Lost Dreams of China

by Sueng Xiang

Living in China her whole life, Sakura finally finds out she is the daughter of the leader of a rebellion against China. Unsure of which side she is on, her heart will do all the talking when it comes to this. Complete!

2. Sakura, Girl of Questions

Chapter 1: Sakura, Girl of Questions

            "That's how the dream ends…"

            A young teenage girl with streaks of auburn hair on both sides of her face talked to a man, appearing to be her teacher. "Clow-sifu, what does this dream mean?" The girl looked with anticipation at Clow's spectacles, seeing her dark blue robe in the reflection of his glasses. Clow shot her look back by staring at her emerald eyes. "Sakura, this dream you explain, this is what you recall?" Clow asked.

            "Hai…" she answered, "It feels at one point, these people are related to me, but, how could that be considering that I am the only daughter of the general?" Clow used his yin-yang robe to polish his spectacles. "Sakura, dreams like these, especially coming from a magician such as you, mean dire things. One of them, it could mean a premonition of you meeting these people. Another thing, it could be that that was your past life before reincarnation. These dreams mean everything to a magician such as you."

            "Clow-sifu!" she exclaimed, "Why is that the dream that I feel so attached to though? I have other premonition dreams like before, like when you would create the Cards, but they didn't feel that special, why is this one so different." Sakura fixed her blue hat before it fell to the ground. "Sakura, Fwan Hung Na, you must be at ease, these dreams have something of significance, you just have to find it by yourself." "Find by myself?" Sakura repeated. "Don't worry Sakura, as soon as the Cards have been completed, then we shall use them to read fortunes, so we can find out what that dream means." Sakura felt relieved, "Thank you!" she replied. Sakura looked out the circular golden window and saw soldiers practicing kung fu at the main square.

Dreaming    

"Little sis, when we grow up, we're gonna have so much fun in China, we're gonna learn kung fu, then we're gonna wear silk, and eventually, we'll learn to cook Chinese food."

End Dream

            "Whoever you are, you were wrong so far except for the silk part, I don't think that I know you. So I should stop worrying." Sakura turned away and looked at the watches, gears, and tools sprawled across the red table. The book shelves with tons of books contained magic spells and incantations.

Sakura Narration

            Well, that's me, my name is Sakura. That's what Clow, my father- General Min, and my 1st maid-Tomoyo call me, but other people in the city call me by my Chinese alias, Fwan Hung Na (pink girl). I work under the tutelage of Clow Reed, the best sorcerer China has had, but I am required to call him sifu for respect. "Sakura, hurry up and get in here, I need your help making a Card called 'Sweet'." "Coming!" I answer. Anyways, as I was saying,  Clow and I are teacher and student, I think I'm the closest disciple though, because Clow teaches me the most and the other kids don't get to see or do any of Clow's experiments, I do all the dirty work. "Sakura, carry this sugar!"

            Hmph! Well, right now he's making something called the Clow Cards, these cards are supposed to make life easier for all of us, I don't see how. "Sakura, the sweet card, what an unbelievable card it will be." "What does it do Clow-sifu?" "It will…make something as sweet as you want!" (Sakura sweat drops) Like I said, these cards are useless, though some he made are good, like the 'lock' card, which locks anything and protects it from being opened at any costs, or 'shield', or how 'bout 'sword'. Well anyways, my father put me in the magic school; I wanted to learn kung fu. But that's a boy's thing.

"Sakura, please taste this soup to see if it's sweet enough." "Hai!" (Sakura spits out the soup and gasps for water.) This burns!!! "Sorry Sakura, I'll get you some water, wait here." If you ask me he should make a 'Water' card. "Here you are Sakura!" Finally, relief for the mouth, well, Clow does have some good points, he's very nice. I heard he was almost kicked out of the Forbidden City once because they found out his father was a foreigner. But I don't see why they would want to do that though, Clow is so nice, and there's no way that a foreigner could be that bad because Clow is very nice, he must've been raised good.

End Sakura Narration

            "Sakura, try this soup one more time please!" Clow politely insisted, "I promise this won't burn." Sakura hesitantly picked up the spoon and slurped a bit. "Tastes good!" Sakura rubbed her cheek with delight. "Very well then, 'sweet' is complete," Clow gave a high five to his student, "Sakura thank you for your help." Sakura blushed a little, "It was nothing," Sakura started to rub the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Well Sakura, I guess you got an early peek at your birthday present," Clow said with a smile. "Really, you're giving me the 'sweet' card?" Sakura asked with questions marks plainly written on her face. "No!" Clow said, "I'm using this card to help the cooks sweeten your favorite desserts and food for your banquet tomorrow."

Sakura opened her mouth in enjoyment, "Thank you Clow-sifu!" she hugged her teacher. "You're welcome," Clow patted the back of Sakura's hair, "Now go home, your father must be worried about you." Sakura nodded, picked up her spell books, and waved good bye to Clow Reed, "Goodnight Clow-sifu!" "Same here!" Clow replied. Sakura shut the screen door behind her; Clow heard the sound of the screen door close.

"Sakura…" Clow said in a deep voice to himself, "I know who that family is, but you must find out by yourself, or I will alter your fate."

Sakura happily was prancing through the dim streets of the Forbidden City's walkways, however, she had no problem seeing, because a building or two would usually have lights on, giving her enough light to see. "A little skipping and walking home are we?" a voice called from the shadows in an eerie tone. "Who's there?" Sakura asked in panic, holding her chest close to her and worrying what could be lurking behind her. "Just chill, it's just me, not a ghost!" A young man with brown chestnut hair, his hair was very messy, but nonetheless, it looked better that way. His uniform was a green robe with a green cap, and a sword carried on his back. "Oh, it's you!" Sakura said in resentment.

Sakura Narration
            This is Syaoran Li, he's a member of the Li clan, the family from the side of Clow Reed's mother. So I guess you could say that he's sort of like his nephew. "Fwan, what are you doing this late? I thought brats go to sleep before its dark?" "I'M NOT A BRAT!!!" Yes, Li-hing acts like this to me all the time, we're not brothers or sisters, but we've grown together ever since I started to be under the tutelage of Clow Reed. Since he's better at kung fu and he's good at the sword, even though magic and kung-fu don't have anything alike, I suppose he's referred to as my older brother because he is more talented and skilled at things, and I'm required to call him Li-hing as well, for respect.

            "Well, is brat girl going to have her birthday tomorrow?" "I TOLD YOU I'M NOT A BRAT!!!" Li-hing knows my weaknesses; he knows I can't stand ghosts, or him calling me a brat. "I think you are a brat because you always get so spoiled by Clow Reed and your father, it's no wonder you're a brat!" "Grr…take that back!" Li-hing is so bothersome, but don't worry, one day I will be so skilled in kung fu (imagines doing gravity defying moves), I'll KICK him! (Imagines Li being kicked lopsided the head and has a huge bump)

            "I'm sorry I shouldn't be so mean, you're not a brat…" At times, Li-hing can be very nice, that's when he looks so dreamy! (blushes) "…you're a pest!" Grrrrrrr… (Sakura kicks Li in the shins). "Ow!!!" Syaoran cried in pain. "That's what you get, hnn!!!" (stick out her tongue and pulls on her bottom eyelid) Today Li-hing is being really playful with me, most of the time, he acts so serious and mysterious, I guess that's another reason why I find him cute sometimes. (blushes) But enough of that, as long as he keeps his mouth shut and acts serious all the time, I'm okay with him.

End Sakura Narration

            Sakura was storming down the walk path and out to the gates of the Forbidden City. She commanded the guards to open the doors to city in order for her to go home to the general's house right outside the walls of the Forbidden City. "That Syaoran! Has the nerve to call me a brat, though I do wish father would sometimes stop spoiling me." Sakura walked in a rage home to her fathers. She knocked on her father's house with pounding. The residence of the general's was very luxurious; the outside had statues of two lions guarding the main gate.

            The main gate opened and Sakura walked for ten minutes through a path of flowers which led to her house. "So beautiful!" she exclaimed, "I'm so glad father agreed to make the first ten minutes of this walkway a flower street. When the flower street was done, her mansion house awaiting her with two big sliding wooden doors was in front of her.

Sakura Narration

            Yes! This is my house, and no, I'm not a brat! My father is the general of the Forbidden City army. Under his army, he has 4,500 cannon men, 4,000 swordsmen, 3,000 hand to hand men, and 1,500 magicians. That's a total of 13,000 men at his disposal; at least I know I'm safe. "Sakura! You've come back home!" (Girl with dark purple hair and a baby blue Chinese maid's gown comes opens the door) Oh sorry, this is Tomoyo, she's my maid and she's my age, I hate to refer to her as my maid, but it's true, father says she is, but I think of her as my friend. Can I tell you a secret? When father isn't home, Tomoyo doesn't do any housework, we have fun. I tell Tomoyo to trade places for me in that day, while I clean the house; she can have fun and play with my room. But whenever we have days like that, she insists that she does all the work. So we end up having fun together and doing the work together. Don't tell father though, because if he found out, Tomoyo would be kicked out of our residence, and she's the only friend I have.

"Good evening Tomoyo!" "Sakura!!!" (Tomoyo puts her hands on her cheeks and looks at Sakura surprised) "What's wrong Tomoyo?" "You're freezing cold!" (Tomoyo takes off her coat she is wearing to keep herself warm and puts it over Sakura's robes) "But now you're freezing!" "Don't worry about me, the sooner we get inside, the sooner we'll both be warm." She's right, it is cold, and cold temperatures are not good for Clow's books. (They both run inside the house) Well this is my house, (Sakura looks around and sees the guest room, the first room in the house, it has yellow wallpaper and cushions for people to sit on) in this house it's only one story, but it has 15 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a stable, 3 kitchens, and a 2 guest rooms, I'm not including the backyard and the front yard.

End Sakura Narration

            Sakura looked at the guest room she was in and saw three opening pathways, one in front of her, one to her left, and one to her right. In this room, suits of Chinese armor, weapons, and paintings were hung on the walls. The openings of the paths had decorative flower designs above the doorway to represent some feminity in the house. The carpet made of fine silk and a huge picture of a Chinese goddess of hearth appeared on the light green carpet.

"So you've come home Sakura?" a stern voice came from a man in a purple robe with brown lining on the sash and ends. He had a long beard with a mustache. His eyes, small, wrinkly, but wisdom existed. His body mass was huge, almost twice the width of Sakura. His hair, gray, but was long and tied to a bun on the top of his scalp. "Hello papa!"

Sakura Narration

            As you can guess, this is my father. He looks very stern and strict, and he is. He constantly acts very nice to me though. But when I'm not around, I know he acts strict to everyone and everything around him. I remember one day when I brought home a rabbit, he yelled at the rabbit and threatened to kill it. Only I was there to stop him.

            Sometimes, I can make him understand how to take care of things that are beautiful. After all, he is a general, and probably that's why he acts so stern to everything, maybe because he's used to it. Anyways, he's a very loving father and like Li-hing said, I am spoiled by him, though I don't want to be.

End Sakura Narration

            Sakura set her books down on the guest coffee table right next to her. "Father, is there something you wish to say to me?" Sakura asked with preparation that her father might yell, when he got that look, he would be ready to yell at you. "Yes Sakura, I would like to ask you how your day was today with Clow Reed." Sakura blushed and cheerfully replied. "Clow-sifu made me a good present today papa, and he's gonna show everyone tomorrow at the banquet."

            "Hmmmm…" Min answered, "Tomoyo, please go prepare a bath and Sakura's bed, it is getting late for her." "Hai!" Tomoyo bowed and left with haste to the pathway to the left. "Sakura," Min began to speak, "As you know, today is April 3, and tomorrow is your birthday." Sakura nodded. "Well since tomorrow is your birthday, please, take this as your birthday gift early." Min handed Sakura a box with her Chinese characters inscribed on it. "Can I open it?" she asked politely, Min nodded. Sakura was careful in how she opened the box; she didn't want to upset her father by untying the string the wrong way.    

            In this family, if she had did the slightest thing wrong, her father would give her a light tap to the head and say, "In war, you must do everything precisely, because if you don't, you will lose." Sakura was wary of this precaution of getting tapped in the head again and opened the box fully to see what her gift was.

            When she pulled out a long string, she knew it was a necklace, and she was waiting for it to be either gold or silver, or diamond, or something very luxurious. But when she went to the end she saw something she didn't believe. It was a pink flower petal, preserved and not turning brown, it's like what she saw from her dream. Sakura panicked and quickly looked to her father with glimmering eyes. "FATHER! Where did you get this?"

            Min, stern as usual and answered Sakura's question, "That was a flower from Japan, when I had a campaign long ago." Sakura finicky asked again, "Father, how did you find this?" Min looked at Sakura with stern eyes, "One of those refugee Japanese merchants sold it to me on the Great Wall." "So it can't be me…" Sakura thought to herself, "Thanks father, I will go take a bath now, thank you for the gift." Sakura walked away from her father and proceeded to the left hallway.

            The hallway was quite long, so Sakura might as well put on the necklace she received now. Sakura just slipped the rope over her head like a lasso, cut it in the back by pulling the string, and tied the back into a knot. "It looks very pretty!" she said to herself.

            Sakura reached the end of the hallway and opened a door to her right where the bathroom was.

            Tomoyo scrubbed Sakura's bare back with a soft cloth that wouldn't damage her skin. "That's a very nice necklace you received Sakura," Tomoyo complimented, "Your father must've went very far to get that for you." Sakura just stared at the shiny panel on the wall which showed her reflection. She saw herself with suds all over her hair and her chest area, the only thing not obscured by the suds was her necklace. "Sakura?" Tomoyo asked when Sakura didn't answer her question.

            "Oh Tomoyo!" Sakura snapped out of her trance, "Sorry, I was remembering, it's as if I saw this necklace before." Tomoyo looked at her quizzically. "I think I see this in my dream, a brother gives this to me to make me not forget where I truly am from." "And where is that Sakura?" "I don't know!" Sakura replied, "All I know is that, I feel as though this life I am living is not real."

            "Then am I not real Sakura?" Tomoyo continued scrubbing and applied more soap when necessary. "No Tomoyo, you are my best friend, you are indeed real," Sakura smiled at her but then turned sad again, "It seems like my father, he's fake, and I feel I don't belong here even though I live here for so long." Tomoyo then began to worry but thought Sakura was maybe depressed for some other reason, so she tried to point it out. "You know Sakura, I know you and your father for very long times. Your father is a very loving man, but so are you; you get so many of your traits from him." Sakura agreed, "What are you trying to say from this Tomoyo?" Tomoyo breathed in trying to think deeply of how to say this to her, "Don't get me wrong Sakura, I love both you and your father, it's just that I don't know why sometimes you and your father act so different."

            Sakura knew this all along, but regardless she defended her father, "You may be right Tomoyo, maybe it's my imagination that I feel I don't belong, but I do hope one day, father can take me to the place where he got this necklace." Sakura smiled again and Tomoyo smiled with her, "Yes, I'm sure he will, now close your eyes." Sakura closed her eyes and Tomoyo dumped a pail of water on her to wash of the suds.

            "Good night Sakura!" Tomoyo said as she put out the lights in Sakura's room. "Good night!" Sakura responded. Sakura covered herself completely with her blanket, she was feeling a little cold from wearing her midnight blouse (Chinese women's undergarment where a piece of cloth is tied onto you chest via two strings on the side, much like a bra, except it covers some of the sides, all of the front, but almost none of the back). Sakura looked one last time at the flowers in her room and looked at her necklace, "I'm sure my birthday will be good tomorrow." She closed her eyes, smiled, and went to sleep.

Character Bio

Sakura

Birthday: April 4

Zodiac most like: Sheep

Favorite Hobby: Helping Clow Reed

Least Favorite Hobby: Being Clow Reed's guinea pig

Special Talents: Magician

Favorite Colors: White, Pink

Favorite Flower: Chinese Pink Orchids

Favorite Food: eggs with rice and soy sauce, lo mein

Least Favorite Food: tofu

Something she can Cook: tea

Wish List: A bag to carry Clow's books

My Comments: Well, from this chapter on, I'll try to fit in a profile of how I changed a certain character. To be honest though, I didn't change Sakura one bit, she's still cheerful, and she's still carefree and happy constantly. The above information on her profile has been changed due to the fact that I am dealing with a Sakura who has apparently, never been to Japan before, so therefore, this is why it is so different.