Syaoran

Chapter 12-Pegasus

I met Mizuki Kaho about eight years ago when I was seventeen. She was with the woman I fell in love with, of her name I shall not mention here. After some meetings she left and I have not heard of her until the day when Syaoran woke from his coma.

Kaho was really worried about him and had asked me to find him. She did not know where Syaoran was. And since she had not authority over him she couldn't report him missing.

The Duel Monsters tournament came in handy. Who could have imagined Seto Kaiba would be the one guarding the child! That boy could hardly take care of himself, let alone two others. I was both amused and a little unhappy. The amusement, because the child turned out to be very cute and adorable, unhappy because I had to meet my former enemy. And since Kaibaboy is the one who's managing the child, along with Bakura, I had to make a pact with one of them. And since Syaoran was staying more and more with Kaiba, well, did I have much of a choice?

He was right about that night-we couldn't stop bumping into each other. It was partly my fault; I wanted to somehow convince Kaibaboy in some way to let Syaoran visit Kaho, who by that time was already at my castle. The only problem was he doesn't want to listen to anything I say, and so I had to keep silent. The boy was friendly, though. I couldn't imagine why he would be so interested in wine, he said something about kung fu training, but didn't go through much about it. He probably drank a cup of wine that day, but he never was drunk, it was strange. Some kind of magic perhaps.

He told me about Kaiba, mainly, how somehow he was similar to this person named Touya, who he told me was Sakura's brother. Something about both sharing the same glaring techique, which I will not elaborate. Then he scolded my interest in comic books, very interesting of him.

" First you have heads too big for their bodies,"
" They're cartoons, Li-san."
" And then you have eyes too big for their heads,"
" They're cartoons, Li."
" Why is a sophisticated man like you reading comic books?"
" Why not?"
" Because it will seriously reduce your brain into a size of a mushroom."
" There are some big mushrooms in the world, Li."
" And besides, all your devious tricks come from the books. Childish pranks."
" Oh?"
" I mean, if you want to be evil, then read Othello! Shakespeare has a very evil character named Iago. You learned English, no?"
" Hai?"
" Well then," Syaoran suddenly stared at his hand, the play in his hand that had popped out of nowhere, then started to shake his arm, trying to give it to me and at the same time wondering where it came from. " Here!"
" Why, arigatou, Li-san." I smiled, very amused. He was just discovering his powers. I relaxed.
" You can call me Syaoran if you want."
" Alright, Syaoran-san." I looked at the book. On it was the words, OTHELLO, and it looked brand new.
" Heheh, Gomen." Syaoran gave me a sour look when I laughed. " Arigatou again. By the way, I find your clothing remarkably interesting."

He looked even more unhappy. " My oka-san made it." He said quietly.

And then it was my turn to feel sour.



When the child entered the room I was very glad to see him. Partly because his cheeks were a bit fuller then before. His eyes, for once, sparkled a little. Kaho went over and hugged him. Kaibaboy poured his attention on those two and I followed his example.

It was lunchtime by then. I invited them to join me. Syaoran accepted more enthusiastically than Kaibaboy. I almost feel sorry for him, being dragged around by an eleven year old. But he got himself into that, anyway.

Kaho asked about what happened to the others, and Syaoran told about it in the emotionless way he had always told stories. The twelve immortals had warned them not to approach and hand Syaoran over. Sakura had stepped forward and blocked Syaoran's path. Syaoran had told her to get out of his way and Yue prevented him from running towards the immortals. Eriol stood next to Sakura, also protecting Syaoran. The immortals, knowing this was their answer, first struck at Sakura. She had no time to defend herself and collapsed. Syaoran had screamed, rushing to her, catching her, and she stared into his eyes all the way until she finally died.

Syaoran was seized by Yue and found himself in the air, with Yue holding him, as something struck the ground where they once were. The battle lasted for some time, Syaoran didn't bother to mention the details. There was one attack that missed Eriol's head but hit Tomoyo, and her camera exploded like a bomb. Eriol rushed to her, but was hit with another arrow, and fell down. Syaoran saw Kero fall as well as Nakuru, and Spinel killed one of the immortals with an attack. Yue shot two arrows, killing another two, before he was destroyed himself. Spinel attacked another one, but then he fell as well. Syaoran fell from the sky and broke his leg, splitting his head open, and then everything blacked out.

So quite frankly of the twelve immortals, only eight of them are left. Sakura was the first one to die. Spinel was the last. And through all those bloody images, even Kaibaboy was gagging, but neither Kaho and Syaoran seemed to be affected.

" You poor thing." Kaho said sympathetically. " I'm glad you survived Syaoran. At first I thought you were going to die too. Do you have any idea what saved you though?"
" Hm?"
" I mean, the immortals could have taken you when you blacked out."
" True. I really don't know. There was a figure with a staff that appeared out of nowhere, that I remember. But nothing else." Syaoran sighed.
" Have you new friends been treating you well?" Kaho asked, looking at Kaiba.
" They've been very kind." Syaoran said slowly, after some hesitation. " Very kind."
" Good. I'm glad." Kaho smiled at Kaiba, who looked at Syaoran. Syaoran stopped eating.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Kaiba shifted.
" Do you know who the immortals are and why they're after him?" He asked Kaho softly.
" Why, hai, I think." Kaho sighed. " The immortals are twelve spirits of each year. The rat, the ox, the tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, that sort. I'm not sure which ones are left right now."
" Why are they after him though?" Kaiba asked.
" I'm guessing because Syaoran has a lot more powers than he seemed to have." Kaho looked at me. " As Othello had demonstrated."

I chuckled. Kaho smiled. Syaoran blushed as Kaiba looked at him strangely.
" Yami had recently found a memory regarding to Syaoran's preincarnation." Kaiba continued. " Do you think that is important?"
" Nani? His preincarnation? How interesting." Kaho turned around to face Kaiba. I was interested too, so I listened closely.
" His name was Tarkot. Yami believes that Syaoran was living a parallel life with him."
" Really?" I searched Syaoran's memory and realized that he did not know any of this.

And so Kaibaboy described what Yami had told and the comparisons. Kaho looked troubled after he finished.

" If this game is what caused Tarkot's death it might cause Syaoran's." She turned to me. " However, I think there's something else. If they are indeed living in a parallel life, then the twelve immortals must have a parallel existence in Egypt as well."



Syaoran did not seem afraid at all. He simply shrugged, as if it was nothing.
" I'm hoping they got rid of the Dragon." Kaho continued softly. " The Dragon is the most dangerous one."
" Of course he is. Or she," Syaoran poked at his food. " But if it turned out the four weakest ones, well, at least we got rid of them."

I saw that Kaho looked at Syaoran strangely when he said that, as if he was not behaving like himself.
" They will not be easy to defeat." Kaho continued. " Did Touya give you Sakura's book?"

Syaoran didn't answer. Kaho looked at Kaiba, who nodded.
" Did he ever use it?" This time, the question was directed at the older boy.
" Iie. He never touched it except once, when Ryou gave it to him."
" Syaoran," Kaho turned back to the little one, " You need the cards if you want to destroy them. They're the dark twelve, they're not the right ones. They're the ones who failed. Syaoran, are you listening to me?"

Syaoran wouldn't answer. He didn't eat either. Only went on poking his food.

Kaho sighed. She leaned forward. " Syaoran, you cannot always dwell in the past. You must move on."
" How?" Syaoran asked her, without emotion, as if he was just plainly curious. " How can I do that? If the past always follows me around!" He said it with such sarcasm I did not think he meant it. " Everywhere I go! First I need the lasin board, which Touya has, and also Ryou and Yugi went over especially for me to get his help when I don't need it. And then he insisted I have the book, as if telling me to always remember what happened in the end, relive nightmares every night. Joy! And isn't it enough to know that it's there? Now you come and tell me that I need to use what isn't mine?"

He had stood up, and then there was a tense moment between Kaho and Syaoran. Kaiba and I watched them awkwardly.

Kaho broke away first. " I did not come here to argue with you Syaoran." She said quietly. " I guess some things never change."
" Some things don't." Syaoran agreed. He sat down slowly. " Not with nightmares, visions, and the past following you around." He went back to poking his food.
" Gomen, Mizuki-san." He said after a pause. " I did not mean to snap. I just didn't want to touch it. It felt so wrong. It was Sakura-chan's, and had always been hers. She had earned it. And nightmares." He held his head, leaving his food the way it was.

Kaho looked at Kaiba. Kaiba shook his head, saying he knew nothing of it. The woman rose from her seat, walking over to Syaoran and circled her arms around his shoulders.
" What nightmares?" She asked gently.
" Everything." Syaoran sniffed. " The past, the present, they won't leave me alone. They came here," He began to sob. " They just seized me, yelling, ' it's all your fault!' And it is!" He choked. Kaho began to rub his back soothingly, but it didn't help much. " It was all my fault! If only I had agreed to go with them, then maybe maybe they would still be alive today, but I just hung back behind them like a coward and didn't even help-"
" You were held back Syaoran." Kaho interrupted. Syaoran gasped, startled, staring at her. Kaho closed her eyes, tears also forming. " It wasn't your fault at all. Eriol and Sakura blocked you. Nakuru and Yue held you back. You wouldn't have done anything even if you went forward. You weren't as strong as you are now."
" Then how come they wouldn't leave me alone?" Syaoran wiped furiously at his eyes. I searched his memory briefly and found out that ' they' meant those who had died. He quickly blocked it, to my astonishment, but I decided it was either his magic or perhaps because I was probing too gently.
" It wasn't the souls themselves." I told Kaho softly. " Some kind of spell was cast."
" I thought so." Kaho nodded, trusting my dark magic. " Don't worry Syaoran, no one is angry at you. You don't have to be afraid."

Kaiba shifted uneasily. I decided to leave those two alone, considering that Syaoran and I barely ' know' each other. I decided to play with Kaibaboy, toy a little with his mind. It was actually a trick I copied from Iago, but since Iago is more of a romance person I didn't try that. ( Truth to be told, Syaoran was right. Othello was much more mischeivous then all the comic books I've read.)
" Well, Kaibaboy, I trust you've been taking care of yourself very well." The truth was, he looked much thinner than I remembered.
" What do you want now, Pegasus?" He hissed.

I took a sip of wine. " Why, nothing much, really. I find your new companion very interesting." What fun to watch Seto struggle in reining Syaoran when he didn't have to! " Perhaps someday I'll take him to my own household."

Kaho struck a glare at me, but even she didn't dare to say anything. Syaoran was oblivious to it all, still sobbing into her, telling her whatever he was telling, which I shall tell later. Kaiba tensed.
" I think he has been living fine with us." He growled.
" Really?" I blinked, as if confused. I really should go into acting! " In a city such as yours? I find that hard to believe. You know, I suppose little Yugi and little Bakura has told you about how Tomoeda really is like. He made quite a few friends there."
" He made some here as well."
" Really? Doubtless he did, but is he really happy here?" I smiled. " But no matter. I'm sure you'll be able to protect him from all those immortals. You're so strong willed, Kaibaboy."

I could tell my little prank was working. It would be quite entertaining. Syaoran had quieted down and Kaho was glaring at me. I smirked. She sighed.

" Perhaps," Kaiba answered, very calm now, and collected, " You also need to stop dwelling in the past."

And he said it as if he knew everything.