Syaoran

Chapter 1-Seto

The years have taught me much. Never trust others. And yet this in some cases is not so. Before I met Yugi I knew what to expect. You can always expect treachery. There is no such thing as loyalty. That is, except from my brother. Mokuba is everything to me. If asked to choose between Mokuba and the Blue Eyes White Dragon, I'd give all my cards for him. I'd give Kaiba Corps for him.

I had heard about Ryou. He was in the hospital, in a deep coma. He stayed there for three months. The Millenium Ring was silent. We didn't touch it. I really don't know why, so don't ask me. We didn't touch it, and tried our best to go on with our normal lives.

As normal as it could ever be.

Then Bakura suddenly awoke. Three months without change and an abrupt one. It sounds absurd, I'm sure, but not as absurd as what he told us as I drove them home.

" There was this kid." Ryou had said. " This kid. This amber eyed kid. He frowns a lot, glares a lot, acts mean to me and all, doesn't beat me but insults me a lot, but then just before I woke he started crying. He's ten years old, with brown hair and amber eyes, as I told you guys before, and he started crying. He complained about being stuck with me in the strange place of whatever he called it, and then he started crying because...I don't know why. Did something, chanted some kind of spell? And I was back."

If that's not absurd I don't know what is.



A few days later I was busy trying to improve business conditions. The US stock market wasn't helping me much nor the rest of the corporations. If the United States sinks to depression Japan is going to die. I already lost a lot of money. I didn't want to lose more, so by this time I was investing in China rather than in Wall Street. China was the better investment site of all of Asia. We weren't so confident in New York anymore. How could we? With their economy already declining, and their retreat boomed by our famous little terrorists, well, it's hard not to doubt them.

Ryou had recovered a little. We didn't need to ask to know who did that to him. Our favorite little five thousand year old completely insane Egyptian tomb robber. How could he do this to Bakura? But if there are people like that mad and sick minded Pegasus, who had the guts to kidnap my Mokuba, well, there's bound to be some other crazy people as well. As for the strange amber eyed child, we all forgot about him. All of us, that is, except for Ryou, who couldn't stop thinking about him.

Little Yugi kept watch on Ryou. The tomb robber didn't do anything for a few days.

Things got haywire. The stocks went up and down, but that was not something I was worrying about.

I remember one time when I just wanted to relax. It's the type of feeling that won't leave you alone. When I work I want to rest, when I rest I want to work. If stress gets any worse than this then I'll commit suicide.

Alright. I take it back. I actually enjoy stress. Stress could be quite interesting and quite calming when one is bored or sad or angry, if it weren't for the headaches. But aspirin takes care of that. Of course, the day I am talking about is not one of those days when I actually enjoyed it.

So what I did was I just left my office and went to the living room. It was before Ryou was sent to the hospital. Even before Ryou was found in his room in a puddle of his own blood. I shudder when I imagine. That is a gruesome sight to think of. But not as scary as what I saw on the news.

" Yesterday in Hong Kong a famous clan of Lis has been killed, every single one of them, their riches stolen and their books taken for some reason. The land was burned into ashes and every house was destroyed..."

Now, I know something about the Li clan. First of all, they're very rich, partly because there are so many of them ( maybe hundreds,) and they each have a piece of land to themselves so you can call it a Li country in there. They live outside Hong Kong-or rather, close to Hong Kong's border, since Hong Kong is more of a business area rather than some rural area. There has been some weird stories about them, a clan of witches and wizards, for example, or something like that. I thought it was jibberish, of course, until I met one of them.

It started with that news, which spread to other news. Three children and a couple of...angels and fairies, a lion with bird wings and a panther with butterfly wings? Found dead in the park. They took pictures of them before the lion, butterfly panther, fairy and angel shriveled up and became nothing. There were three children, some boy named Hiriingaziwa, an English child, a daughter of a rich Daidouji, and a Kinomoto with a staff, found dead, their bodies are being searched for whatever evidence they could provide.

Totally freaky, as Mokuba had described, and I had to agree. A whole clan murdered? And then some kids in Tomoeda? That was so absurd, so I didn't believe it. Who would? After all, someone could create those pictures on their computer and print it out. Someone could just take a pen and write it all down, send it to the newspaper and then the whole world could see. You can't always trust the news. So many ridiculous publishings about UFO's and aliens, well, it's hard to believe. But then again, with Yami Yugi, the Millenium Puzzle, the psychic millenium eye and our favorite Yami Bakura, it makes it possible to believe anything. A lunatic like Pegasus makes it even more possible. And after finally getting Mokuba back, well, things just didn't go as normal would go.



The day we met the child was a bright one, the sky was sunny and clear. The night before it had rained so the air was fresh and cool.
" It's strange." Ryou said that afternoon, one of the rare ones when I have absolutely nothing to do. " Do you want to meet the boy that I told you about?"
" What boy?" I asked. Mokuba pirked up. I had told Mokuba about the amber eyed kid that Ryou had seen.
" The child that had helped me." Ryou answered.
" You mean the kid with the amber eyes?" Jou asked. " He's actually real?"
" Hai..." Ryou studied everyone. " I found him last night. He was just wandering around. It was raining and he had no umbrella."

I imagine he must have sneezed quite a bit.

" He was shivering and cold, his eyes were dull and lost their glow." Ryou brushed his white hair out of his eyes. " I offered to take him home with me. I hope he wakes up. He hasn't even woken yet this entire morning."

As if on cue, the door creaked open and we guessed it must have been the child. Yugi and Honda looked up along with the rest of us.

" Ohayo Syaoran!" Ryou smiled. " Do you know what time it is?"

He was rather young, ten or eleven years old. Dark brown hair and golden amber eyes that seem to reflect the dimmest light. He was pale. Pale and weary, with dark circles under his eyes, and so thin I swear I could see his ribs through the cloth. There was a healing wound at the side of his head and his lip quivered a little. But he was a handsome child, wearing a green chinese robe of some sort with baggy sleeves and a nice green hat. I think he would have looked adorable if it were not for unhealthiness.

At the sight of Ryou he smiled, but then he saw the rest of us. The smile slowly faded, replaced with a look of nervousness, shyness, and fear. Ryou smiled, went up the stairs and took the boy's hand.

" Come on, it's alright. These are my friends."

He lead a very uncertain child down the stairs. We all stood up.
" Everyone, this is Li Syaoran. Syaoran, this is Seto Kaiba, that's his brother Mokuba, Yugi, Honda, Mai, Jounouchi or Jou, and Anzu."
" Hey." We all said, quite lamely, actually.
" Wait a minute." I blinked. " Li Syaoran?"

" Seto!" Ryou hissed. The child looked like he was about to cry, backing away towards Ryou.

That was so retarded. Not the child, I mean myself. How could I have said it out loud in front of, of-him? I had never felt more stupid in my life. But the boy...the boy looked so hurt.

" He's the last one then." Yugi said quietly.

Suddenly, Mokuba seemed to catch the boy's attention. The two of them are almost the same age-Mokuba being eight, Syaoran being ten or eleven.

" Do you want to go outside?" Mokuba offered. I was secretly grateful that Mokuba had offered this intermission.

Syaoran tilted his head. He was probably even less sociable than I am. Reluctantly the older boy agreed. My brother took his hand excitedly and dragged him out.

" He's so kawaii!" Anzu smiled, then had a sad look. " Too bad his whole clan was murdered..."
" How did he manage to survive?" Yugi asked.
" He was here the whole time." Ryou answered. " He was hurt also. I don't know, he came all the way from Tomoeda. I wonder how he managed to come here."
" All alone?" I asked in disbelief. Now that's absurd.
" All alone." Ryou answered. " I talked with him last night. He was very interested in..."
" In what?" Yugi asked.
" My ring." Ryou swallowed. " He never even saw it. I wonder how he knew it was there." He bit his lip thoughtfully. Suddenly he held his head in his hands and moaned a little.
" Ryou, you should sit down." Honda helped Ryou to the couch and Ryou slowly sat down. " You're still recovering. Maybe we should get you something to eat, or you can go upstairs and sleep a little. We'll take care of Syaoran."
" You sure about that?" Ryou asked, still holding his head with one hand. " Urgh, he's awfully quiet now. He doesn't like strangers."
" Hey, he's your friend, so he's our friend. It's not like we're gonna hurt him." Jou shrugged.
" Be careful though." Ryou warned. " He knows martial arts."

We were seriously confused by that remark.


Syaoran and Mokuba were studying a sword that had popped out of nowhere. It certainly wasn't Ryou's, and certainly wasn't Mokuba's. But I did not see the sword when I had met Syaoran, so I didn't know where it came from.
" How sharp is it?"
" Needs sharpening. It's not the best sword, so it's not too sharp." Syaoran talked very little.
" How old is it?"
" Not old."
" Where did you get it?"
" Someone gave it to me."
" Oh. What do these words on the hilt mean? Something something...wait, these are...Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Metal. Aren't those the Chinese elements?"
" Hai."

It was quite a boring conversation.

" Where did you get that sword from?" I asked, walking up to the two.
" Magic." Syaoran muttered.
" Hm?" I was confused. " Magic...?"

But the child wouldn't say anything.

" Hm?" Syaoran blinked at Yugi. " Another one?"
" Another..." Yugi looked at his puzzle. " Ano...hai. You...saw Ryou's..."

Syaoran reached out and touched the puzzle. It flashed, causing the child to stumble. I caught him.
" Easy there," This time it was Yami talking. Syaoran jumped back. I held him still.
" I guess this is a lot for him to take." I muttered.

Syaoran studied Yami and then the guy just went blank.

" Yoohoo, hey Yug," Jou waved his hands in front of Yami, who blinked and shook his hand. " What's up with ya?"
" His eyes are very strong." The pharoah said quietly. He reached out his hand. " Are you alright Syaoran?"

Syaoran flinched towards me and lowered his eyes. Yami lowered his hand and sighed.
" What's going on?" Jou asked.

Yami didn't take his eyes off the child. " A lot has happened." He answered. T was strange, because at that moment he really did look like the pharoah he was. " A lot has happened to the young one, and a lot will"...