window of Sakura's room.
"Hey, you did that on purpose, didn't you?" Mei Ling complained loudly. "Go get it down for me!"
"Sorry, my concentration faltered for a moment just now. And go get it down yourself. You should be glad it even got here - by my magic. I'm going in first." With that, Syaoran rejected her and entered the house swiftly with his luggage, with Mei Ling stomping in after him and Sakura still standing at the door, dazed.
If Syaoran-kun ever got into onii-chan's room, I think the first thing he'll ever do is to set it on fire. Sakura thought as they gathered in her room. "I know! Syaoran-kun, you'll take my father's room and Mei Ling-chan, you my brother's. And, um… Mei Ling-chan? I think you'd better do something about your luggage." On hearing that, Mei Ling got up immediately and stormed to the window.
"Sakura, I need to talk to you. Can we talk in - my room? Now?" Syaoran voiced and dragged Sakura off.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
"Stupid Syaoran. He must have done it intentionally. I just know it. I mean, I'm like, what, his closest family in the entire Li clan, and now it's always Sakura this and Sakura that. Who was the one who helped him on so many occasions? OK, so it is true that I do mess up sometimes, but it's not my fault! How could he…" Mei Ling bombarded off with the speed of a machine-gun, trying to reach for the suitcase from the window. "Forget it. I'll get on the tree. Just you wait, you stupid suitcase."
With a jump, she landed on the highest branch of the tree - unsteadily. As she wavered around dangerously, the twig gave a weak squeak and cracked, and Mei Ling fell, knocking off her suitcase in the way.
"WAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Mei Ling screamed and clenched her eyes shut. I'm going to get it right smack on my face! NOOOO!!!! However, what Mei Ling expected did not come. Instead of being disfigured like she thought she would, she fell on something, or rather, somebody. And what's this thing that's pressing on my lips? Mei Ling wondered, and opened her eyes slowly.
SHE WAS ACTUALLY LYING FACE TO FACE WITH THIS GUY SHE HAD FALLEN ON, LIP TO LIP?! AND HIS HANDS… HIS HANDS WERE DRAPED AROUND HER WAIST!!!!!!!!
Tearing her face slightly further away, Mei Ling looked into the eyes of her saviour and found herself deeply attracted into a sea of forest green, and could not bear to look away…
Fang Lie Xu looked intently at the Chinese girl before him. She had silky black hair that gushed down from her buns like a waterfall, and ruby, pretty eyes burning with pure innocence, along with beautiful features carved onto her face. Too bad she tied up her hair into buns beside her head. What a waste of those pretty strands. He thought to himself, smiling.
The two stared at each other for quite a while, until both realized what had happened.
"Ahhhhh!!!!" Mei Ling screamed and jumped out of the embrace, blushing furiously and trembling in anger. "You... you!!" Not bothering to say anything else, Mei Ling launched an attack at the Chinese boy, who retaliated immediately and the two broke into a series of complex fighting arts.
He's (she's) good! The two thought simultaneously.
Mei Ling charged madly, but the boy managed to block her every move with ease. As they were in the midst of attacks and blocks, his arm brushed against hers, causing her to stop abruptly.
"Ahhh!" Mei Ling yelled hysterically in anger and embarrassment.
"Hey! Why are you stopping?" Fang Lie Xu didn't expect her to stop completely and before he could take back his stance, Mei Ling was already knocked out. Catching her in his arms as he collapsed, he realized something that has never occurred before.
"This will have to wait." He decided aloud and carried her to the door.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
~ Back in the room ~
"Sakura, are you angry at me or something, like, you know, because I… Because I wrote so rarely to you." Syaoran trailed off…
"No, I understand, really." Sakura interrupted, but Syaoran shook his head solemnly.
"No. Listen. Now that I'm back, I'm going to make up for the three years that I was unable to be with you."
"But you really don't have to do that, Syaoran-kun. I'm happy enough that you're back." Sakura said softly.
"I insist." Syaoran said, looking into her eyes determinedly.
They then flashed a brilliant shade of magenta and stayed in silence until knocking cut into the awkward silence.
"Let's go get the door." The two blurted out in unison, blushed again, and scrambled down the stairs together.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
"Hi! Li Syaoran, Kinomoto Sakura." A Chinese teen with black hair and dark green eyes smiled confidently when they opened the door.
"Do I know you?" Sakura asked densely while Syaoran immediately sensed something and put on a fierce look.
This guy has strong magic. I'd better beware. Is he a foe, or an ally? Syaoran thought carefully while the teen smiled at him, as if he could read through his mind.
"What happened to Mei Ling-chan?" Sakura saw the Mei Ling lying in the teen's arms and gasped at the unconscious girl.
"So, your name is Mei Ling, huh?" The stranger mumbled to the girl in his arms, still smiling, then he turned to Sakura and Syaoran. "It's a long story. Can I go in first?"
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
"I'm Fang Lie Xu, from Kun Ming. I'm here give you warning about what is going to happen." The dark-haired teen introduced himself briefly after he related his encounter with Mei Ling to Sakura and Syaoran. Gracefully, he brought his teacup to his lips and took a sip, not missing the questioning looks thrown onto him.
Putting away the teacup, Lie Xu continued, "Dark forces are coming their way here with the three of you as their targets. In fact, their attacks may start anytime soon, and they are really not to be trifled with."
"But what has it got to do with Mei Ling-chan? She doesn't even possess a bit of magic!" Sakura exclaimed in disbelief.
"Not her." Lie Xu explained. "It's you, " he said, pointed to Syaoran, "the strongest ever descendant of Clow Reed," he then pointed to Sakura and continued, " You, the mistress to the Clow Cards which are now cards with your magic powers as its foundation; and - the reincarnation of Clow Reed: Eriol Hiragazawa."
"Eriol-kun?" Sakura repeated in shock.
"You have strong magical powers, yet you are telling us to beware. I guess the dark forces this time must be really something." Syaoran said slowly.
"Hey, you knew about the fact that I had magical powers at the exact moment you saw me, right? You're really good, man." Lie Xu responded cheerfully. " By the way, do you think it's okay if you let me stay here?"
"Huh? I guess it's okay." Sakura replied slowly, still unable to digest the new information thrown onto her.
"What is your motive?" Syaoran eyed him suspiciously.
Lie Xu's eyes flicked to Mei Ling, who was lying propped up against the sofa, and smiled.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
~ Tomoeda Airport ~
Eriol Hiragazawa looked around, putting on an amused expression. "Looks like things around here haven't really changed much, huh?"
"Why don't you just admit that you're dying to see her, although you're acting nothing like it." Spinel Sun answered from somewhere inside his backpack.
Eriol said nothing in reply, but instead gave a very 'unintentional' "bag-quake" to Suppi. All of a sudden, he felt a powerful, yet strong aura and turned sharply to see -
"Hiragazawa-kun!" Daidouji Tomoyo called out at the sight of the blue hair and the pair of blue eyes flashing against the glasses, rushing towards him at full speed. Her long and wavy hair gushed out behind her, and the running brought a rosy shade to her otherwise pale cheeks. The scenario seemed to turn instantaneously into a mesmerizing painting. Just before she reached him she suddenly lost her step and fell, but Eriol quickly caught her just in time.
"So sorry I'm late." Tomoyo apologized, flustered. Eriol looked at her intently. It's so hard to see her face in such a shade of radiant pink. Normally she looks like she could faint anytime. But she's still so beautiful.
"Hiragazawa-kun?" Not getting an answer, Tomoyo looked up and blushed further on realizing that Eriol was looking at her and also that she was now in Eriol'is arms, and quickly pushed him away gently in shyness.
"There's no need for you to apologize. I'm really grateful to you for letting me put up at your place, since Clow Reed's house had been demolished for the entertainment theme park. And thank you for not telling Sakura about my arrival in Tomoeda. I hope that this can show my appreciation for your efforts." With that, Eriol leant forward, brushed her fringe behind and planted a kiss on her forehead gently.
Blushing furiously, Tomoyo stammered, "Um… You… You're welcome. L… Let's go."
The two (and Suppi) then walked off, Eriol having forgotten all about the force he had felt before.
At a corner, two figures witnessed the whole incident. One of them had dark purple eyes, the other's of dark amber.
"The game starts." One of the two commented mysteriously, and their eyes gave a dangerous glint.
: Hurray! My prologue is FINALLY out!!! I worked on it for like, what, three months? Because I kept rewriting and rewriting and REWRITING. I've originally already written the prologue and the first three chapters, but then I thought that that would be too short and therefore decided to merge the prologue and the first chapter together, so I think that I will try to get the first chapter out soon, which sounds really impossible, but I'll really try my best.
Anyway, this story is based on the anime only, not manga only or both manga and anime. And for your information, Fujitaka is away for a long-term archaeology project in Egypt and won't probably be back until quite a few years later... But I'm not really sure if the readers want him to return to the series...
And tell you what: I've got tons of great plots awaiting you! Just that I haven't wrote them out... But basically I've gotten the entire story out.
Oh and also feel free to mail me, regardless of whether your question or comment is about my fan-fiction or anything else, for example my writing and that sort of thing. See you!(Smiles)
My e-mail addresses:
luvly_hui@yahoo.com.sg
manga_manga_manga_maniac@yahoo.com
#Disclaimers: I don't own CCS or any of it's characters, okay? (Although I wished I did). CLAMP (Kodansha) does, so don't sue me…
Liz#