A/N: Well, It's been awhile hasn't. Gomen. No internet for three months for
one, homework for another, and three other fanficts keep me pretty busy.
Not to mention I am writing five original stories. Oi. I need a vacation.
Anyway, Here's the next chapter out. I'm sorry you had to wait so long. I
guess you can expect a new chapter once every one to two weeks. Sorry, but
school is a little more important to me and I am writing a whole lot of
stories. Anyway, have a go at it. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura
Chapter 9
Back in the confines of Tomoyo's purple room, said princess was perched on her vanity stool still drawing rapidly. Her hands made continuous, swift motions across the paper, not even noticing the pacing of the anxious Sakura. The sun streamed through the window, still early morning, as the sun was still not very high in the sky. "Sakura-chan, did you know that this is the third time this week you've been up before noon tide?" asked Tomoyo, still engrossed in her picture.
Sakura paused in her pacing. "Really? I hadn't noticed." A short pause followed, and then she burst out, "Hoe?! Does that mean I'm sick?!" She shuffled around the room in a worried state, her red robes swishing with the movement. She kept checking her forehead with her hands several times, before she was convinced she didn't have a fever. She placed her hand on her belly, but already knew that the only thing upsetting her stomach right now was her nerves.
Which brought her back to her present predicament. Was she going to get into trouble for intervening? It was possible, considering that she did touch the prince. That wouldn't have caused much of a problem, if there hadn't been so many present. At least ten upper nobles saw, and from the chaos of whispers from the maids, at least twenty knew about the incident. Nope, there was definitely going to be a penalty for overstepping her position- whatever that was.
"Sakura-chan, could you turn your head to the side and frown?"
Sakura did as she was told, still engrossed in her problems. Then again, she might get let off the hook for her behavior.
"Try looking sympathetic."
Sakura changed her facial expression accordingly. The incident had caused a considerably large magical outburst. It would have thrown off anyone with magic in their blood, up to a ten mile radius. And she did calm the raw magical waves, even if she didn't know how she did it.
"Smile."
Sakura smiled, weakly. She was not in a smiling mood.
"No, no," said Tomoyo. "Look like you just found a kawaii kitten."
Sakura grinned, picturing a small kitten in the palm of her hand. Wait, what had she been thinking about?
"That will do. Arigato."
Sakura began pacing again. Okay, she still had over stepped her place, therefore she had to apologize for her behavior. Sakura nodded her head with determination. She would apologize to Queen Yelan and Prince Li for her behavior. There was no way around it. Unless, of course, she wanted to bring shame unto her father and brother. She could never do that. Nope, apologizing would be the only thing that would help her out of her present predicament.
Tomoyo smiled brightly at her finished picture. She put her drawing utensil down and turned her note pad around to face the worried sorceress. She only had to wait another moment for Sakura to turn her gaze in her direction. Tomoyo's smile widened as she saw Sakura's green eyes grow. A loud "Hoe?!" resounded in the room, which in turn was followed by a loud thump.
Sakura was sprawled on the floor, having tripped on the hem of her robes. She grumbled, rubbing her sore backside, before returning her gaze to the picture. It was a picture of herself and Syaoran depicting the scene from earlier. It wasn't quite what she remembered, though. For one, she hadn't been wearing a dress, especially this particular dress. In the picture, she was wearing a ball gown, a very decorative gown with... jewels on it? She didn't own jewel's like that! Secondly, she noticed that Syaoran wasn't in his 'peasantry' clothes for training. He appeared to be in royal attire, from the emblems and sashes on his shirt to the decorative belt and sword. Even more off was the fact that the Sakura in the picture was wearing a tiara. She didn't own any tiaras!
Okay, so she should have assumed this would be the creation that Tomoyo would have come up with. A total romanticized version of the whole unfortunate encounter. "Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura squeaked. Horror was etched on her normal carefree face.
Tomoyo, however, wasn't paying any attention to the horrified Sakura. She turned her sketch back to herself. "Oh Sakura-chan! Kawaii desu! I love this picture! You look so kawaii! And Prince Li, too! I cannot wait for the wedding!" She turned her violet gaze to the shocked sorceress. "Do you think he will propose soon?! You two are so perfect for each other!"
Sakura's face lit up like a cherry. "P-Propose?! T-Tomoyo! I t-think you misinterpreted the whole encounter out in the gardens!"
Tomoyo stood from her chair, twirling around with her sketch book, ignoring Sakura's comments as she was in her own little world. "I cannot wait to start making your wedding dress! And I will need to make you a whole new wardrobe. After all, you will be a princess, and robes are not fitting for such a status. I cannot wait to start making them!"
Tomoyo stopped and looked at Sakura, who had thought it best to just stay on the floor. "Do you think they will let me make your clothes? I do hope so! I would be very sad, if they disallowed me to. You will, promise to visit me as much as possible, so that I do not get lonely here, right?" She didn't wait for an answer, as she once again danced around the room, her blue dress swirling around her form.
Sakura felt too weak to stand, now. Tomoyo had pictured a whole romantic affair going on between her and the prince. What was worse, was that she wasn't the only one. Prince Li's sisters had all jumped to that very conclusion, too. Did everyone else think that, too? If they did, then an apology was not going to be enough. She had just caused a whole scandal in less than five minutes! She should have never touched his face! "I should have stayed in bed."
Tomoyo stopped twirling, and dropped her sketch upon her bed. "Sakura- chan?!" Her voice was quiet and odd sounding after her loud day dreaming.
Sakura turned her head over her shoulder. What she saw, surprised her. Tomoyo appeared to have a very serious, yet faraway, expression on her face. Even more surprising was that Tomoyo wasn't even looking in her direction. "Hai?" asked Sakura, a little cautiously.
Tomoyo sighed, her eyes focused on the window, before she looked over at the Sakura. In an instant she was kneeling on the ground next to her. She then held out her little finger. "Can you keep a secret and a promise for me?"
Sakura, shocked, about the speed of movement, nodded dumbly to the question, as she hooked her littler finger to Tomoyo's. "Hai..."
"Remember when we were little, and had all these crazy dreams we wanted to do when we were older? And that our biggest dream was for both of us to see the world before we were too old to move?"
Sakura nodded, still at a loss to what Tomoyo was trying to get at.
"Well tomorrow is the final ball, and after it I am going to do just that!"
Sakura wasn't sure she heard right. What did Tomoyo mean by that? "Nani?" she asked, perplexed.
Tomoyo sat back on her heals, pinkie still held with Sakura's. "I am going to see the world, starting by running away."
"Hoe?!"
Tomoyo clasped her free hand over Sakura's mouth. "Not so loud. I do not want any of the maids to hear. They are such gossips. Anyway, there is a small passageway through the outer walls that we can use to get out. Your father told me about it a long time ago. It was around the time we were studying the Great Wars. Anyway, he said that this castle had many passages to escape from in order for the palace personnel to survive the Jirun siege. In the end, however, the royal family had to evacuate or perish, as the main gates were beginning to fail. So, they escaped through one of those secret passages."
"And this pertains to running away, in what way?" asked the ever clue less Sakura.
"I found a passageway!"
Sakura's jaw dropped in surprise.
Tomoyo nodded in glee. "Two days ago. I was looking for you, since you had not appeared for lunch. I looked all over for you, and eventually found myself at the old ruins, just beyond the orchard. That's when I stumbled upon an old inscription in a wall. I am positive that there is a passageway there!"
"T-Tomoyo-chan? Y-you can't be serious. There's no way a passageway would still exist there after two hundred years. It would have easily caved in, or worse it would cave in if you went through it."
For a moment, Tomoyo looked rather lost and... sad. Her lavender eyes lost all sparkle in them as if her very spirit was crushing.
"Gomen nasai, Tomoyo-chan! I didn't mean it! It could still work! They made things a lot stronger back then, didn't they?"
Tomoyo sighed. "No, you are right. We have no way of knowing what dangers may lie in there, if a passage even exists. I am sorry that I did not think things through so well." She released Sakura's hands and pinkie. "It was a silly idea, anyway. Running away would not help anything. I will still be Queen whether or not I get to see the world."
"Iie! Tomoyo-chan! It's not a silly idea at all!"
"Really?" her hopeful eyes peering down into Sakura's.
Sakura's heart strings pulled. "Iie, it isn't."
"Excellent! Then I come now to my promise!" Tomoyo reached and grabbed Sakura's pinkie again.
"Hoe?"
"Will you promise me, that no matter what happens, you will protect me and come with me?"
Sakura's eyes widened. "You thought I would let you go on your own?"
Tomoyo shook her head. "Iie, but I wanted to make sure that you would not back out on me. After all, if you are my bodyguard, then you cannot, right?"
"Hai, but I still wouldn't have let you go alone."
Tomoyo smiled. "Then the trip's a go?"
Sakura nodded. "Hai. I will come with you and protect you with my life," said Sakura, pulling downward with her pinkie to seal the promise.
Tomoyo's eyes sparkled. "Arigato Sakura-chan!" She released her pinkie and hugged Sakura. "We need to start planning our escape." She stood up and began listing off things, "We need food, supplies, money, transportation, appropriate clothing, weaponry..." So lost in her in her own thoughts, she missed the worried frown that had marred the sorceress's face.
~~ ~~ ~~
Eriol took a seat in the circular tower room, facing off against Queen Yelan. He had a very composed look about him, but inside he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He had opted to change out of his casual clothes, seeing as they didn't seem 'mage appropriate', and was thus wearing long black robes, embroidered with silver moons and stars. Still, the atmosphere in the room remained just as ominous as the woman sitting there.
Queen Yelan, garbed in a long navy blue dress, seemed to disappear into the darkness of the room. She studied Eriol for a moment, watching as he sat delicately in his chair. He looked relatively calm, almost too calm. She found it amazing that this boy of seventeen could look like a man in his early thirties, just by his calm facade. She shifted her position, looking a little more foreboding in the dark depths of her seat. "Care to explain what happened this morning?"
Eriol rested his elbows upon the chair, tapping his fingers together. "Actually, I have some questions to ask you, before we begin the interrogation."
Yelan sighed. She knew she should have suspected that Eriol would do something to avoid his sentencing. Though, now that she thought about it, he seemed more nervous about asking that particular question. Interesting. "What's your first one?"
"Why does Vizier Kinomoto's daughter have a lock on her magic?"
"What makes you think I know?"
"Just a hunch," Eriol said, his glasses glinting in the minuscule light.
Yelan fidgeted with her hands before, standing up. The torches in the room flared alive, bringing light to the room. She walked over to a small stack of parchments, and proceeded to sift through them to find what she was looking for. "I thought you, above all, would know that answer."
"I know part of the story. I know that when Kinomoto-san opened the book of Clow, Clow Reed's ancient magic put a slight damper lock on her magic. This was used so that she could catch the cards without them rebelling to a new master. After the cards are all caught the lock would be lifted. From there, as we know, she had to change the cards with her own powers. There's just one slight flaw. The lock was never lifted. How she changed the cards is beyond my present understandings. Therefore, I was hoping you would have that answer."
Yelan picked up a small piece of parchment and turned to face Eriol. "You are quite correct in your assumptions thus far, Eriol. The lock was lifted, as it was meant to be."
Eriol leaned forward on his chair, "So why is there still a lock?"
Yelan handed over a paper. "That is a very long story, but I will tell you what I know. Queen Sonomi had a cousin named Nadeshiko. She had been sent to the university to learn magic, where she was trained as a water mage. In her sixth and final year, she met a man named Fujitaka Kinomoto. He was a first year professor teaching Illusions to sixth year students. He was five years her senior."
Eriol kept his composure indifferent, but in reality he was going insane with this information. It explained why people still referred to Vizier Kinomoto as sensei. So, Sakura's mother was a water mage and her father an illusionist? Very strong qualities found in Star power. No wonder the cards had picked her so readily. Even with a previous lock on her magic, there would still be the an overflow of powers. This also explained why Touya Kinomoto could see spirits and ghosts. "I wonder if he has a lock too," he thought.
"The two married soon after. Kinomoto-sensei and his wife continued to teach at the university for several years, until..." Yelan drew off the end of her sentence. How could she put into words what had happened to the poor woman.
Eriol looked up from his musings. Something tickled him at the back of his neck. He turned his gaze down to the piece of parchment in his hands. The blood drained out of his face as he read the paper. There was no way he couldn't keep indifferent now.
"Nadeshiko did not have any enemies that we could think of at the time of her murder. It had been put off as a highway robbery at the time. No one dared to go up against that, since there was no evidence, and not many people can recall the incident. Kinomoto's son, Touya, was told that she had been killed in a carriage accident. The same things was told to Sakura, when she was older, for at the time of the incident she had been no more than a baby."
"Was there any investigation into this?"
Yelan's face contorted with a little flash of anger. "Supposedly the counsel would handle it. There has yet to be any leads." Yelan snorted her contempt.
Eriol narrowed his eyes. "They surely would have been able to see what had happened."
"They should have, but apparently too many disruptions at the academy were more pressing than a murder of a fellow mage."
"So, what does this have to do with the lock on Sakura's magic?"
"Now that is the intriguing part of this mystery." Yelan's face turned from anger to a more pensive frown. "On that very day, both of the Kinomoto children's lights disappeared from the magical river. Only Elder Lang, newest member to the High Counsel, even noticed their disappearances. He had quickly gone to Kinomoto-sensei to find out why."
"Did Elder Lang find out why they had disappeared?"
Yelan shook her head. "He could not find anything wrong with the two. They were perfectly healthy, with no side affects that would have been caused by a magical lock. It was almost like something had sucked up their magic."
"Interesting."
"A few years later, Kinomoto and his two children left Maho Kingdom for Shounin."
Eriol nodded his head, digesting all the new information. "I think that sums up my current questions, for now. Domo arigato gozaimasu."
"Good." Yelan sat back down in the chair, the lights dimming again. "So tell me, Eriol. What happened this morning to make my son loose control of his magic?"
Eriol gulped slightly. Yelan was a daunting figure when she wanted to be, and persistent as ever to get answers when she wanted them. "Well, where do you want me to begin?" he asked uneasily.
"From the beginning," came the monotone reply.
~~ ~~ ~~
In a dark corridor, a small silvery wisp of light swirled around a water pool. The crystal blue water shimmered in eerie swirls that defied the rules governing the flow of water. Swirls of colors mixed, intertwined, and formed new colors as the liquid continued to move. Several figures in black hooded cloaks stood around the pool waiting for their leader to show.
A moment later, a figure emerged from the dark. This cloaked figure also wore a black cloak, but with silver trim. A clearing of a voice followed, before a quiet voice spoke softly. "We have a new threat to our very livelihood. A child, be he good or evil, has the power to destroy the very structure of our world. It has been fifteen years since the last cleansing of our race. It is time that we eliminate those that will stand in our way."
A murmur of ascension came from the group, as they each stepped towards the swirling waters. They each held out a hand over the water, a soft chant spilling from each of their lips. As the chanting continued, the waters flared with more colors and began to writhe and thrash like a caged animal. The figures then began to move counter-clockwise around the pool, their hand still held over the water.
"Ancient God of Mystics," spoke the leader again, the voice rising over the chants of the crowd. "We beseech to thee our request of salvation. Give us your eyes to see the traitors of our people. Give us the picture of the child that would destroy us all. Give us the wisdom and strength to vanquish those that oppose your wonders."
The water began to boil, splashing upward into the air. The people withdrew their hands quickly, or else lose their hands. A loud crack resounded and then the water lay still. The leader stepped forward looking down into the depths of the water. A picture began to form, spreading the colors around. The others moved forward to see as the picture of a tree became clearer and clearer.
There was another murmur of voices at this. "I don't believe this," said one voice. "This is the fifth time this has happened."
"Are we going to get attacked by a tree, still?" asked one voice, whom was promptly hit over the head.
The leader held up a hand for silence. "I think it is time we try to find this tree. It could be a location marker. Find out the name of this tree, where it can be found, and who might live near it. Dismissed."
There was a round of complaints at this, but the group disbanded from the dark room. The water, had returned to it's normal, viscous state. When the room cleared, the water flowed once more into color. A picture of a woman with long lavender-gray hair appeared in the water. Her blue eyes crinkled in delight, and a smile broadened on her face. "Idiots, every last one of them." The water shimmered again, and the woman diappeared back into the waters.
Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura
Chapter 9
Back in the confines of Tomoyo's purple room, said princess was perched on her vanity stool still drawing rapidly. Her hands made continuous, swift motions across the paper, not even noticing the pacing of the anxious Sakura. The sun streamed through the window, still early morning, as the sun was still not very high in the sky. "Sakura-chan, did you know that this is the third time this week you've been up before noon tide?" asked Tomoyo, still engrossed in her picture.
Sakura paused in her pacing. "Really? I hadn't noticed." A short pause followed, and then she burst out, "Hoe?! Does that mean I'm sick?!" She shuffled around the room in a worried state, her red robes swishing with the movement. She kept checking her forehead with her hands several times, before she was convinced she didn't have a fever. She placed her hand on her belly, but already knew that the only thing upsetting her stomach right now was her nerves.
Which brought her back to her present predicament. Was she going to get into trouble for intervening? It was possible, considering that she did touch the prince. That wouldn't have caused much of a problem, if there hadn't been so many present. At least ten upper nobles saw, and from the chaos of whispers from the maids, at least twenty knew about the incident. Nope, there was definitely going to be a penalty for overstepping her position- whatever that was.
"Sakura-chan, could you turn your head to the side and frown?"
Sakura did as she was told, still engrossed in her problems. Then again, she might get let off the hook for her behavior.
"Try looking sympathetic."
Sakura changed her facial expression accordingly. The incident had caused a considerably large magical outburst. It would have thrown off anyone with magic in their blood, up to a ten mile radius. And she did calm the raw magical waves, even if she didn't know how she did it.
"Smile."
Sakura smiled, weakly. She was not in a smiling mood.
"No, no," said Tomoyo. "Look like you just found a kawaii kitten."
Sakura grinned, picturing a small kitten in the palm of her hand. Wait, what had she been thinking about?
"That will do. Arigato."
Sakura began pacing again. Okay, she still had over stepped her place, therefore she had to apologize for her behavior. Sakura nodded her head with determination. She would apologize to Queen Yelan and Prince Li for her behavior. There was no way around it. Unless, of course, she wanted to bring shame unto her father and brother. She could never do that. Nope, apologizing would be the only thing that would help her out of her present predicament.
Tomoyo smiled brightly at her finished picture. She put her drawing utensil down and turned her note pad around to face the worried sorceress. She only had to wait another moment for Sakura to turn her gaze in her direction. Tomoyo's smile widened as she saw Sakura's green eyes grow. A loud "Hoe?!" resounded in the room, which in turn was followed by a loud thump.
Sakura was sprawled on the floor, having tripped on the hem of her robes. She grumbled, rubbing her sore backside, before returning her gaze to the picture. It was a picture of herself and Syaoran depicting the scene from earlier. It wasn't quite what she remembered, though. For one, she hadn't been wearing a dress, especially this particular dress. In the picture, she was wearing a ball gown, a very decorative gown with... jewels on it? She didn't own jewel's like that! Secondly, she noticed that Syaoran wasn't in his 'peasantry' clothes for training. He appeared to be in royal attire, from the emblems and sashes on his shirt to the decorative belt and sword. Even more off was the fact that the Sakura in the picture was wearing a tiara. She didn't own any tiaras!
Okay, so she should have assumed this would be the creation that Tomoyo would have come up with. A total romanticized version of the whole unfortunate encounter. "Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura squeaked. Horror was etched on her normal carefree face.
Tomoyo, however, wasn't paying any attention to the horrified Sakura. She turned her sketch back to herself. "Oh Sakura-chan! Kawaii desu! I love this picture! You look so kawaii! And Prince Li, too! I cannot wait for the wedding!" She turned her violet gaze to the shocked sorceress. "Do you think he will propose soon?! You two are so perfect for each other!"
Sakura's face lit up like a cherry. "P-Propose?! T-Tomoyo! I t-think you misinterpreted the whole encounter out in the gardens!"
Tomoyo stood from her chair, twirling around with her sketch book, ignoring Sakura's comments as she was in her own little world. "I cannot wait to start making your wedding dress! And I will need to make you a whole new wardrobe. After all, you will be a princess, and robes are not fitting for such a status. I cannot wait to start making them!"
Tomoyo stopped and looked at Sakura, who had thought it best to just stay on the floor. "Do you think they will let me make your clothes? I do hope so! I would be very sad, if they disallowed me to. You will, promise to visit me as much as possible, so that I do not get lonely here, right?" She didn't wait for an answer, as she once again danced around the room, her blue dress swirling around her form.
Sakura felt too weak to stand, now. Tomoyo had pictured a whole romantic affair going on between her and the prince. What was worse, was that she wasn't the only one. Prince Li's sisters had all jumped to that very conclusion, too. Did everyone else think that, too? If they did, then an apology was not going to be enough. She had just caused a whole scandal in less than five minutes! She should have never touched his face! "I should have stayed in bed."
Tomoyo stopped twirling, and dropped her sketch upon her bed. "Sakura- chan?!" Her voice was quiet and odd sounding after her loud day dreaming.
Sakura turned her head over her shoulder. What she saw, surprised her. Tomoyo appeared to have a very serious, yet faraway, expression on her face. Even more surprising was that Tomoyo wasn't even looking in her direction. "Hai?" asked Sakura, a little cautiously.
Tomoyo sighed, her eyes focused on the window, before she looked over at the Sakura. In an instant she was kneeling on the ground next to her. She then held out her little finger. "Can you keep a secret and a promise for me?"
Sakura, shocked, about the speed of movement, nodded dumbly to the question, as she hooked her littler finger to Tomoyo's. "Hai..."
"Remember when we were little, and had all these crazy dreams we wanted to do when we were older? And that our biggest dream was for both of us to see the world before we were too old to move?"
Sakura nodded, still at a loss to what Tomoyo was trying to get at.
"Well tomorrow is the final ball, and after it I am going to do just that!"
Sakura wasn't sure she heard right. What did Tomoyo mean by that? "Nani?" she asked, perplexed.
Tomoyo sat back on her heals, pinkie still held with Sakura's. "I am going to see the world, starting by running away."
"Hoe?!"
Tomoyo clasped her free hand over Sakura's mouth. "Not so loud. I do not want any of the maids to hear. They are such gossips. Anyway, there is a small passageway through the outer walls that we can use to get out. Your father told me about it a long time ago. It was around the time we were studying the Great Wars. Anyway, he said that this castle had many passages to escape from in order for the palace personnel to survive the Jirun siege. In the end, however, the royal family had to evacuate or perish, as the main gates were beginning to fail. So, they escaped through one of those secret passages."
"And this pertains to running away, in what way?" asked the ever clue less Sakura.
"I found a passageway!"
Sakura's jaw dropped in surprise.
Tomoyo nodded in glee. "Two days ago. I was looking for you, since you had not appeared for lunch. I looked all over for you, and eventually found myself at the old ruins, just beyond the orchard. That's when I stumbled upon an old inscription in a wall. I am positive that there is a passageway there!"
"T-Tomoyo-chan? Y-you can't be serious. There's no way a passageway would still exist there after two hundred years. It would have easily caved in, or worse it would cave in if you went through it."
For a moment, Tomoyo looked rather lost and... sad. Her lavender eyes lost all sparkle in them as if her very spirit was crushing.
"Gomen nasai, Tomoyo-chan! I didn't mean it! It could still work! They made things a lot stronger back then, didn't they?"
Tomoyo sighed. "No, you are right. We have no way of knowing what dangers may lie in there, if a passage even exists. I am sorry that I did not think things through so well." She released Sakura's hands and pinkie. "It was a silly idea, anyway. Running away would not help anything. I will still be Queen whether or not I get to see the world."
"Iie! Tomoyo-chan! It's not a silly idea at all!"
"Really?" her hopeful eyes peering down into Sakura's.
Sakura's heart strings pulled. "Iie, it isn't."
"Excellent! Then I come now to my promise!" Tomoyo reached and grabbed Sakura's pinkie again.
"Hoe?"
"Will you promise me, that no matter what happens, you will protect me and come with me?"
Sakura's eyes widened. "You thought I would let you go on your own?"
Tomoyo shook her head. "Iie, but I wanted to make sure that you would not back out on me. After all, if you are my bodyguard, then you cannot, right?"
"Hai, but I still wouldn't have let you go alone."
Tomoyo smiled. "Then the trip's a go?"
Sakura nodded. "Hai. I will come with you and protect you with my life," said Sakura, pulling downward with her pinkie to seal the promise.
Tomoyo's eyes sparkled. "Arigato Sakura-chan!" She released her pinkie and hugged Sakura. "We need to start planning our escape." She stood up and began listing off things, "We need food, supplies, money, transportation, appropriate clothing, weaponry..." So lost in her in her own thoughts, she missed the worried frown that had marred the sorceress's face.
~~ ~~ ~~
Eriol took a seat in the circular tower room, facing off against Queen Yelan. He had a very composed look about him, but inside he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He had opted to change out of his casual clothes, seeing as they didn't seem 'mage appropriate', and was thus wearing long black robes, embroidered with silver moons and stars. Still, the atmosphere in the room remained just as ominous as the woman sitting there.
Queen Yelan, garbed in a long navy blue dress, seemed to disappear into the darkness of the room. She studied Eriol for a moment, watching as he sat delicately in his chair. He looked relatively calm, almost too calm. She found it amazing that this boy of seventeen could look like a man in his early thirties, just by his calm facade. She shifted her position, looking a little more foreboding in the dark depths of her seat. "Care to explain what happened this morning?"
Eriol rested his elbows upon the chair, tapping his fingers together. "Actually, I have some questions to ask you, before we begin the interrogation."
Yelan sighed. She knew she should have suspected that Eriol would do something to avoid his sentencing. Though, now that she thought about it, he seemed more nervous about asking that particular question. Interesting. "What's your first one?"
"Why does Vizier Kinomoto's daughter have a lock on her magic?"
"What makes you think I know?"
"Just a hunch," Eriol said, his glasses glinting in the minuscule light.
Yelan fidgeted with her hands before, standing up. The torches in the room flared alive, bringing light to the room. She walked over to a small stack of parchments, and proceeded to sift through them to find what she was looking for. "I thought you, above all, would know that answer."
"I know part of the story. I know that when Kinomoto-san opened the book of Clow, Clow Reed's ancient magic put a slight damper lock on her magic. This was used so that she could catch the cards without them rebelling to a new master. After the cards are all caught the lock would be lifted. From there, as we know, she had to change the cards with her own powers. There's just one slight flaw. The lock was never lifted. How she changed the cards is beyond my present understandings. Therefore, I was hoping you would have that answer."
Yelan picked up a small piece of parchment and turned to face Eriol. "You are quite correct in your assumptions thus far, Eriol. The lock was lifted, as it was meant to be."
Eriol leaned forward on his chair, "So why is there still a lock?"
Yelan handed over a paper. "That is a very long story, but I will tell you what I know. Queen Sonomi had a cousin named Nadeshiko. She had been sent to the university to learn magic, where she was trained as a water mage. In her sixth and final year, she met a man named Fujitaka Kinomoto. He was a first year professor teaching Illusions to sixth year students. He was five years her senior."
Eriol kept his composure indifferent, but in reality he was going insane with this information. It explained why people still referred to Vizier Kinomoto as sensei. So, Sakura's mother was a water mage and her father an illusionist? Very strong qualities found in Star power. No wonder the cards had picked her so readily. Even with a previous lock on her magic, there would still be the an overflow of powers. This also explained why Touya Kinomoto could see spirits and ghosts. "I wonder if he has a lock too," he thought.
"The two married soon after. Kinomoto-sensei and his wife continued to teach at the university for several years, until..." Yelan drew off the end of her sentence. How could she put into words what had happened to the poor woman.
Eriol looked up from his musings. Something tickled him at the back of his neck. He turned his gaze down to the piece of parchment in his hands. The blood drained out of his face as he read the paper. There was no way he couldn't keep indifferent now.
"Nadeshiko did not have any enemies that we could think of at the time of her murder. It had been put off as a highway robbery at the time. No one dared to go up against that, since there was no evidence, and not many people can recall the incident. Kinomoto's son, Touya, was told that she had been killed in a carriage accident. The same things was told to Sakura, when she was older, for at the time of the incident she had been no more than a baby."
"Was there any investigation into this?"
Yelan's face contorted with a little flash of anger. "Supposedly the counsel would handle it. There has yet to be any leads." Yelan snorted her contempt.
Eriol narrowed his eyes. "They surely would have been able to see what had happened."
"They should have, but apparently too many disruptions at the academy were more pressing than a murder of a fellow mage."
"So, what does this have to do with the lock on Sakura's magic?"
"Now that is the intriguing part of this mystery." Yelan's face turned from anger to a more pensive frown. "On that very day, both of the Kinomoto children's lights disappeared from the magical river. Only Elder Lang, newest member to the High Counsel, even noticed their disappearances. He had quickly gone to Kinomoto-sensei to find out why."
"Did Elder Lang find out why they had disappeared?"
Yelan shook her head. "He could not find anything wrong with the two. They were perfectly healthy, with no side affects that would have been caused by a magical lock. It was almost like something had sucked up their magic."
"Interesting."
"A few years later, Kinomoto and his two children left Maho Kingdom for Shounin."
Eriol nodded his head, digesting all the new information. "I think that sums up my current questions, for now. Domo arigato gozaimasu."
"Good." Yelan sat back down in the chair, the lights dimming again. "So tell me, Eriol. What happened this morning to make my son loose control of his magic?"
Eriol gulped slightly. Yelan was a daunting figure when she wanted to be, and persistent as ever to get answers when she wanted them. "Well, where do you want me to begin?" he asked uneasily.
"From the beginning," came the monotone reply.
~~ ~~ ~~
In a dark corridor, a small silvery wisp of light swirled around a water pool. The crystal blue water shimmered in eerie swirls that defied the rules governing the flow of water. Swirls of colors mixed, intertwined, and formed new colors as the liquid continued to move. Several figures in black hooded cloaks stood around the pool waiting for their leader to show.
A moment later, a figure emerged from the dark. This cloaked figure also wore a black cloak, but with silver trim. A clearing of a voice followed, before a quiet voice spoke softly. "We have a new threat to our very livelihood. A child, be he good or evil, has the power to destroy the very structure of our world. It has been fifteen years since the last cleansing of our race. It is time that we eliminate those that will stand in our way."
A murmur of ascension came from the group, as they each stepped towards the swirling waters. They each held out a hand over the water, a soft chant spilling from each of their lips. As the chanting continued, the waters flared with more colors and began to writhe and thrash like a caged animal. The figures then began to move counter-clockwise around the pool, their hand still held over the water.
"Ancient God of Mystics," spoke the leader again, the voice rising over the chants of the crowd. "We beseech to thee our request of salvation. Give us your eyes to see the traitors of our people. Give us the picture of the child that would destroy us all. Give us the wisdom and strength to vanquish those that oppose your wonders."
The water began to boil, splashing upward into the air. The people withdrew their hands quickly, or else lose their hands. A loud crack resounded and then the water lay still. The leader stepped forward looking down into the depths of the water. A picture began to form, spreading the colors around. The others moved forward to see as the picture of a tree became clearer and clearer.
There was another murmur of voices at this. "I don't believe this," said one voice. "This is the fifth time this has happened."
"Are we going to get attacked by a tree, still?" asked one voice, whom was promptly hit over the head.
The leader held up a hand for silence. "I think it is time we try to find this tree. It could be a location marker. Find out the name of this tree, where it can be found, and who might live near it. Dismissed."
There was a round of complaints at this, but the group disbanded from the dark room. The water, had returned to it's normal, viscous state. When the room cleared, the water flowed once more into color. A picture of a woman with long lavender-gray hair appeared in the water. Her blue eyes crinkled in delight, and a smile broadened on her face. "Idiots, every last one of them." The water shimmered again, and the woman diappeared back into the waters.
