Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Card Captor Sakura. This story is property of me, Sueng, so if you have any questions about putting it on your site or posting it elsewhere, you may do so with my permission. I will not allow for people to use this story or any of my other stories for benefits of selling. Thank you, on with my fanfic…
Shirin no Kami
Prologue
Mount Kunlun, a peaceful mountain filled with so much diversity in plants and animal life. Most of the animals that live on Mount Kunlun are those native to forests and mountains, such as goats and deer. The plants on Mount Kunlun are all fruit bearing and some there produce beautiful flowers which catch the morning dew on their leaves, giving a glossy glow to the mountain side, much like what the pristine waterfalls and lakes are their for. Mount Kunlun, a beautiful mountain neglected by almost all of the ancient people of China for its sacredness and legends.
However, despite the large number of animal and plant life which inhabit Mount Kunlun, there are human dwellers that live here as well. On this sacred mountain, high scholars and priests come here like hermits, to live in the peacefulness and find enlightment through the mountains many gifts. Taoists, as they are called, have claimed this mountain as one of their most sacred, Mount Kunlun is a mythical landmark that must never be tampered with because these Taoists all live here to meditate and find peace.
At the highest peak of Mount Kunlun, a tribe of Taoists live here, having a small village protected by the heights of the mountains and the protection of the forests. At this highest peak, this small village trains children when they are young to become enlightened Taoists, and one day, they will hopefully achieve that goal and become immortals so that they may protect nature and its creatures from the destructive forces of man.
At this highest peak, at this little village, in this mountain, there is a lesson going on today at the plains of Mount Kunlun. Two young little boys, both holding swords, are perspiring and panting from a battle with each other as they are watched on by five old men with long beards and bald heads. The children, both boys, are locked in what seemed to be a practice session while the old men gave them tips on their mistakes as they sword fought.
The boy to the right of the five men, has his cheeks bruised and his left sleeve cut, exposing his gashed arm with blood dripping out of the sleeve and staining his arm a deep red. The boy had his eyes focused on his opponent, but his dark black bangs got in the way of his vision. The other boy to the left was holding his sword handle up at his cheek, parallel to the ground and pointing at his training partner. His eyes showed anger and tiredness, while his cheek was slashed right across and his brown chestnut hair flowed in the wind.
"Alright," the first old man said, "You are both fighting very well; just don't try to kill each other." "Make sure you keep your guard up," the second man said, "If you don't then you guys might kill each other." "You both fight very good," the third man commented, "Just keep this up for one more round and we will determine the winner." Both boys looked at each other, seeing their own reflected images of each other in their eyes; they pivoted their feet to thrust forward, ripping the earth from beneath their feet.
As the two boys met in the center, both clashed swords, making a cross with their swords together. They both pushed away and tried to attack again. The brown haired boy swung his sword from down to up, the other boy swung his sword from up to down and the two swords met again. The black haired boy swung his sword around, trying to cut the other boy with a lariat, but the boy ducked the sword and tried to use his sword and stab upwards to get his opponent. As the brown haired boy flew his sword straight up, the black haired boy saw an open chance and swung his sword horizontally in front of him, whacking away the boy's sword.
The sword twirled in the air a couple of times before finally hitting the ground and making a loud clank. The black haired boy, proud of his victory didn't celebrate; instead, he held a stern face towards his opponent and congratulated his opponent. "Good job, Syaoran!" The five old men rose up from their cross legged positions and stood up as they put their opposite arms into their huge sleeves. "Dai Lan is the winner!" the fourth wise old man said.
Feeling disappointment and disgrace, Syaoran knelt down before his training partner and hung his head low. Suddenly, Syaoran's face turned deep dark. "You are becoming quite the warrior young lad," the fifth wise man said to Dai Lan, "You put up a great fight against Syaoran." Dai Lan modestly shook his head, "I am not getting that great, Li still puts up a great fight." Dai Lan smiled and approached Syaoran's body, seeing him in a deep disappointed mood. "Hey Syaoran," Dai Lan said in a sweet voice, "Come on, don't be so disappointed, you put up a great fight and we should train again some other time."
Dai Lan put his hand on Syaoran's shoulder, immediately; he felt a shiver down his spine. "Syaoran, are you okay?" Dai Lan began to get scared as the feeling in his spine tingled further, "Syaoran, what's the matter?" Suddenly, Syaoran snapped and yelled with a vicious roar as he punched Dai Lan in the face, breaking his nose. The five wise old men saw this and immediately tried to break up the fight.
"Syaoran, Dai Lan, stop this now!" the first wise men said trying to pull Syaoran off of Dai Lan's body. Syaoran, his eyes red and inflamed, elbowed behind him to knock away the old man. The old man stumbled back and the other old men didn't dare stop Syaoran by force. "Syaoran stop this!" said the fourth man.
Syaoran wouldn't stop, instead, he continued to pound on his partners face, turning his face from bruised, to bloody and completely mutilation. Syaoran then took his hands and strangled the boy, making him gasp for air. "No this has gone long enough!" the fifth old man and the third both went to remove Syaoran off of Dai Lan. Syaoran tried his best to fight off the two, but he was carried by both arms and couldn't fight back.
Anger had gotten the best of Syaoran, his body was shaking uncontrollably and his blood vessels popped out of his temples. He was screaming with that ferocity of a beast! The other old men came to hold Syaoran's feet down as Dai Lan began to recover. Just as the two old men came to hold Syaoran's feet, Syaoran kicked away the two old men in a rage and elbowed the two men grabbing him by the arms.
Syaoran turned around viciously, his eyes red with anger and his canines showing as he clenched his teeth and roared. Syaoran ran to pick up his sword, as Dai Lan was getting up, Syaoran rushed toward Dai Lan and stabbed the sword right through his stomach. "DDDDIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" he screamed like a beast. Syaoran closed his eyes and tears dropped out of his eyes. As Syaoran opened his eyes again, he changed from angry, to confused. "What…what…what am I doing?" Syaoran asked as he saw his hands stained with blood.
Syaoran saw his hands holding onto a sword, "No," Syaoran turned his head up and saw Dai Lan with a bloody mutilated ugly face. "Brother!" Syaoran finally realizing what he had done, screamed, "What have I done?" Syaoran laid his brother down on top of his knees and shook his brother by the shoulders. "Brother, brother, what have I done, what has come to me?" As the old men got up and felt where they were hurt by Syaoran, they meanly stared at Syaoran and restrained his arms and legs and began to carry him away from Dai Lan's body.
"Brother, no brother!" Syaoran tried to reach for his brother with his hand, but the old men were carrying him away, "BRRRRROOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!"
Syaoran looked around him; the whole village surrounded him and looked in horror. Syaoran felt guilt and sadness, he didn't know what was making him kill his brother, but it wasn't him, it was madness. Syaoran hung his head low to cover his face in the shadows; his hands were tied behind his back to prevent him from trying to perform and hostile manners to the five old court members in front of him.
"Li Syaoran," the third old man said, "You have violated a rule of Taoism, and that is to kill a living thing." Syaoran hung his head even lower and felt his heart crushed into a million pieces. "Syaoran!" a young girl with reddish brown eyes and long black pigtails cried, "How could you do this Syaoran?" "On top of killing your beloved brother, you have committed a sin, 'anger', one of the sins Lao Tzu said would corrupt the hearts of mankind with a demonic creature." "Syaoran!" the fourth man said, "What do you have to say in your defense?" Syaoran looked at the fourth old man and looked at his surroundings, he was at the village square, where people could all see him, a roasting fire in the middle of the square was the only source of light to see Syaoran and the five wise old men.
"Nothing," Syaoran said looking away at the old men, "I have nothing to explain my actions!" The five wise old men were very ashamed to do this, but they knew that Syaoran had committed a sin, and that leaving it untended to would only fill a deeper anger and cause his heart to sin further and lead him to a life of corruption. The old wise men began to stutter as they ordered a man burning a piece of long metal in the fire, "Fuo," the third wise man called, wincing as he commanded, "Remove Li Syaoran's clothes…and…brand him…" The wise men turned away as Fuo, the blacksmith, took the piece of metal out of the fire. On the end of the stick, there was a metal engrave Chinese letter on it which read 'tao'.
Fuo approached Syaoran and ripped his clothes off, exposing his skinny boyish body. As Fuo closed his eyes, he quickly pushed the metal on Syaoran's left pectoral and burned the Chinese character on his chest. The burn hissed, like water being put on a hot piece of metal. The villagers turned away hearing the hiss and screams of pain. They smelled the burning flesh of a young ten year old's body. Syaoran screamed even more when he tried to look down at the metal still attached to his skin, boiling it so that little bubbles popped on his skin.
Fuo, sickened, removed the piece of metal right when the hissing sound stopped. Syaoran, exhausted, collapsed from the pain he had just endured. "Syaoran," the first wise man said, "It saddens me greatly, that you can not become an immortal any longer." The young girl who had watched Syaoran's painful scene ran in trying to wake Syaoran up. "Syaoran, Syaoran, speak to me!" Syaoran opened his eyes and looked at the girl with tears in his eyes, "Meiling," he cried out with a weak voice, "I can no longer become an immortal, I'm sorry I couldn't make our dreams come true." With that, Syaoran collapsed in Meiling's arms.
"No," she cried, then she began to yell at the five men with tears streaking down her eyes, "Syaoran can still become an immortal, can't he?" The second wise man shook his head, "I'm afraid he can't, once he has broken a sin, the sin will eat his heart forever until one day, he shall be forever consumed by the sin and never reach immortal status." Meiling broke out in tears, "Isn't there some way to make him cleansed?" she desperately searched for an answer, "Syaoran has followed you for all his life for the last 10 years, do you not think he can just let all his Taoist training go to waste?"
The five men looked at each other and turned back to Meiling, "There is one way that Syaoran can cleanse himself," Meiling lit up with joy, "But it is very unlikely that he might do it." Meiling desperately tried to save his friend, "What is it? How can he become an immortal again?"
The fifth old man answered back to Meiling, "Tomorrow, Syaoran will leave Mount Kunlun as it is required by law!" Meiling shocked at this answer, shook her head, "No!" she screamed, "I won't let him leave!" "You must!" the first man snapped, "If he doesn't leave then he cannot be cleansed, for it is up to him to go out into the world by himself, and attempt to find enlightment. That is the only way for Syaoran to once again follow the path to immortality, and that is the only way that he can fight his sins. If he cannot find enlightment through his travels, then he shall be consumed by his sins and become nothing more than a corrupt demon."
