Author's Note: Hehe, sorry folks. My mother was doing some spring cleaning and threw out my rough drafts in her frenzy. I've tried to remember what I had originally, but the result has been a short chapter. The next should be longer. Thank you so much to my reviewers and readers!
Meilin looked at the girl lying on her couch and bit her lip. The child bore an astonishing resemblance to Sakura when she'd been young, but the dark red hair wasn't like anything she'd seen before. It was closer to purple than brown. One thing which was very much the same, was the book. Sakura's magic book, which held the cards she'd inherited from Clow Reed and then changed into Sakura Cards, was held close like a teddy bear. Not two hours ago, Meilin's cousin had brought the girl in, saying she'd interfered with a magic battle near the Yokku construction site. That corporation was in Japan, far from Meilin's home in China. Magic portals used by the Kurai brought their fights to seemingly random locations all over the Earth.
Now there was this girl. Just as the battles were reaching a high point, this girl showed up with the Cards. Meilin went to the phone and called Li Yelan, the head of the family. "…She has no identification on her…but shouldn't I wait unti—yes." Meilin hung up and picked up her keys. She put the unconscious girl in the back of her car and drove to the family's home. It was very private, very old, and brimming with ancient power. This was the Li family's base in the war against the Kurai. It was home to most of the Li clan, few lived beyond an hour's drive since what had happened to Shaoran and Sakura. A couple in their prime, powerful magicians, defeated by the Kurai.
Meilin got out of her car and opened the door. Almost instantly, the door to the house opened and a young man came out. He had black hair, brown eyes, wide shoulders, and a hard face. His clothing was traditional, and almost all blue. "Hello, Yuki, I'm here to see Mrs. Li," Meilin said, turning to get the girl out of the car.
"What have you got there?" he asked, coming over. Meilin turned and closed the door with her foot. Yuki froze. His eyes narrowed into slits and he said, "Taking in runaways, are we?"
Meilin strode past towards the door. "For your information, Fanren brought her over from Japan where she just had a duel with one of the Kurai." He stiffened. "You should probably be asking her the questions." Meilin stormed into the house and headed for the main parlor. Yuki always got on her nerves. He acted like he was the king of the castle, or the king's champion at least, when he'd barely won his last battle.
Meilin knocked on the door lightly, unable to get much torque on her wrist because of the child. "Come in." Meilin entered and bowed. Mrs. Li, Shauran's mother, was by no means old, but still looked too young to be a grandmother twelve times over. Her long, black hair hadn't a hint of gray, and her eyes were as sharp as ever. Barely a wrinkle dared appear on her stern face. The war was taking its toll on everyone, and Li Yelan most of all.
The woman stood and motioned for Meilin to set the girl down. Meilin stepped back and said, "Fanren brought her in on her way to where she'd met the Kurai. I would've let her just stay at my place, but there is the matter of the Cards…"
Mrs. Li held her fan above the slumbering child and waved it a few times. The girl's eyes slowly opened, brown eyes, brown eyes which felt so familiar…
Neko woke up in a strange room with a strange woman standing beside her. She moved to sit up, and noticed her arms were clutching the book. Neko tossed it to the other end of the couch and shrunk away from it. "What is your name?" asked the woman. Neko looked up at her. She was beautiful, and looked young, but her eyes looked too wise. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Neko nodded. "I'm Neko, Li Neko." She looked around, expecting to see typical office fair or hospital or something of the sort, but instead saw a richly room out of a TV program. It spoke of quiet comfort, a home. "Where am I?" When her question failed to get a response, Neko looked up at the stranger again.
The woman and another, younger lady behind her, seemed frozen. The one who'd spoken before asked slowly, "Who are your parents, Neko?"
Neko blinked. "Um, if you're hoping to get them to pick me up, you'd best call my foster parents, the Kanzakis."
The lady said again, "Who are your parents, Neko?"
Neko frowned. "My mother and father? Shaoran and Sakura."
The young woman in back started to whimper. Neko stared at her. Then the taller woman's face came down close. There were tears dancing in her eyes. "Neko…" she said, and she held the girl in a tight embrace. The woman let out a shuddering breath and said, "We thought they had killed you. We never should've believed them, never should have let you be abandoned." Neko's mind was running at a million miles per second. What was going on? Were they her relatives? The woman loosened her grip and backed away, one hand rising to brush Neko's hair from her eyes. "Granddaughter, you are safe now."
"Granddaughter?" Neko said, her breath quiet with amazement. "You're my grandmother?"
The lady smiled slightly, she didn't look like she smiled often. "Neko, you are my only son's only child. I hope you will consider letting us take care of you."
To Neko, the last few hours had been one reality-splitting second after another. Now she was only able to nod, her voice gone. This woman was her grandmother. This could be her house. Then Neko remembered the other woman and looked over towards the door.
The other woman was gone, in the doorway stood a very imposing young man. His eyes were fixed on her like lasers. Neko met them in an act of defiance. "Shaoran's daughter, hm?" he said. "I guess I'm lucky you don't have any magic." Neko took an instant dislike to him.
Her grandmother rose to her full height. "Yuki, she has the Sakura Cards, she has great power." Then she turned her head and looked away from him. "You are just blind to it, like with Sakura." Yuki's face turned slightly red and he turned on his heel and left the room. Neko began to have second thoughts about staying.
"Uh, Grandmother?" Neko asked quietly. Yelan turned and Neko looked at the book with the cards. "Do I have to use magic?"
Mrs. Li walked over and picked up the book. "Yes, you must. As you were born with the power, you have a responsibility to protect those without it." She held the book out. Neko reluctantly took it. A hand traced the design on the cover. "It is strange that the Guardians failed to return to protect the Cards, perhaps they were destroyed."
Neko bit her lip. Destroyed when her parents died? Even so, her father had not come home from work the day before her mother left to fight, did they even see each other before the end? And why had this enemy left her alive and then claim it had not? And if these guardians and her parents had been defeated, how did the Cards survive?
"I shall call in and get this mess straightened out. But for now, I will return you to your current home." Neko followed her grandmother out of the room.