Konnichi wa minna-san! Well Happy New Year! This is my first chapter of 2003! I'm so glad that although that I haven't posted in a long time you've still come back for more! ARIGATO GOZIAMASHITA! goes into a numerous-life crisis mode.
Well despite it being a new-year, this is probably one of my worst chapters in my opinion. It shows the more I try to finish this stupid piece of crap, the more horrible it becomes. (Sigh)…
Disclaimer: All characters of CCS are the property of CLAMP, not mine. So please don't sue me. This is only written for entertainment purposes, not for profit. You won't get any money anyway; since I only have six American dollars at the moment, and I'm not going to get any profit whatsoever for writing this.
Anything written about Chang San-Feng in this fic is fictional and is merely used for entertainment purposes.
Claimer: Rikou, Ichiro, Kiku, and Tseng are all my characters in which I developed and cannot be used without my consent.
-Psychic720
Symbols:
" " Dialogue
Sound FX
[ ] My side-notes when necessary.
(Lang) language use in dialogue. [I.e. (Eng)- English, (Jap) Japanese, etc. Japanese is the default in the dialogue.]
Italic sentence
· A character is speaking in the first person (will be specified)
· A letter or written article/document.
· A quote that was said by a character in the past (usually when a characters is looking back.
· When a character emphasizes a word during speech.
Ok, with all the formalities, done, let's go!
Li Syaoran's Story
Chapter 10
By psychic720
Li, Rikou, and Eriol got off the Subway after they reached the outskirts of Tomoeda. After many minutes of random wandering, the group was side tracked from its original goal.
"NE NE!" Rikou said irritably noting that Eriol was still following them. "You've followed us for the last hour, done yet?"
Eriol smiled at the sudden outburst. "Iie."
"(Eng) I'll 'iie' you!" Rikou exclaimed.
The Dark side of Rikou-kun… Li thought to himself.
"Don't you have any better things to do?" Eriol asked sincerely. "Before time runs out?"
Rikou got angrier. "Then I'll 'run out a time' you while I'm at it!" Rikou stopped after his final sentence and took out the ripped cloth from his jacket.
Li watched as Rikou calmed down and the comical smile returned to Rikou's face. "You're going to regret ticking me off." The boy said with a humorous tone, but it was quite obvious that he meant it.
"I'll wait," Eriol replied with another smile.
Despite the show of smiling teeth, Li could obviously see tension between the two. "This is going to be a long night…" Li sighed to himself viewing the two others insult the other indirectly.
Eriol took the ripped cloth away from Rikou. He stared through the rag towards a Shrine in front of them. "This is it, the origin…"
"For once I agree," Rikou agreed quietly. He glanced back at Li. "Well 'Future Sage of Courage', Should we, or should we not?"
Li shivered when Rikou suddenly used Li's new title that was suddenly given to him. Although we supposedly the one of courage he had lost it when he saw how great the team reacted with each other. He gave a slight nod. "Hai…"
The "team" entered the shrine cautiously. To the un-trained eye it was rather like any other design: the same simple but elegant Japanese architecture, surrounded by the garden. However none of the boys felt that way as they approached deeper into the shrine. Eriol stopped suddenly at a fountain squirting water into a small tub. Calmly, the boy washed himself off.
"Time is money," Rikou said sarcastically. "Why don't you just wash up at home?"
Eriol gave another smile to the annoyed boy. "It's a Shinto tradition, upon entering a shrine, you wash up and 'purify' yourself before you enter through the 'sacred portal'."
Rikou gave a smirk/grin, Li couldn't tell the difference. It looked sarcastic, halfway at least, but it contained a hint of that "happy-go-lucky" attitude that Rikou usually had.
"Well, Ingles if you insist," Rikou proceeded to 'purify his soul'.
As the other two washed and threw indirect insults at each other, Li scouted the outer area of the shrine. It looks like your everyday shrine. Why would Tseng bother hide out here? Li glanced back at his "friends" who were now throwing water at each other. This may take awhile… Li thought to himself. Li gave another final glance and entered the shrine by himself.
Sakura felt woozy. She had traveled through dimensions before, but they all did the same thing. They made her sick. Sakura gripped onto Kiku's hand for reassurance that she wasn't alone.
"I wish Kero-chan was here," Sakura said silently to herself. The situation at home was too sudden for Sakura that she forgot to take the stuffed animal with her in her backpack. Sakura closed her eyes hoping the continuous falling feeling as well as the dim blue lights would vanish when she opened them. It didn't…
Sakura watched as the pale lights zipped by her eyes. The girl was nearly asleep when she was suddenly engulfed into a blinding blare. Sakura's eyes shut to prevent seeing the glare. When her eyes reopened again, she wasn't falling, or at least the feeling was gone. Her eyes tried to adjust to the sudden change in scenery. She was in the middle of a Zen garden, with many bonsai tree design surrounding her.
"Kirei (pretty)…" Sakura said to herself again admiringly the design of plants.
"This garden was developed in each of my family's generation," Kiku said stroking a small flowery Bonsai-like bush. "This was my addition, see?"
Sakura smiled. "You're very talented."
"Arigato," Kiku smiled back. "But I didn't bring you here to look at flowers, gomen, ne?"
"Uun," Sakura followed the red-haired girl. "Where are we going?"
Kiku didn't say anything; she stepped lightly onto a wooden platform, which lay on top of a mound of gravel. Sakura looked at the streaks that had been plowed into the gravel, making it more like a stream of water. The two girls finally reached the end of the platform, a small pedestal stood in the middle of the ground. Kiku brushed off some of the dead leaves off the stone revealing a Yin and Yang symbol. Kiku placed her hand lightly onto the mound. A feint red flash of light appeared, which appeared to be another entrance to a new dimension. Again Sakura was engulfed by another flash of light and followed Kiku in to the unknown.
Not again! Sakura thought miserably to herself.
Li walked bare foot in the halls of the Shinto shrine. It wasn't maze like or anything so his advance was rarely hindered by anything. It's so simple, it's as if Rikou and Hirigsawa-kun made a mistake on the location. Li gripped his shoes in his hands gently. He didn't want to break tradition, nor did he want to walk (if need be) outside with bare-feet, so he kept his shoes with him.
Li's eyes shifted from one Shinto ornament to another. His careful pacing lead to no where. After fifteen minutes, Li found himself at the main entrance of the shrine.
"What's with this?" Li scowled. Li glanced to where Eriol and Rikou had been before he left. Li had expected the two to still be "arguing" at the water basin. They weren't.
"They probably went on without me…" Li thought to himself. The boy gave a heavy sigh and sat on the step. He leaned on the Stone Lion built at the front of the entrance hall. "So where is this guy…" Li mumbled to himself as he stared at his feet in confusion. His eyes trailed from his feet to the feet of the stone lion. A lighter shade of dirt appeared in a perfect rectangle around the platform the great lion stood on. Li curiously observed the moist soil. Whatever it was, Li immediately felt that it had a pulse of its own. "This dirt isn't ordinary." Li said to himself. His hand smashed into a fist, "But only a portal could make its normal surroundings feel like its alive." Li shot to his feet. Giving his arms a good stretch, the boy smashed his palms against the cold stone. The stone lion fell over like an improperly built tower of building blocks. Underneath the fallen statue revealed an illuminating pit of light.
Li's eye twitched slightly at an unknown fear that shrouded over him like a death's shadow. Li shook it off. The boy stared at the pit blankly. After a brief gulp from his dry mouth, Li stepped forward and realized that he was no longer in a dimension familiar to him.
"Shinto tradition," Rikou mocked. "Well Ingles, we're still getting dirty after that wash up, are we still 'pure'?"
Eriol looked at the other darkly as the two ran down the long wooden corridor stopping every once in a while to peek behind a shoji door in case Li might be lurking behind it.
"This isn't an ordinary shrine…" Eriol replied beside Rikou. "A few generations ago a Kami descended here as its resting place."
"Dude," Rikou smacked Eriol lightly on the upside of Eriol's head, "that's what they all say! Anyway what's this Kami going to do? Shoot me with a holy light?"
Eriol shook the sarcastic remark off. The American didn't seem much like Eriol's type, but he still amused him.
Well that's what happens when you're at the brink of death. Eriol thought.
The long corridor ended at the foot of a huge statue. Eriol stroked the wooden surface quizzically.
Rikou approached from behind the boy. "That's some great state!" Rikou said sarcastically "But, it still a statue! Not your holy 'Kami of Death'!" The boy spoke too soon. The wooden statue split open enveloping the two within a cyclone of flames.
Kero was in a state of panic. It wasn't just because Sakura had vanished in thin air, but he could follow the track of the aura for miles as if it was inviting him a bad thing.
"That's an incredibly arrogant aura if not a powerful one," Kero rambled. "But Sakura! Where are you?"
A flutter of wings slowly pulsed in the stuffed animal's ears. Kero immediately twisted around, though he already knew whom it was.
"Yue…"
The pale face turned towards the yellow bear as the humanoid flying figure landed lightly on the space in front of Kero. The blank cold eyes stared silently into the creature.
"Keroberos," Yue said emotionlessly, "you feel it too?"
Kero nodded slightly. The bear started to illuminate w/ a golden glow as its wings engulfed him. When the wings opened, the great lion appeared from underneath.
"That girl!" Keroberos exclaimed. "She took Sakura with her!"
Yue glared emotionlessly at Kero. "And you let it happen…"
"Stop it!" Kero protested, "I couldn't get out of that pack fast enough."
Yue stared at the moon after the lion's remark. "Anyway, whatever this is, it will sum up whatever will come."
"Maybe, Yue, Maybe…"
Sakura opened her eyes at the entrance of another shrine. Kiku stood next to her, washing herself quietly in a fountain to the side. Sakura followed the girl's actions.
"Stay here," Kiku said softly, her long red hair telegraphed her almost untraceable shivering.
There's not a cold breeze anywhere, she's nervous. Sakura thought to herself silently. Kiku left Sakura behind next to the fountain and disappeared behind the shoji door of the shrine.
Kiku entered silently through the mustiness. The darkness of the shrine blinded her. Kiku stepped cautiously as if the ground she stood on would give-way with a single step. She gripped a pot that she had in a pack on her side.
"Grandfather?" Kiku whispered. The slight sound from her mouth echoed through the room. "I think I have the remedy for your legs…"
"Oh, Kiku-chan." Tseng smiled through the darkness. "It doesn't matter anymore, it doesn't matter."
"Doushite? You've been dreaming of walking again for your whole life!" Kiku stammered. "Why--?"
Tseng gave a quick flick with his hand. A purplish flash revealed what remained of one of his legs. None of Tseng's dry gray right leg remained from the knee section down. Kiku gasped, tears began to soak from her eyes.
"I… I c…couldn't make it in time!" Kiku cried. "GOMEN!"
Tseng approached his granddaughter with use of his wheel chair. His bony fingers quickly wiped away the tears from the girl's eyes. "It's ok, it doesn't matter, I've had enough of this world anywhere." Tseng smiled soothingly as the girl's tears were being dried up in his thick cloaks. "I would like some chocolate though."
"But it's bad for your health!" Kiku replied.
"What worse health can I be in?" Tseng laughed, but his hoarse laughing exploded into a coughing fit. "It's going to be soon…"
"Nani?" Kiku asked looking up at her grandfather.
"Nani mo (It's nothing)," Tseng replied instantly.
"Etto…" Kiku started. "She's here."
Tseng looked up at her with disbelief. "Who?"
Kiku flinched. "Well um…" Kiku twitched her fingers against each other, "her."
Tseng observed his granddaughter with fury growing in his veins. However, the withered man coughed it out heavily. He glanced at Kiku again. "Why did you bring her here?"
Kiku looked hesitantly at her grandfather. "I think it's not right to be so secretive of your intentions."
"And why is that?"
"Ojii-san (grandfather)?"
"The what is not important, but the why."
Kiku started quietly again. "There's a saying that a tiger leaves its skin while a human leaves their reputation. I just don't want people to know you as something that you weren't."
Tseng nodded approvingly.
Kiku looked up relieved. "You'll speak with her?"
Tseng sulked downwards in her chair. "Maybe…" Tseng glanced back at his grand daughter humorously. "Will you bring me some chocolate?"
"Ojii-san!"
Sakura walked up hesitantly up to the doorway. "Kiku-san's been in there for awhile." The girl lifted up a hand to push aside the shoji door, curious to see what was inside.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" A voice grunted from behind her.
Sakura whirled around to see a boy strutting a katana sheathed on his side.
"Anata wa…" Sakura started. "You were that mandarin dressed person who attacked us some time ago. Ichiro-san wasn't it."
Ichiro stared dryly at Sakura. "You noticed who I was despite the disguise I was wearing then."
Sakura smiled slightly. "Well your attitudes were quite the same, and I can also sense your aura."
Ichiro grunted, trying to intimidate the girl. "Anyway, if Tseng-sama wanted to see you he'd call for you. Otherwise, you should stay put, especially in your plagued condition. Even I could kill you in your current condition."
Sakura shyly smiled. "Gomen ne?"
Ichiro looked away in disgust. The shoji door in front of Sakura opened. Sakura thought she saw the boy stiffen suddenly. Sakura glanced back at the door, Kiku stood underneath it.
"Grandfather say's he'll see you now," Kiku smiled, glancing over at Ichiro.
"Hai!" Sakura said immediately. Sakura hesitantly looked back at Ichiro. Finally giving a final shrug and went in.
Kiku nudged Ichiro slightly with her shoulder. "Why are you so timid, you act like this is some corny soap opera. It's ok to be hospital you know."
"I just don't like it," Ichiro muttered. "First an ambush from a tree, and now you bring her here. Although she has the plague in her, she still can act rashly and kill Tseng."
"She won't," Kiku smiled.
"You've only met her for about an hour and you trust her that much," Ichiro bit coldly.
Kiku patted the boy's shoulder soothingly. "I don't, I'm just giving her the amount of trust she gave me."
"I hope you're right," Ichiro said calmly.
"Ne, I talked to Ojii-san about the ambush you had from a tree." Kiku laughed. "He asked if you were getting rusty since you were hurt by a tree."
"I wasn't hurt!"
Kiku nodded sarcastically, noticing Ichiro's total collapse as she pinched Ichiro's chest. She loved manipulating her grandfather's disciple. "Right… Anyway Ojii-san said to protect the entrance to the shrine," Kiku said cheerfully. "He says that we should be expecting visitors."
Ichiro nodded.
Kiku stamped her foot impatiently. "Well?"
"What?"
"You're the one defending the gate while I defend the interior, why are you still here?"
"Why do I have to defend the gate?"
"You can't let a girl go out there all by herself! Besides, I'm tired!"
"Demo--"
"IMAAAAAAAA (NOWWWWWW)!!!"
Meiling gripped on the letter as she dashed through the streets of Tomoeda seeing nothing but maybe the paper in her hand.
Why would Syaoran suddenly leave at this hour? Where the hell could he be? Meiling panicked. The only reason would be to see Kinomoto-san… Meiling's eyes bulged. If it's magic I wouldn't mind, but if it's… No can't let it happen!
In a matter of minutes, Meiling found herself staring at the front steps of Sakura's home. Well here goes.
The girl pushed the small button on the front fence. Touya opened the door staring apprehensively at the girl.
"Yes?" Touya asked questioningly.
Meiling looked downward nervously. "Is Kinomoto-san home?"
Touya stared at Meiling intensively. "Why do you need to see her this late? Can it be for tomorrow?"
"No it's about Syaoran!"
Touya's skeleton almost leapt out of his body. "The KID!?!"
Meiling almost jumped through the patio of the home. After relieving herself from the shock, Meiling started again. "Hai."
"What about?"
Before Meiling knew it, she was walking towards Rikou's home with a very anxious Touya closely following behind her. Why does this have to happen to me? Meiling thought angrily in her head.
It didn't take Touya very long for him to notice that Sakura wasn't in her room, or anywhere in the house for that matter. Not finding any logical answer, Touya tried to pry out the information out of Meiling herself, but she didn't know either.
"So who is this Daidouji, Rikou?" Touya demanded coldly. It was apparent that the absence of his sister was almost driving the young man insane. "And why does he coincidentally have Tomoyo-san's last name? And where has that kid taken my sister!?!"
Meiling's poor brain tried to process all the questions at once. She gripped her ears to ease the slight earache that was occurring. "URUSAI!!!" (Means 'shut up' in context) she screamed. "I don't even know where Syaoran, so how should I know!?! Rikou-kun is 'coincidentally' Daidouji-san's twin brother who's been separated from her since birth. He came to Japan as a Transfer Student from America. Now quit bothering me!!!"
The two walked for several more minutes down the dark streets. Eventually they found themselves in front of Rikou's home. No lights were on in the house, and if it weren't of modern structure, it would've looked like another one of those ghost houses.
"This is it," Meiling murmured as she opened the house's front gate and lead Touya in. "If anyone knows where anyone is, and is still here, it's definitely him.
Touya quickened up his pace to reach the home's patio. He eventually surpassed Meiling to the doorbell. His finger was just hovering over the button when he was distracted.
"Oni-chan's not home!" A voice called from behind.
Both Meiling and Touya swung around to see Tomoyo at the front gate.
"Nani!?!" Meiling screamed. "We've gone to nearly everybody!!! Are they all just throwing a random party in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night!?!"
Tomoyo shook her head. Her mouth was about to utter a word until Tomoyo noticed Touya standing in the doorway. "Touya-kun?"
Touya began to walk steadily towards Tomoyo. "Just tell me the truth, what has Sakura gotten in to now?
Tomoyo gulped and gave a brief glance at Meiling. Meiling shrugged responsively at Tomoyo's gesture, glancing back at Sakura's older brother.
It took another five minutes or so for Tomoyo to summarize the events that were happening lately. Touya didn't exactly like what he heard, but he was much calmer than before.
"Why didn't Sakura tell me?"
Meiling snorted. "Yeah she'll just tell you that there are psychos coming after her wanting her 'magic' and she has a plague in her that's seemingly incurable."
"Maybe we could find that Clow Reed incarnation you went to!" Meiling snapped.
Tomoyo shook her head. "I wouldn't think that Hirigsawa-kun would just ignore the fact that Sakura-chan, Li-kun, and Oni-chan going off alone."
"Then what do you suggest we do!?!" Meiling growled.
Tomoyo paused, taking a brief glance at the moon behind Meiling. "Well we could ask them…" Tomoyo pointed to the shadowy figures of a man with wings and a lion-like creature.
Meiling whirled around to see what Tomoyo was pointing at. Meiling perspired a slight drop on the back of her head. "The stuffed animal…"
However, before Touya, Tomoyo, or Meiling were to leave Rikou's front porch, the door in back of them swung open. It wasn't Hannah or Rikou. He was slightly taller than Rikou, but most of his facial features were masked in the night's darkness.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" The man demanded apprehensively.
The swirling lights and the continuos falling made Li sick. Maybe this was all a trap and I'll never get out! Li thought to himself. Luckily for the boy the falling stopped.
Li found himself at the outside of a gatehouse surrounding another shrine. Great more shrines… Li groaned mentally.
Another stared back at Li's dismay. He wore a samurai-like yukata.
"You…" Li murmured.
Ichiro smiled. He casually unsheathed his katana and crouched into one of the numerous kendo ready positions. "Welcome Li, Syaoran…"
Li rose a hand out lightly. After a golden flash his sword rested trustingly in his right palm. "Is Tseng here, Ichiro?"
"So you've discovered my identity even though I was incognito last time…" Ichiro replied casually. "Yes he's within the shrine, with your mistress, just for your information."
Li's face reddened. Blood surged through his veins as he leapt forward at Ichiro. "SAKURA!!!" he screamed.
"Good, I've got a score to even with you, LI SYAORAN!" Ichiro laughed as he dashed towards his opponent. "But this time you fight without your friends!"
(End of chapter 10)
April 26,2003
It's finally done! Chapter ten is finished. If everything goes right, this will be done in three or four more chapters and I won't have it on my mind anymore! Gee! I'm going slow, and I said I was going to be finished with chapters every month. (Sweat-drop) well it's four months about since my last post, ne?
Well just for fun I'm going to put some statistics down for some of my original characters.
Kiku Yamamoto
Age: 15
Birthdate: February 17
Hair color: Red
Eye color: Blue
Height: 5'7" (1.7018 meters)
Favorite color: Red
Favorite subject: Biology
Martial style: Jeet Kune Do [Way of the Intercepting Fist (Cantonese)]
Misc: Tseng's granddaughter. A master herbalist, Kiku can heal any type of injury whether physical or magical. A rather cheerful girl who loves to stroll around the shrine's estate and gather plants, as well as tease her Grandfather Tseng's disciple, Ichiro.
Ichiro Yamamoto
Age: 17
Birthdate: August 23
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: 6'1" (1.7018 meters)
Favorite color: N/A
Favorite subject: PE (but rarely goes to school)
Martial style: Kenjutsu [Art of the Sword (Japanese)]
Misc: Tseng's disciple as well as right-hand man. Raised by Tseng for most of his life, Ichiro does not know much about his past except that his parents died at some time. Is rather old-fashioned and is often teased by Kiku (The only person who can yank out the more natural nature of Ichiro). He does not have any blood-relation to Kiku despite the last name. (He merely borrowed it since he lost all memory of his family lineage).
Tseng Kai
Age: ???
Birthdate: Unknown
Hair color: White (but about bald anyway)
Eye color: Black
Height: 5'2" (1.5748 meters)
Favorite color: None
Martial style: Unknown
Misc: One of Chang San Feng's original disciples of magic theory. Is said to have achieved immortality. However his body still ages with time and is no different than a walking corpse. Determined to obtain Sakura's cards for a soon to be announced reason. Although has a mysterious background, has strong family ties with his disciple and granddaughter.
Rikou Daidouji
Age: 15
Birthdate: September 3
Hair color: Grey
Eye color: Blue and Brown
Height: 6'0" (1.8288 meters)
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite subject: Computer Science
Martial style: Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) [Grand Ultimate Fist (Chinese)] aka Chinese Shadow Boxing
Misc: Tomoyo's lost twin brother. Their parent's split up at birth Rikou going with Mr. Daidouji in America while Tomoyo went with Sonomi in Japan. Utilizes the psychic powers of the Realm of Wisdom. Has a sarcastic "happy-go-lucking" behavior that makes him very sociable. Has a huge Brain Tumor due to faulty psychic training, which according to Rikou, will be his death.
Well that's all for now and hopefully you guys will be back for chapter 11!
Jya!
-Psychic720
"If you always put limitations on yourself and what you do, physical or anything, you might as well be dead. It will spread into your work, your morality, your entire being. There are no limits, only plateaux. But you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you." –Bruce Lee