Author's notes:
To anonymous and Kittiiie - I am very much aware that strength comes in
many forms and that Sakura is a very much loved character. And thank you
for congratulating me. However, the reason I put that Sakura was weak was
not entirely based on the fact that she was innocent. Remember that Eriol,
Kero, Yue, and Touya were the ones who wanted to protect her innocence.
Sakura just wanted to live a normal life and they granted her wish. She
does still use her powers, but not very often. So she does not grow
stronger to fulfill her true purpose in life. And personally, I just love
Syaoran a whole lot better than Sakura.
To Flora, Tainted angel-ai, Jingxi, Wings of Light, Chaya, Simplicity, and Shatteredglass-crimsonheart - thank you so much for reading my story and telling me that it was good. I originally planned this to be a one-shot. But I made another chapter just to tie up some loose ends. I'll write another one to try and tie up the rest.
He saw them. 24 year old Touya saw all the spirits in the land of the dead. He had his powers returned to him 2 months after Sakura defeated Eriol. It was December and Kinomoto Touya was lying on his bed at his family's home. Sure he had his own apartment that he shared with Yukito, but he still had his old room there and was staying for the weekend. Currently he just was looking around the other realm after having a chat with his mother. His spirit form that is.
He looked behind him when he heard 4 loud girls talking about how they haven't seen their younger brother in ages. The voices sounded oddly familiar, so Touya went to where they were standing. But when he got there, the 4 young women disappeared. It wasn't that strange since spirits often did that. They never stayed in one place more than they had to.
But what they left behind made Touya stand still like stone. It was more like who they left behind to be specific. It was Li Syaoran. After what Eriol asked of him back in July, Touya would have never guess that he would actually meet up with him.
"Gaki," Touya said. It reminded him of the old times and it felt good to say that to him.
"Baka," Xiao Lang replied back with a nod.
"What are you doing here?" Touya asked. "Or more importantly, how did you get here?" He knew that Xiao Lang was indeed not dead. Unlike Sakura, Touya's powers grew over the years. He had the power to go to the realm of the dead, see the spirits, know who was dead, summon a few spirits to the living realm, and could tell who had the same powers as he. If they were completely human that is. But with Xiao Lang, it was different. He wasn't dead or completely human as far as Touya can tell. Yet here he was, in the realm of the dead. And Touya could bet his life that Xiao Lang didn't have the same exact powers as he.
"What do you think I'm doing here? I came to visit the dead baka," Xiao Lang said annoyed.
Touya noticed that Xiao Lang did not answer his other, more important question. Then Xiao Lang started to walk away. But Touya didn't want him to leave just yet. There was something about him that Touya wanted answers to. Especially since he and Eriol had that nice little conversation after he dragged everyone to that English café; The Wolf's Den.
"Wait!" Touya called after him.
"What do you want?" Xiao Lang said stopping but didn't turn around.
What did Touya really want? Did he really want to talk with the gaki? The same gaki who tried to hurt his little sister when they first met? Then that little chat with Eriol came back to his mind again.
'Please, if you see my cute little descendant, have a talk with him' Eriol had said. This confused the hell out of Touya because first, no one had seen nor heard from the kid in about 6 years. Second, why would he want to talk to the gaki even if he did see him? But he agreed to it because there was something in Eriol's eyes that had begged him to do it.
"Just to talk," Touya said lazily as if it was an everyday thing to talk with someone that you don't like very much.
"Just to talk, ne?" Xiao Lang said and then turned around. "Hiragizawa asked you to do this, didn't he?"
"What if he did?"
"Why would you want to talk with me?"
"He acted like I was the only one who had the most chances of specking with you," Touya replied. He wasn't aware that he thought that until he actually said it. It just seemed like Eriol thought that he, Kinomoto Touya, had the most chances of seeing and specking with the Chinese brat. Even more than Sakura since everyone knew that the boy was in love with her. Expect for Sakura. Touya even knew and he disliked the gaki even more.
"So, here I am. What do you want to talk about?" Xiao Lang asked.
"Eh....." Touya never thought about that. Eriol never said what to talk to him about if did really see him.
"How... How is life treating you?" he said unsure and at a lost.
To Touya's surprise, Xiao Lang laughed. He actually laughed! At Touya or the question, he didn't know. But Touya took this as an offense.
"Hey! Stop that! I practically ask you how you are and you laugh at me?!" he yelled angrily.
When Xiao Lang was able to calm himself down he said, "No, no. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing about how ironic the question was. And thank you. I haven't been able to laugh like that in a long time."
Touya was stunned. Xiao Lang had just said thank you to him and also said that the question was ironic. Now Touya knew that something was up. He knew that Xiao Lang meant more than what he said. He learned long ago that when a person said one thing, it could mean another or more. He could thank Eriol for that after all the times, but few, that they had talk. Eriol was cryptic when he talks, so Touya had to analyze what he said every few minutes or so. The same seemed to be true with Xiao Lang right now.
"What's so ironic about the question? You aren't even dead and yet here you are! How are you able to get here anyways? And why do you feel like you're not entirely human? " Touya practically yelled.
Xiao Lang's face grew hard. "I don't have to tell you," he said after a few moments.
"Well I want to know," Touya snapped.
"Well too bad for you because I'm not going to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Why should I?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because you have to!" Touya felt like a 10 year old instead of a 24 year old. Xiao Lang always had this affect on him every time they fought. Funny how easily it was for them to have an argument after years of no communication. And to be honest, he half missed fighting with him. Of course he'd rather die than admit that. Touya never got to do this with Sakura's boyfriend. He never glared or talked back to Touya. Syaoran did.
"I have no obligations to tell you," Xiao Lang said easily as if winning the argument with that statement.
At a lost for the first time in months, Touya did the only thing he could do at the moment. He glared. It earned him a glare in return by the teen.
The two stood glaring at each other for a good 5 minutes, until a spirit pass through the space between them.
Coming to his senses, Touya took a deep breathe and asked again as calmly as he could, "What happened to you?"
"I'm-"
"I know, 'I'm not telling you'," Touya interrupted.
"Good, then I don't have to tell you again, baka," and with that, Xiao Lang turned to leave.
"Wait you stupid gaki!" Touya called out to him as Xiao Lang walked away.
"What do you want now?"
"Like I said before, just to talk," Touya calmly strained out again.
With a sigh, Xiao said, "Fine, I'll tell you some of what happened to me. Only because I trust you so -much-,"
'Trust? The gaki trusts me?' Touya thought to himself, surprised.
"I've always trusted you. I just never really liked you," Xiao Lang answered his thoughts, freaking Touya out as he did with Eriol.
"Besides," he continued, "who are you going to tell? And if you do tell, who is going to believe you? That the 'Chinese gaki that you hate so much' told you some of his secrets. And also, you and Eriol deserves to know some of the things I'm about to tell you. So you could know tell him and only him. Do you promise me?"
Trust. Such a big thing for a 5 letter word. And Xiao Lang trusted him enough to reveal some of the mysteries that surround him for 6 years. Could Touya live up to Xiao Lang's trust? Touya took a moment to think. He could, because even though he didn't like Xiao Lang very much, he knew that at least he could trust him when a serious situation comes up.
He trusted him with Sakura's safety when they were 10, why stop now? Besides, there was a change in the magical world and Xiao Lang may know what it was about. And he also said that he deserves to know some things, so what did that mean?
"Sure. I promise not to tell anybody what we have and will say here expect for Eriol," Touya said gravely.
"Living or dead?" Xiao Lang asked gravely.
"Living or dead," Touya agreed. Though he didn't see the point since the dead could keep a secret when asked to.
"Good," Xiao Lang said as if a load had been taken off his shoulders.
"It must some tale than if you look so relieved."
"You have no idea," with a looked that clearly said 'You really have no idea even if I told you about it, unless you experience it the way I have'. To which Touya had pity for him for the first time. Even if he didn't know what had happened to the younger man that expression on his face told enough to know that something terrible had happened to him.
"After I came back home to China, my mother told me what would happen if I did became the Card's master. In a way she was relieved that I wasn't the owner of the cards. In another way, she was disappointed that I wasn't able to bring back the cards to the family," Xiao Lang said.
"The cards did come back to the family," Touya interrupted. "Remember, my dad is half of the reincarnation of Clow Reed."
"That is true. But the Elders wanted the cards to be within the Li Clan. You know what the destiny of the Master of the Cards, am I right?" Xiao Lang asked.
Touya didn't answer right away. He did know. That was part of the reason why he tried to protect Sakura all those years.
"Yes," Touya answered after a while. "Mother told me. That the as Mistress of the Cards, Sakura's destiny was to battle the demons of another realm from coming to our realm and destroying it. But to stop them until the next Master or Mistress of the Cards is born, Sakura has to give up something close to her. Whether it be a feeling, a memory, or a life, something had to be a sacrifice or less it is not a true victory. We as humans had to prove that we were willing to sacrifice something dear to us so that many more can live. Because without it, it wouldn't be a true victory. No matter how much it feels like it isn't. And it would prove that the rest of humanity is wroth fighting for."
"Your mother taught you well," Xiao Lang half praised.
"Are you flattering me?" Touya asked half mocking and half shocked.
"No. Of course not," Xiao Lang snorted. Touya snorted back at him.
"Anyway," Xiao Lang continued, "I was planning to come back to Japan the following year with Meiling. She missed Sakura and Tomoyo. During the next couple of months, I trained to become stronger. Even though I didn't become the Card's Master, the Elders and mama thought that I may be of assistant to Sakura when her destined battle comes. But something happened that we never thought would happened."
"Sakura stopped training in her magical abilities and rarely used her powers, thus denying her destiny," Touya said.
"Yes," Xiao Lang said with a hint of anger. Touya noticed but didn't say anything. He figured that he shouldn't say anything now. It looked like it was a lot of bad memories for the young teen.
"So the Elders sent one of my cousins to Japan to find out what was wrong and to get her to increase in her skills once again. But when he came back, he said that Kero told him that he and Yue would take care of the demons and others who wanted to take away the cards from her."
Touya remembered the day when a middle aged Chinese man came to Tomoeda. He met him for a few moments. The Chinese guy seemed like a nice man too, despite the fact that he was a Chinese sorcerer But he didn't seen to want to take the cards from Sakura. Yukito never told him what he was doing there later on. So Touya just assumed it was a check up on Sakura from the Chinese gaki.
"What did you all do after you found that out?" Touya hesitantly asked knowing that he wouldn't like the answer that he would hear. Xiao Lang didn't say anything for a few moments.
"I decided that I would take Sakura's destiny for her," he said with no emotions at last.
"How.... How is that possible? Sakura's destiny is for her alone. No one can take the place of what she was meant to do. No one. Not even Eriol or my father together!! That's just not possible!" Touya exclaimed.
"It is possible," Xiao Lang said with all seriousness of an old man. "Possible, yet painful. Very painful."
"I would imagine," Touya said but with doubt in his voice.
"No, you can't," Xiao Lang almost sneered.
"Than why did you do it?" Touya rudely asked. "You could have saved yourself the pain and all this bitterness that seems to be flowing out of you."
"Would you want Sakura to go into battle with demons with little power and no knowledge of how to defeat them or even to fight them?" Xiao Lang demanded.
Touya looked away. He didn't want Sakura to even see those demons. But to have someone else take her place when it was hers to do... That wasn't right. Even it was Sakura who he was saving. But Touya couldn't help but feel better now that Sakura would remain safe. Even if it was evident that the cost of it was high. Very high. He didn't want to know exactly how high the price was. Because if he did, he didn't want to feel like he was in the wrong. He didn't want to feel like trying to protect Sakura from all of this wasn't worth it. It had to be worth. He wanted it to be worth it, because he was that selfish to want to see Sakura smile everyday without a care in the world. Without knowing what the world had install for her to do. Without ever knowing. But with Xiao Lang right now, it was a unless wish. "I took her destiny over because she I didn't want to see her get hurt. Because I love her. Yet I disliked very much her for, first she became the Card's Mistress and then later she acted like her magical adventures was like a phase in her life that would close after she passed the final judgment. (AN: In episode 47. Sakura and the Mysterious Transfer Student in the Japanese version, I think, and in the 24 episode in the English version, The Past, The Present, & The Future, Sakura did think that her adventures were over.) "But it wasn't until my family died that I grew to hate her. I know that I shouldn't hate her for a choice that I made, but I couldn't help but feel the way I did," Xiao Lang said emotionless.
Touya couldn't believe it. He –hated- Sakura? But from what he said, he still loved her as well because he said love not loved. But how can that be? To love someone as well as hate them? That would tear a person apart. Touya was afraid to ask.
"It never got a chance to tear me apart," Xiao Lang answered Touya's thoughts. He looked at him in surprised. "The love, the hate. It never got a good chance to have my spirit rip into pieces. The demons got to me first."
Now Touya was surprised, shocked, and scared. Xiao Lang, was dead?
"H-H...What?" he stammered. Xiao Lang didn't –feel- dead. How was that possible?
"They hit me hard with their magic and claw like hands after they murdered all of my closest family and the rest of direct descendants of Clow right in front of my eyes. I heard their screams and saw the horror in their eyes before they died. Mama (mother obviously) he wo si ge Jiejie (and my 4 older sisters) tried saving me from having the same fate as they did. Their hearts were taken from their bodies and they were still beating. Then the demons tore apart their bodies into pieces. Some of the demons had limbs sticking out of their mouths and others were hitting each other with my cousins' bloody arm. They were all laughing. It was a feast to them. To have the oldest magical and powerful family's blood was a compete joy to them," Xiao Lang told the tale coldly.
Touya couldn't believe that he heard all of that come out of Xiao Lang's mouth. How can a child of barely 11 years olds live through all of that? He didn't know what to say.
"And you know what else? It all happened on my birthday," Xiao Lang whispered.
That did it for Touya. He was mad. He was more than mad, he was pissed. How can something like that happen to him? He didn't deserve it. No one deserves to have to see their whole family die like that. No one.
Touya was so shaken up with emotions that the two males just stood there in front of the other for a few good minutes. Touya knew that he had to at least to say something to comfort Xiao Lang. But what could he possible say? It was obvious that the young Chinese teen was not over his family's death. No one can ever be over that. But it wasn't like he could just say 'I'm sorry about what happened to you.' Xiao Lang didn't want his pity, never asked for it. He didn't tell his story so that Touya would feel sorry for him, he told it so that he would understand why he is like this now. To understand his actions.
"The demons came to us because they knew that I had attempted to take over Sakura's destiny," Xiao Lang said a few minutes later when Touya didn't say anything. His facial expression told Xiao Lang what he felt and his lack of words to say. "Apparently, actually taken over the destiny of someone else is practically unheard of. It only happened once as far as they knew, and it end just as badly, if not worst, for them. So they came to teach me and my family a lesson."
Xiao Lang gave a sick grin which sent shivers down Touya's spine. "But we were proud and stubborn. We had no intention of learning a lesson from them. So we never did learn their lesson even after death."
"Death..." Touya muttered. "Are you... But how... You don't...." he had a hard time of getting the question out.
"The demons did get a chance to hit me bad, but they never did get to kill me," Xiao Lang answered for him.
"Eh? But you don't feel like a normal human. Ever for a sorcerer, you don't feel completely human."
"Yeah well... About that..."
"Yes?"
"You don't have to know."
There was quite all around them for a few moments. Then Touya yelled out, "Nani?!"
"From a serious moment to an absolutely ridiculous one," a spirit muttered.
Xiao Lang smirked, "Fine if you really must know, in a way I did die. The human me died. I have become in a sense, something more."
"Like a Sentinel?" Touya asked.
"No. My purpose is to not shield one person in their life from successors of Destruction. My purpose and destiny changed. Now I have a true purpose here, not one shrouded by life itself like many other humans," he said.
"I don't understand," Touya said confused. In all his years of study, he has never heard of something like that.
"I am close to what humans call an angel."
"What?! You're an angel?!" Touya couldn't believe. How can someone just become an angel? One would have to die first and be weighed before one became an angel. It was a long process and Xiao Lang didn't have the type of aura that indicated that he was blessed with the holy water and light. His aura felt more pure. More connected to himself. An angel's aura felt more connected to a higher power than their self.
"No. I am not an actual angel to clear things up. I said close to one. I am neither angel nor spirit. I have ascended to something more which there is very, very few of us in all existence. Humans on Earth does not even have name for my kind. So I guess you can say that I am a high ranking angel. A Seraphim is as close as you can get."
Touya couldn't believe what he just heard. That couldn't be right. There was no possible way that Xiao Lang was what he said he was. Right?
"You don't have to believe me. I don't really care if you do," Xiao Lang said.
"What made you so special to become... like this?" Touya asked.
Xiao Lang looked at him straight in the eye. "Because I was born to be what I am."
Touya didn't know what to believe. It was so much information to take in.
"I'm going to go now," Xiao Lang suddenly said. Touya looked up at him. "Anything else you would like to say?"
Touya shook his head. He had a bunch of thoughts swarming in his head that he didn't have a thing to say or ask. It was all too much. An angel?
Then, just like before with Eriol months ago, Xiao Lang disappeared. Like he fazed out of ever being there.
Touya stood there a while longer wondering what had just happened. About an hour later, one would find him in the Kinomoto's kitchen cooking dinner while Kero ate his 'right before dinner snack'.
"Hey Touya. What did the spirits tell ya?" Kero asked, stopping for a minute to look up at Touya.
"Huh?" Touya asked stopping him for a moment.
"Well, you have this really serious look on your face ever since you came back down here to the living world. Anything bad the spirits told you?"
Touya thought about what to say. "No. Nothing you should worry yourself about."
"Nothing eh?"
"Yeah, nothing."
"So what did you do up there?"
Touya gave a small smile. "Oh, you know. The usual, just talked."
To Flora, Tainted angel-ai, Jingxi, Wings of Light, Chaya, Simplicity, and Shatteredglass-crimsonheart - thank you so much for reading my story and telling me that it was good. I originally planned this to be a one-shot. But I made another chapter just to tie up some loose ends. I'll write another one to try and tie up the rest.
He saw them. 24 year old Touya saw all the spirits in the land of the dead. He had his powers returned to him 2 months after Sakura defeated Eriol. It was December and Kinomoto Touya was lying on his bed at his family's home. Sure he had his own apartment that he shared with Yukito, but he still had his old room there and was staying for the weekend. Currently he just was looking around the other realm after having a chat with his mother. His spirit form that is.
He looked behind him when he heard 4 loud girls talking about how they haven't seen their younger brother in ages. The voices sounded oddly familiar, so Touya went to where they were standing. But when he got there, the 4 young women disappeared. It wasn't that strange since spirits often did that. They never stayed in one place more than they had to.
But what they left behind made Touya stand still like stone. It was more like who they left behind to be specific. It was Li Syaoran. After what Eriol asked of him back in July, Touya would have never guess that he would actually meet up with him.
"Gaki," Touya said. It reminded him of the old times and it felt good to say that to him.
"Baka," Xiao Lang replied back with a nod.
"What are you doing here?" Touya asked. "Or more importantly, how did you get here?" He knew that Xiao Lang was indeed not dead. Unlike Sakura, Touya's powers grew over the years. He had the power to go to the realm of the dead, see the spirits, know who was dead, summon a few spirits to the living realm, and could tell who had the same powers as he. If they were completely human that is. But with Xiao Lang, it was different. He wasn't dead or completely human as far as Touya can tell. Yet here he was, in the realm of the dead. And Touya could bet his life that Xiao Lang didn't have the same exact powers as he.
"What do you think I'm doing here? I came to visit the dead baka," Xiao Lang said annoyed.
Touya noticed that Xiao Lang did not answer his other, more important question. Then Xiao Lang started to walk away. But Touya didn't want him to leave just yet. There was something about him that Touya wanted answers to. Especially since he and Eriol had that nice little conversation after he dragged everyone to that English café; The Wolf's Den.
"Wait!" Touya called after him.
"What do you want?" Xiao Lang said stopping but didn't turn around.
What did Touya really want? Did he really want to talk with the gaki? The same gaki who tried to hurt his little sister when they first met? Then that little chat with Eriol came back to his mind again.
'Please, if you see my cute little descendant, have a talk with him' Eriol had said. This confused the hell out of Touya because first, no one had seen nor heard from the kid in about 6 years. Second, why would he want to talk to the gaki even if he did see him? But he agreed to it because there was something in Eriol's eyes that had begged him to do it.
"Just to talk," Touya said lazily as if it was an everyday thing to talk with someone that you don't like very much.
"Just to talk, ne?" Xiao Lang said and then turned around. "Hiragizawa asked you to do this, didn't he?"
"What if he did?"
"Why would you want to talk with me?"
"He acted like I was the only one who had the most chances of specking with you," Touya replied. He wasn't aware that he thought that until he actually said it. It just seemed like Eriol thought that he, Kinomoto Touya, had the most chances of seeing and specking with the Chinese brat. Even more than Sakura since everyone knew that the boy was in love with her. Expect for Sakura. Touya even knew and he disliked the gaki even more.
"So, here I am. What do you want to talk about?" Xiao Lang asked.
"Eh....." Touya never thought about that. Eriol never said what to talk to him about if did really see him.
"How... How is life treating you?" he said unsure and at a lost.
To Touya's surprise, Xiao Lang laughed. He actually laughed! At Touya or the question, he didn't know. But Touya took this as an offense.
"Hey! Stop that! I practically ask you how you are and you laugh at me?!" he yelled angrily.
When Xiao Lang was able to calm himself down he said, "No, no. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing about how ironic the question was. And thank you. I haven't been able to laugh like that in a long time."
Touya was stunned. Xiao Lang had just said thank you to him and also said that the question was ironic. Now Touya knew that something was up. He knew that Xiao Lang meant more than what he said. He learned long ago that when a person said one thing, it could mean another or more. He could thank Eriol for that after all the times, but few, that they had talk. Eriol was cryptic when he talks, so Touya had to analyze what he said every few minutes or so. The same seemed to be true with Xiao Lang right now.
"What's so ironic about the question? You aren't even dead and yet here you are! How are you able to get here anyways? And why do you feel like you're not entirely human? " Touya practically yelled.
Xiao Lang's face grew hard. "I don't have to tell you," he said after a few moments.
"Well I want to know," Touya snapped.
"Well too bad for you because I'm not going to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Why should I?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because you have to!" Touya felt like a 10 year old instead of a 24 year old. Xiao Lang always had this affect on him every time they fought. Funny how easily it was for them to have an argument after years of no communication. And to be honest, he half missed fighting with him. Of course he'd rather die than admit that. Touya never got to do this with Sakura's boyfriend. He never glared or talked back to Touya. Syaoran did.
"I have no obligations to tell you," Xiao Lang said easily as if winning the argument with that statement.
At a lost for the first time in months, Touya did the only thing he could do at the moment. He glared. It earned him a glare in return by the teen.
The two stood glaring at each other for a good 5 minutes, until a spirit pass through the space between them.
Coming to his senses, Touya took a deep breathe and asked again as calmly as he could, "What happened to you?"
"I'm-"
"I know, 'I'm not telling you'," Touya interrupted.
"Good, then I don't have to tell you again, baka," and with that, Xiao Lang turned to leave.
"Wait you stupid gaki!" Touya called out to him as Xiao Lang walked away.
"What do you want now?"
"Like I said before, just to talk," Touya calmly strained out again.
With a sigh, Xiao said, "Fine, I'll tell you some of what happened to me. Only because I trust you so -much-,"
'Trust? The gaki trusts me?' Touya thought to himself, surprised.
"I've always trusted you. I just never really liked you," Xiao Lang answered his thoughts, freaking Touya out as he did with Eriol.
"Besides," he continued, "who are you going to tell? And if you do tell, who is going to believe you? That the 'Chinese gaki that you hate so much' told you some of his secrets. And also, you and Eriol deserves to know some of the things I'm about to tell you. So you could know tell him and only him. Do you promise me?"
Trust. Such a big thing for a 5 letter word. And Xiao Lang trusted him enough to reveal some of the mysteries that surround him for 6 years. Could Touya live up to Xiao Lang's trust? Touya took a moment to think. He could, because even though he didn't like Xiao Lang very much, he knew that at least he could trust him when a serious situation comes up.
He trusted him with Sakura's safety when they were 10, why stop now? Besides, there was a change in the magical world and Xiao Lang may know what it was about. And he also said that he deserves to know some things, so what did that mean?
"Sure. I promise not to tell anybody what we have and will say here expect for Eriol," Touya said gravely.
"Living or dead?" Xiao Lang asked gravely.
"Living or dead," Touya agreed. Though he didn't see the point since the dead could keep a secret when asked to.
"Good," Xiao Lang said as if a load had been taken off his shoulders.
"It must some tale than if you look so relieved."
"You have no idea," with a looked that clearly said 'You really have no idea even if I told you about it, unless you experience it the way I have'. To which Touya had pity for him for the first time. Even if he didn't know what had happened to the younger man that expression on his face told enough to know that something terrible had happened to him.
"After I came back home to China, my mother told me what would happen if I did became the Card's master. In a way she was relieved that I wasn't the owner of the cards. In another way, she was disappointed that I wasn't able to bring back the cards to the family," Xiao Lang said.
"The cards did come back to the family," Touya interrupted. "Remember, my dad is half of the reincarnation of Clow Reed."
"That is true. But the Elders wanted the cards to be within the Li Clan. You know what the destiny of the Master of the Cards, am I right?" Xiao Lang asked.
Touya didn't answer right away. He did know. That was part of the reason why he tried to protect Sakura all those years.
"Yes," Touya answered after a while. "Mother told me. That the as Mistress of the Cards, Sakura's destiny was to battle the demons of another realm from coming to our realm and destroying it. But to stop them until the next Master or Mistress of the Cards is born, Sakura has to give up something close to her. Whether it be a feeling, a memory, or a life, something had to be a sacrifice or less it is not a true victory. We as humans had to prove that we were willing to sacrifice something dear to us so that many more can live. Because without it, it wouldn't be a true victory. No matter how much it feels like it isn't. And it would prove that the rest of humanity is wroth fighting for."
"Your mother taught you well," Xiao Lang half praised.
"Are you flattering me?" Touya asked half mocking and half shocked.
"No. Of course not," Xiao Lang snorted. Touya snorted back at him.
"Anyway," Xiao Lang continued, "I was planning to come back to Japan the following year with Meiling. She missed Sakura and Tomoyo. During the next couple of months, I trained to become stronger. Even though I didn't become the Card's Master, the Elders and mama thought that I may be of assistant to Sakura when her destined battle comes. But something happened that we never thought would happened."
"Sakura stopped training in her magical abilities and rarely used her powers, thus denying her destiny," Touya said.
"Yes," Xiao Lang said with a hint of anger. Touya noticed but didn't say anything. He figured that he shouldn't say anything now. It looked like it was a lot of bad memories for the young teen.
"So the Elders sent one of my cousins to Japan to find out what was wrong and to get her to increase in her skills once again. But when he came back, he said that Kero told him that he and Yue would take care of the demons and others who wanted to take away the cards from her."
Touya remembered the day when a middle aged Chinese man came to Tomoeda. He met him for a few moments. The Chinese guy seemed like a nice man too, despite the fact that he was a Chinese sorcerer But he didn't seen to want to take the cards from Sakura. Yukito never told him what he was doing there later on. So Touya just assumed it was a check up on Sakura from the Chinese gaki.
"What did you all do after you found that out?" Touya hesitantly asked knowing that he wouldn't like the answer that he would hear. Xiao Lang didn't say anything for a few moments.
"I decided that I would take Sakura's destiny for her," he said with no emotions at last.
"How.... How is that possible? Sakura's destiny is for her alone. No one can take the place of what she was meant to do. No one. Not even Eriol or my father together!! That's just not possible!" Touya exclaimed.
"It is possible," Xiao Lang said with all seriousness of an old man. "Possible, yet painful. Very painful."
"I would imagine," Touya said but with doubt in his voice.
"No, you can't," Xiao Lang almost sneered.
"Than why did you do it?" Touya rudely asked. "You could have saved yourself the pain and all this bitterness that seems to be flowing out of you."
"Would you want Sakura to go into battle with demons with little power and no knowledge of how to defeat them or even to fight them?" Xiao Lang demanded.
Touya looked away. He didn't want Sakura to even see those demons. But to have someone else take her place when it was hers to do... That wasn't right. Even it was Sakura who he was saving. But Touya couldn't help but feel better now that Sakura would remain safe. Even if it was evident that the cost of it was high. Very high. He didn't want to know exactly how high the price was. Because if he did, he didn't want to feel like he was in the wrong. He didn't want to feel like trying to protect Sakura from all of this wasn't worth it. It had to be worth. He wanted it to be worth it, because he was that selfish to want to see Sakura smile everyday without a care in the world. Without knowing what the world had install for her to do. Without ever knowing. But with Xiao Lang right now, it was a unless wish. "I took her destiny over because she I didn't want to see her get hurt. Because I love her. Yet I disliked very much her for, first she became the Card's Mistress and then later she acted like her magical adventures was like a phase in her life that would close after she passed the final judgment. (AN: In episode 47. Sakura and the Mysterious Transfer Student in the Japanese version, I think, and in the 24 episode in the English version, The Past, The Present, & The Future, Sakura did think that her adventures were over.) "But it wasn't until my family died that I grew to hate her. I know that I shouldn't hate her for a choice that I made, but I couldn't help but feel the way I did," Xiao Lang said emotionless.
Touya couldn't believe it. He –hated- Sakura? But from what he said, he still loved her as well because he said love not loved. But how can that be? To love someone as well as hate them? That would tear a person apart. Touya was afraid to ask.
"It never got a chance to tear me apart," Xiao Lang answered Touya's thoughts. He looked at him in surprised. "The love, the hate. It never got a good chance to have my spirit rip into pieces. The demons got to me first."
Now Touya was surprised, shocked, and scared. Xiao Lang, was dead?
"H-H...What?" he stammered. Xiao Lang didn't –feel- dead. How was that possible?
"They hit me hard with their magic and claw like hands after they murdered all of my closest family and the rest of direct descendants of Clow right in front of my eyes. I heard their screams and saw the horror in their eyes before they died. Mama (mother obviously) he wo si ge Jiejie (and my 4 older sisters) tried saving me from having the same fate as they did. Their hearts were taken from their bodies and they were still beating. Then the demons tore apart their bodies into pieces. Some of the demons had limbs sticking out of their mouths and others were hitting each other with my cousins' bloody arm. They were all laughing. It was a feast to them. To have the oldest magical and powerful family's blood was a compete joy to them," Xiao Lang told the tale coldly.
Touya couldn't believe that he heard all of that come out of Xiao Lang's mouth. How can a child of barely 11 years olds live through all of that? He didn't know what to say.
"And you know what else? It all happened on my birthday," Xiao Lang whispered.
That did it for Touya. He was mad. He was more than mad, he was pissed. How can something like that happen to him? He didn't deserve it. No one deserves to have to see their whole family die like that. No one.
Touya was so shaken up with emotions that the two males just stood there in front of the other for a few good minutes. Touya knew that he had to at least to say something to comfort Xiao Lang. But what could he possible say? It was obvious that the young Chinese teen was not over his family's death. No one can ever be over that. But it wasn't like he could just say 'I'm sorry about what happened to you.' Xiao Lang didn't want his pity, never asked for it. He didn't tell his story so that Touya would feel sorry for him, he told it so that he would understand why he is like this now. To understand his actions.
"The demons came to us because they knew that I had attempted to take over Sakura's destiny," Xiao Lang said a few minutes later when Touya didn't say anything. His facial expression told Xiao Lang what he felt and his lack of words to say. "Apparently, actually taken over the destiny of someone else is practically unheard of. It only happened once as far as they knew, and it end just as badly, if not worst, for them. So they came to teach me and my family a lesson."
Xiao Lang gave a sick grin which sent shivers down Touya's spine. "But we were proud and stubborn. We had no intention of learning a lesson from them. So we never did learn their lesson even after death."
"Death..." Touya muttered. "Are you... But how... You don't...." he had a hard time of getting the question out.
"The demons did get a chance to hit me bad, but they never did get to kill me," Xiao Lang answered for him.
"Eh? But you don't feel like a normal human. Ever for a sorcerer, you don't feel completely human."
"Yeah well... About that..."
"Yes?"
"You don't have to know."
There was quite all around them for a few moments. Then Touya yelled out, "Nani?!"
"From a serious moment to an absolutely ridiculous one," a spirit muttered.
Xiao Lang smirked, "Fine if you really must know, in a way I did die. The human me died. I have become in a sense, something more."
"Like a Sentinel?" Touya asked.
"No. My purpose is to not shield one person in their life from successors of Destruction. My purpose and destiny changed. Now I have a true purpose here, not one shrouded by life itself like many other humans," he said.
"I don't understand," Touya said confused. In all his years of study, he has never heard of something like that.
"I am close to what humans call an angel."
"What?! You're an angel?!" Touya couldn't believe. How can someone just become an angel? One would have to die first and be weighed before one became an angel. It was a long process and Xiao Lang didn't have the type of aura that indicated that he was blessed with the holy water and light. His aura felt more pure. More connected to himself. An angel's aura felt more connected to a higher power than their self.
"No. I am not an actual angel to clear things up. I said close to one. I am neither angel nor spirit. I have ascended to something more which there is very, very few of us in all existence. Humans on Earth does not even have name for my kind. So I guess you can say that I am a high ranking angel. A Seraphim is as close as you can get."
Touya couldn't believe what he just heard. That couldn't be right. There was no possible way that Xiao Lang was what he said he was. Right?
"You don't have to believe me. I don't really care if you do," Xiao Lang said.
"What made you so special to become... like this?" Touya asked.
Xiao Lang looked at him straight in the eye. "Because I was born to be what I am."
Touya didn't know what to believe. It was so much information to take in.
"I'm going to go now," Xiao Lang suddenly said. Touya looked up at him. "Anything else you would like to say?"
Touya shook his head. He had a bunch of thoughts swarming in his head that he didn't have a thing to say or ask. It was all too much. An angel?
Then, just like before with Eriol months ago, Xiao Lang disappeared. Like he fazed out of ever being there.
Touya stood there a while longer wondering what had just happened. About an hour later, one would find him in the Kinomoto's kitchen cooking dinner while Kero ate his 'right before dinner snack'.
"Hey Touya. What did the spirits tell ya?" Kero asked, stopping for a minute to look up at Touya.
"Huh?" Touya asked stopping him for a moment.
"Well, you have this really serious look on your face ever since you came back down here to the living world. Anything bad the spirits told you?"
Touya thought about what to say. "No. Nothing you should worry yourself about."
"Nothing eh?"
"Yeah, nothing."
"So what did you do up there?"
Touya gave a small smile. "Oh, you know. The usual, just talked."