Chapter 3
Sakura glanced at Syaoran briefly before turning away. She felt pity for him.
He looks so sad. She thought to herself.
Syaoran frowned to himself. He didn't like being pitied. Pity is a useless
feeling. He saw how all the other children in the years before were respected, but he
was brighter than all of them. They all pitied him. Sure, pity is a sign of heart. But it
is not a sign of honor.
" Konnichiwa. My name's Kinomoto Sakura, and this is Hiriingaziwa Eriol."
Syaoran suddenly snapped his head up at Eriol's name. He tilted his head at Eriol, looked at Sakura, then at Yukito. Something stumped him. He remained silent, still, with a puzzled look on his face. Then his eyes fell upon their keys.
Sakura cried out and grabbed hers. Eriol just looked at Syaoran solemnly. Syaoran didn't like the challenge, instinctively sensing danger and stared right back, trying to detect any type of threat in those eyes. Eriol looked away.
Yukito turned his head to Touya. This is not working. He mouthed.
And it wasn't. Syaoran never had friends because people found him strange. Now that he really was, he found the two of them strange. Why are they looking at him that way? He didn't know. In any case he didn't like it.
Sakura withdrew.
He's so freaky. She thought to herself. He just stands there staring at us as if
we're...some kind of observation thing. He doesn't say a word.
Eriol sighed and decided to be blunt. " So we heard that you're Yukito's patient now, eh?"
Syaoran didn't like Eriol but didn't really say anything. He tilted his head.
" Did Yukito torture you?" Eriol smiled. Yukito and Touya smiled as well, relieved
that the mood was beginning to lighten up.
Syaoran suddenly looked like a very sane person. He glanced at Yukito briefly, then looked at Eriol. Golden eyes blinking, he cocked an eyebrow, but still said nothing for a minute.
" Yukito, what do you want us to do?" Eriol was getting annoyed. " If the kid won't talk, how are we going to get him to where he belongs?"
Wrong thing to say. Syaoran paled, his eyes wide. He looked at Yukito fearfully.
" Iie," Yukito soothed the boy. " We won't let your father touch you again, don't worry. It's alright." And only then did Syaoran relax slightly. He eyed Eriol dangerously, his glare threatening to melt the wise sorceror.
Good heavens. Yue thought to himself. If this goes on, we'll be going
nowhere. One would think that Syaoran would say something to people his own
age. The child behaves like a mute.
" There we go." Eriol sighed as he went out of the hospital. " That was the most
nervewrecking thing I've ever encountered. How odd. He does behave strangely.
But he doesn't behave like someone who has been beaten for seven years."
" I know." Yukito answered.
" It's thanks to Yuki. You should have seen him two weeks ago. Been raising hellery
all over the place. Stealing, breaking, screaming and kicking."
" Jinyu?"
" Jinyu. You should have seen him two weeks ago." Touya shrugged. " He's much
better now. Now at least he talks a little."
" He talks?" Sakura asked.
" So what do you plan to do?" Yukito asked as they got into Touya's car.
" I plan to try to locate the thirteen idols." Eriol answered. " Or perhaps the deities, I
don't know. I really doubt that he's a living idol, but the problem is, that
demonstration really leaves no room for such thoughts."
" I know." Sakura shivered, remembering how Syaoran revived the rat that had
been slammed to pieces. " That was disgusting! How did he manage to do that
without gagging?"
" He's abused and insane, remember?" Touya pointed out. " Basically ate rats for
the last seven years."
Sakura gagged.
" You had to tell her that." Yukito scolded.
" You mean he's actually telling the truth?" Kero asked.
" Elgh!" Sakura repeated.
" It's no wonder actually." Yukito answered pleasantly. " Syaoran's been abused. His
father doesn't let him eat anything so he adopted this habit of stealing. So usually in
garbage cans they don't have anything, and the good places are too heavily
guarded, so Syaoran really has no choice but to eat cockroaches and rats-one reason
why he's so sickly."
" Alright, we heard enough." Eriol interrupted. The older boys fell quiet.
" Cards didn't work. He didn't like the cards."
' Didn't like the keys either."
" The only thing he likes is Yue."
" Yue's not a thing."
" Yes he is! People are things! But no matter." Sakura twirled her hair around her
finger. " He doesn't like being touched, doesn't like being stared at, spoken to, in
fact, he doesn't like anything except to be alone, or when Yukito's there. That's just
wrong!"
" What can you expect?" Eriol shrugged. " We did our best. We can't work our
magic on him from there, so we'll do it here. The living idols are going to kill me if
they found out I know their son's here and didn't tell them. Might as well start with
calling them over; hopefully Syaoran would be able to recognize them."
" Jinyu, you mean."
" Doesn't matter."
" Do you really think he'll recognize them?"
" Doubt it."
" Why?"
" He was under the influence of a Death Idol for all of his lifetime. Or at least, all of
his conscious lifetime. He's been tainted. First of all, I don't know if the Living Idols
are going to accept him; their ways are strange. Second, I don't know if Syaoran's
goign to accept them; He's strange, and third, I don't know how to contact them
without frightening Syaoran. He can sense magic at work from several miles away,
but all of it was linked to abuse. What can we do?"
" Maybe send some kind of secret message. Have the Living Idols come to us
without actually directly talking to them." Kero suggested. " You did that before."
" True. How odd," Eriol thought for a minute. " Kerberus was never the one to
give ideas. But no matter. We're going to have to ask the Living Idols if they heard
anything about Syaoran and who the heck he is."
" Right, that's the first step." Spinel, the black cat, agreed.
Eriol sighed. " How did I get myself into this?"
" How's he doing?" Yukito asked.
" Would you like to know!" Exclaimed the student. " Been screaming and crying in
his dream. Good lord, I don't know how you manage to quiet him down. We
basically had to gag him up literally to shut him up. ' Course, that set him crazy. Been crying all night; it was heartbreaking, but what can we do? We students need
sleep! And then the poor kid just fainted."
Yukito bit his lip. " Not a good approach at all." He said to the student. "
Why did you gag him? You could have injected him with something."
" Injected! Yukito-san, obviously you've never done it to him. He went crazy! It was
worse than the gagging act! Obviously his father did something at night to paralyze
him before he goes about with his ' napping' act. Syaoran was terrified of needles
because of that. He's been raped every single night that way."
Yukito didn't say anything and opened the door. By this time Syaoran was free, basically huddled in the corner like he always did. But this time he was humming something, rocking himself, like one who's delirious.
" What is he humming?" The student whispered to Yukito.
" Some sort of lullaby." Yukito whispered back. They listened closer.
" Xiao bei qiao,
Ta zai hai li piao ya piao..."
" Good heavens." The student whispered. " Is that Canto?"
" Sounds Mandarin."
" You can tell?"
" Just guessing. I heard some mandarin moms sing that song to their babies.
Something about a seashell."
The student cocked an eyebrow.
" Well? Are you going to call him awake?"
Yukito paused. To his surprise he shook his head.
" Let's wait a minute. I want to know why he's singing." And record some notes for
once.
" To record something about him?" The student guessed. " Yukito, you are the
special kid in that class, you baka. The only reason you were given Syaoran is to
cure him. You don't need observations for wolfboy!"
" Still, just in case." Yukito sighed. " I can't stand this. He has to snap out of it."
" There ya go." The student encouraged. " I'll leave you two alone. He doesn't like
anyone but you."
That could be a bad thing. Yukito thought to himself.
" I can't believe you did that!" Tomoyo cried, her blue black hair falling along her
shoulders in a frenzy. " How can you do that?"
" Listen Tomoyo-chan, I didn't know, alright?" Sakura sighed. " It just happened.
Now Jinyu is going to freak out. Yukito's going to be so mad at me."
" What spell did you cast?"
" The Dream Card."
Syaoran snapped his head up suddenly. Yukito blinked, and Syaoran cringed
against the wall, tears forming and rolling down his cheeks. He squeezed his eyes
shut and waited for the blow-
A gentle hand touched his cheek, holding his shoulders, wiping away the tears. Syaoran was confused. Harsh beatings usually accompanied with magic.
" Syaoran, what's wrong?" There was a hint of anger. Syaoran didn't say anything. He curled up more tightly.
" Urgh!" Yukito stood up. Syaoran whimpered. I'm sorry!
There was a soft sigh. Someone bent down again.
" Syaoran, it's me Yukito, remember? You don't have to be afraid of me."
Syaoran slowly looked up. The old fear lingered, and he avoided looking at Yukito in the eye. A gentle hand tipped his chin up and his eyes followed.
Yukito looked sad.
Is it my fault?
Syaoran began to cry. It was a childish thing to do, crying when he was
afraid, when he was scared, but Syaoran had no choice. He was never given the
chance to grow. He cried because he was afraid, and he was tired of being afraid.
He cried because he was sad and tired of being sad.
Arms circled him and Syaoran allowed it.
" Don't cry little one." said a voice softly. " Don't cry."
But Syaoran continued to cry. He gradually did quiet down. The arms felt soothing. The heart beated steadily, like a rhythmic lullaby. He listened.
B-beat.
B-beat.
He suddenly clutched at Yukito's sweater, listening. There was something about that heart. It sparked a long forgotten memory.
B-beat.
B-beat.
There was a faint image of someone dark. Someone large and warm. Milk. Bright light. Thousands of voices.
" Mama..."
How long has it been since he last saw his mother? He never seen her really. But he knew he had one. Otherwise, how did he come to be? But the heart. The heart. He heard fondness in that heart. It was golden. It was...
Professor Wakatoshi peered into the room. Yukito looked up.
What in the world is he doing? The professor mouthed.
Yukito shook his head, shrugging. He likes it. What can I do?
How long?
For what?
You been here.
Two minutes?
Professor nodded, frowning. Yukito was talented. She would have to persuade the directors to encourage him into this field. They need someone like him. However, there was one tiny problem.
Don't get too close to him.
Yukito nodded. But he wasn't quite sure.
