The Testing of Li Peony

A CCS Fanfic

by SyaoranSword

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Card Captor Sakura.  CLAMP and other companies I may not know of own it all.  This is a fanfic and not part of the "official" storyline.  The story is only meant for the enjoyment of the author and any would-be readers.

Notes: Three months to update… I suck at this, don't I?  Updating seems to be my biggest weakness in writing fics, and I know people have been waiting for this.  Please forgive me!  Maybe that's why my one-shots seem to do better than my series.  Moving on, highlights in this chapter include Jin getting a brief history lesson, Peony taking on Tomoyo (!), and Eriol being evil again.  Served with E+T, enjoy!

~~~ (place) ~~~  =  scene change

" "  =  dialogue

[ ]  =  thoughts

( )  =  commentary

Chapter 7: The Amamiya Legacy and The Passion of Fashion

Night had fallen over the Li residence.  With a wave of his staff, Eriol repaired all of the damage in the coliseum caused by the battle that ended a few hours ago.  "There you are, Tomoyo-chan.  Everything is back in perfect condition."

"Arigato, Eriol.  Now my people can get their jobs done."

"Since you don't need me right now, I'll be meditating with my cuter little descendant's family."  He left after a short kiss from his wife.

A crew of personnel soon arrived after one call from Tomoyo's cell phone.  They started to busily labor underneath the stadium lights.  The manager of the operation handed her a clipboard.  "Everything has arrived, just as you requested, Hiiragizawa-san."

She flipped through the pages and asked, "When will the photographers be here?"

"Nine o'clock sharp."

Satisfied, she handed back the clipboard.  "Finish setting up, and you can tell everyone to go out and enjoy Hong Kong."

The manager nodded and went back to supervising.  "Come on, people!  We need to get this done tonight!  Let's do what we need to do."

They continued working under the observation of the manager, Tomoyo, and a boy who sat unnoticed at the top of the stands.  Hidden in the shadows and looking down on the activity, Jin sat with his thoughts.  Peony, her parents, and everyone else were meditating.  Touya had to be coaxed by Yukito, but Fujitaka was very comfortable with being on his knees for a long period of time.  When Jin saw his mother and father depart after dinner, he wanted to covertly follow them.  The boy was confused after overhearing their conversation following Peony's third victory.  His mother possessed no magic and no fighting skills that he knew of, so what was she up to?  Bruce had noticed him quietly leaving and asked why he wasn't going to meditate with them, and Jin answered that he needed to be by himself.  The ruby-eyed boy thought he understood and didn't question him further before joining the others.

The young sorcerer now sat alone, saying his thoughts aloud to himself.  "I can't believe what my Okaa-san is doing.  How is Peony-chan going to react?"  He felt the familiar heat rising to his cheeks.  "It's been crazy for both of us these past few days.  You have to go through testing, while I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with me."  Jin looked down to his feet.  "Why do I keep thinking about you?  Why do I feel this way about you?  Why do I… love you?"  There.  He had said it.  True, it was only to himself, but Jin now knew how deep his feelings were towards Peony, the girl he had known his entire life.  The question now in the young sorcerer's mind was, "Why?"

"Would you like to know?"

Jin jumped up in shock after hearing the familiar voice.  He whirled around and saw the one who had listened to his entire introspection.  "Otou-san!"  Eriol sat two rows behind his son, looking directly at his wife with a small smile on his lips, and a gentle gaze behind his glasses.  The boy felt ashamed that his father now knew his deepest thoughts.  "Otou-san, you heard everything, didn't you?"

Eriol turned his head slightly so that he now looked at his son, a strikingly similar image to what he himself looked like at that age.  "Hai, I did.  Gomen nasai for intruding on your privacy, but I have noticed your behavior around Peony-chan change rather quickly."  The father stepped down two levels so that he now sat next to Jin.  "You are confused, ne?"

"I am confused," admitted Jin.  "I know I have cared for her as a friend up until now, but these new feelings are overwhelming.  Did you say you know why I'm experiencing this?"

Eriol's smile broadened.  "I certainly did.  There are two reasons.  The first is because you may be getting a big jump on adolescence."  This left a perplexed look on his son's face.  "Or not.  We'll talk about that later, maybe in a year or two.  The second is the more important reason.  It's the Amamiya legacy."

The dark-haired and pale-skinned boy was even more confused.  "The Amamiya legacy?  What's that?"

Eriol brought out his key.  "It won't help if I explain only with words, so I am going to have to give you an overview of your family history."  He recited his incantation, and the sun staff appeared.  A magical flow surrounded the father and the son, and they were transported out of the coliseum.  They arrived at the rear of the Li mansion, where the mistress of the Cards stood waiting for them and with her star staff out.  "I'm glad you and Jin-kun are here."  Sakura held the Return card between the index and middle finger of her left hand.  "I'll hold the time portal open as long as I can."

"We'll come back as soon as possible, Sakura-san.  I know, as long as it is active, that card will severely drain you."

She nodded before she threw the card upward and raised her staff.  "Return, open a portal in time!"  A dark blue void began to open in the presence of the three there.  The card finished forming the entrance to the past, and Sakura smiled as she lowered her staff.  "I hope you will better understand your feelings, Jin-kun."

The boy was rather shocked that the mother of the girl he loved knew about his feelings as well.  "I hope so, too, Li-san."

Eriol reached down and firmly grasped his son's hand in his own.  "Ready to go?"

Jin looked up at his father.  "Hai."  Sakura watched as Eriol and Jin stepped through the portal together and vanished from her sight.

~~~~~~

Traveling through time was a lot different from what Jin expected.  Everything around him looked exactly the same, emptiness.  He wondered how he could walk when there was nothing beneath his feet, and he wondered how his dad would ever find where they were supposed to go.  The boy looked up to his father, who suddenly stopped and tapped his staff against the ground.  Jin's eyes widened as the scene of a park in spring faded into view all around him, but he didn't have time to take a good look around as Eriol quickly pulled his son towards a large tree.

"Quick, climb up," Eriol directed his son.  The tree had a thick canopy of leaves that concealed them from view, and the dark clothes that they were wearing helped to hide them even better.  They sat on separate branches, yet they were close enough to hear each other's whispers.  "The Amamiya family history is a complicated one, but the event that set all of the future events in motion will happen before our eyes."  Eriol used his hand to push a bit of foliage out of the way, leaving a hole where they could see out.  Two teenaged girls in high school uniforms were walking down the path.

"Otou-san, who are those girls?"

"The one with the really long hair is Amamiya Nadeshiko, and the other is Amamiya Sonomi.  They're cousins."

[Where have I heard those names before?]

The girls were talking and laughing to themselves when Nadeshiko saw a nest of baby birds in the tree next to the one Eriol and Jin were hiding in.  "How kawaii!!"  She immediately went over to the tree and climbed up.

"Nadeshiko!  Get down from there!  It's dangerous!"  Despite Sonomi's warning, Nadeshiko smiled as she petted the chirping birds.

"Don't worry, Sonomi-chan."  Seconds after she had said that, Nadeshiko lost her footing and started to fall.

"NADESHIKO!!"

Jin watched in horror as the young lady fell, but his eyes widened even further when she landed on an older man who held a briefcase.  "Are you alright?" the man asked, despite the injuries he had sustained.

"Yes," she shyly responded.

The man gently smiled as he said, "I thought an angel fell from the sky."

The boy saw her blush, and he also saw Sonomi, who had a scary glare fixed directly on the man who saved Nadeshiko.  "That man… who is he?"

"You don't recognize him?  He is Kinomoto Fujitaka, Peony-chan's grandfather."

"EH?!"  [No wonder he looked familiar.]  "Does that mean… Nadeshiko-san is Peony-san's grandmother?"  Jin saw his father smile and nod.  The boy looked back at the scene.  "What about Sonomi-san?  How is she important?"

"She's your grandmother."

"EHHH??!!"  [That's right.  My grandmother's name is Sonomi, but I hardly see her at all.]

"Although they were cousins, Sonomi loved Nadeshiko more than just as a family member.  The day her cousin literally fell for Fujitaka was the worst day of her life."  Eriol swung his staff through the air, causing another portal to open.  He grabbed his son's hand, and stepped through.

"So Fujitaka-san and Nadeshiko-san are Peony-san's grandparents."

"That's correct.  Sonomi later married and became the mother of your Okaa-san."  Eriol tapped his staff to the ground again.  This time, a classroom appeared around them.  "Concealment," the sorcerer uttered, causing him and Jin to become invisible and not be heard by anyone except each other.  Moments later, the students started to arrive for class.  A girl with long, dark hair and pale skin sat down at her desk.  She opened her school pack and gasped.  "Oh, no!  I don't have an eraser!"

Jin went short of breath as he saw a cheerful and energetic girl with auburn hair and bright-green eyes sit down next to her.  "Ohayo!  My name is Sakura!  What's wrong?  You don't have an eraser?"  She dug in her backpack until she brought out a little bunny head eraser.  "Here," she said, offering to the dark-haired girl, "You can have mine."

"Arigato.  My name is Tomoyo."

"I'm sure we will become great friends, Tomoyo-chan."

The sensei arrived.  Sakura faced the front, but Tomoyo smiled as she continued to look at the eraser in her hand.  She whispered to herself, "Yes, great friends… with Sakura-chan."

Jin was now starting to realize just how complicated the relationships in his family tree really were.  "Otou-san, you can't be serious!"

Eriol raised an eyebrow at his son's outburst.  "Having an epiphany, Jin-kun?"

"My grandmother loved her cousin, Peony-san's grandmother, but she fell in love with Peony-san's grandfather.  My mother loved her second cousin, Peony-san's mother, but she then married you.  So you're saying since I'm Peony-san's third cousin, I can't help falling secretly in love with her, but I'll watch her love someone else?!"

"You got the first part right, but the second part is not certain.  Matters of the heart are very unpredictable.  The only advice I can give you, my son, is to follow what your heart tells you."

Jin nodded at what Eriol told him.  They were suddenly at the Li estate, where Sakura then called back the Return.  "So did you show him everything you needed to, Eriol-kun?"

"Hai, I think he understands.  It's late; we should all get some sleep."

~~~~~~

"Time to wake up, Peony-chan!" Sakura cheerfully said to her daughter.  The girl mumbled something about not wanting to wake up and rolled to her side.  "Your fourth test begins in one hour.  You have to get up now."

Peony slowly sat up in bed.  "Ohayo, Okaa-san," she sleepily said while rubbing her eyes.  "Who am I up against?"

"Your aunt Tomoyo."

"Oh… HOEEE?!?"

~~~~~~

As soon as Peony entered the arena, she knew she was in trouble.  A runway had been constructed, and it faced directly towards her parents' skybox.  "Ano… what's that doing here?"

Tomoyo replied, "That is for you to walk down and model my clothes!"

"You want me to do WHAT?!"

"You heard me, Peony-chan," Tomoyo said, "You are going to be a model for ten hours.  You're going to model the girl's summer line for the photographers."  Tomoyo then turned to the stands.  "Jin-kun!  Bruce-kun!  Will you help model the boy's clothes?"  Finally, she looked up to the skybox.  "And Sakura-chan, Li-kun, you'll model the adult clothes, ne?"

"HOE!  Demo Tomoyo-chan, I'm retired!"

"One more time, onegai?" 

Tomoyo's pleading hit Sakura's sympathy button, and she had to drag her husband down to the field.  The photo shoot went off without any problems.  After the photographers left, all of the participants were tired out.  "You were all great.  Arigato for helping out!"

"So that's it?" Peony tiredly asked.  "I passed?"

"Hai!  Congratulations."

~~~~~~

"That was very nicely done, my dear," Eriol complimented his wife and kissed her deeply.

"I thought so, too.  It was kind of funny how you refused to battle Peony-chan if I wasn't a part of it."  Tomoyo giggled as she played with the buttons of her husband's shirt.

He lovingly stroked his wife's dark hair.  "And you did your part well, giving Sakura-san's daughter a test of endurance.  Now it's my turn."

"This is going to be different than the time you tested Sakura-chan.  This time, your opponent knows exactly who you are."

Light glinted over Eriol's glasses and over a pair of sapphire eyes that radiated evil, in a good way.  "Does she really?  I think not.  But even if she does, this will be fun.  It's been a long time since I've had a good wizard's duel, and I know Peony will not disappoint me."

Tomoyo gently made Eriol face her.  "That's not until tomorrow, Eriol-chan.  How about if I don't disappoint you?" she purred.

To be continued…

Four down, three to go!  Hmmm… who could the last three be?  It should be pretty obvious.  Come on, it can't be that hard!  Next up, Peony faces the first of what I like to call the Big Three, Eriol Hiiragizawa (also known as Satan by her father!)  The first tests were just a warm-up.  Now, she will have her powers stretched to the limit.  Read and review please!