Chapter 4
God's Beloved Daughter
Thank you for reading and reviewing. CLAMP owns Tsubasa. What an ever so devastating thought. Less reviews than I hoped but never mind, TRC is still new …
Sararin: Yeah right. True. It-chan: Even though it's a flame, it's a review! :p
-- Himitsu
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Syaoran, Chunyan and me went to look for my feather around Koryo. It was pleasant and warm, vaguely reminding of Clow. Chunyan was telling me about the castle "before the stupid father and son took over" when someone called her.
"Hey Chunyan! You've got a new girl!"
"Travellers. They come from a foreign land," Chunyan explained.
"Oh, travellers! Then join us," said another man.
"What's this?" Syaoran looked at a bowl in which there were two cubes with dots on them.
"Negi. Don't you know?"
"I saw something like it before. That's a die," Syaoran said.
"It's simple!" said the man. "Just roll these and the highest total wins." He dropped the strange cubes into my hand. "Here, here, try some fortune."
"Oh come on," said Chunyan, a little sarcastic. "Who's got the highest for now?"
"It's me. 11," said the man confidently.
"That's not fair for an amateur!" Chunyan interjected. "To win, she has to get six and six."
I threw the cubes into the bowl. It made a clattering sound. Twelve dots?
The crowd shouted in shock.
"Yay! Sakura wins!" Mokona cheered.
I picked up the dies. There were different numbers of dots on each surface.
"Well, that's kinda luck," said the man shakily. "Roll the dice again."
I did as I was told. Twelve dots. The crowd erupted with noise. Twelve dots. The crowd erupted with noise. Twelve dots. The crowd erupted with noise. Twelve dots. The crowd were utterly shocked. I suppose the way you play it was by throwing the dies and see who gets highest.
"Stop getting doubles of six!" whimpered the man in desperation.
I rubbed my eyes drowsily. All this dice throwing makes me sleepy.
* * *
Chunyan brought us to a place where we could sit down and see the red sky, lit up by the glorious radiance of the sun. It was an old stone bridge where wind blew gently and the atmosphere was calm.
"Sakura's victorious!" said Chunyan happily, eating a steamed bun. "We got a lot!"
From the dice throwing game, I won full sets of Koryo clothes for Syaoran and me and three baskets of food. My clothes were pink and Syaoran's was green.
"That's amazing! You only get six and six," said Chunyan animatedly. "You are the Beloved Daughter of God!"
"What … are you saying?" I murmured.
"It's a person with lots of fortune. My omoni taught me," said Chunyan proudly. "God loves her and gives her a lot of fortune. Were you like this before?"
"I don't know."
"Why?"
"I only remember my name … and a town in the desert," Sakura said. I remembered the lovely dry hot weather in the day, the cool chilly winds at night. The stalls in the marketplace, selling apples. There were barely any plantation or streams for a few miles. The castle where I lived, and my bedroom with their high white ceilings and lovely view of the dunes. "It's mostly sand dunes, but they love the few waters and nature there are."
"I'm sorry I asked something bad," apologised Chunyan.
"We are on a journey to find my recollections," I said. I had lost nearly all my memories. "I don't remember them but he told me. Yes, from Syaoran–kun."
"Hai, Sakura-hime," Syaoran answered, smiling.
"Stop it, please!" screamed a woman, somewhere up the hill.
"This store did not pay any taxes to the Ryanban!" It was the Ryanban's son again.
"Haraboji needs medicine for his illness," reasoned the woman anxiously. "Please wait!"
"No way!" bellowed the Ryanban's son. "You have to pay all the taxes!"
"I cannot pay taxes 20 times more than the last Ryanban!" she cried.
"Then I'll hit him more! 100 times," he roared, and raised his great whip. The woman shielded her grandfather, crying because she felt useless.
"No! No way!" shouted Chunyan.
I covered the two of them before the whip fell. I prepared for the blow … Surprisingly, it didn't come. I glanced up and gasped. Syaoran was standing on one of the Ryanban's son's fists, and the other foot was on his face. He was holding the whip using both of his hands.
"You! From yesterday!" The Ryanban managed to shout even with a foot on his face.
"Daijoubu desu ka, Sakura?" Chunyan asked me.
"Daijoubu." I wiped my eyes, feeling dizzy again.
"Get out of my way!"
"I won't," Syaoran said coolly and tightened his grip on the whip.
"Then I'll teach you a lesson of what'll happen when you mess with the Ryanban!"
"You are his son, stupid one!" growled Chunyan fiercely.
The Ryanban's son glared at her. "Shut up!" He threw Syaoran off unceremoniously and brought out a big fan with a crescent moon on it. "GO!" he commanded and, a warrior clad in shiny armour appeared carrying a giant sword.
"That fan …" gasped Chunyan.
The warrior was roughly three metres tall. Underneath the warrior's helmet was a pair of eyes emerging from shadows. The warrior went for Syaoran with its blade.
"It came out of the fan?" I asked Chunyan, just in case I was dreaming.
"That belonged to my omoni! My omoni was Shinpan! She made medicines and spells," Chunyan said, starting to shed tears. "But she never used them for evil! She said it was the pride of a mage … But those idiots … they came here as travelling mages a year ago and suddenly got stronger. They pushed the Ryanban to get his place. Omoni faught to stop them … but she was killed!"
Syaoran balanced himself on the warrior's wide sword. In a few moves, he kicked its head off. The head dissolved into gooey liquid. For a few seconds it seemed like the commotion was over. Then the warrior's head grew from the glutinous mass, moulding into an armoured head again. Its body split and multiplied. He was surrounded.
"Watch out!" Chunyan yelled.
All the warriors were going to strike at the same time. Syaoran narrowly missed the pointed blades. He leapt up and kicked the nearest warrior and it melted into liquid. One by one, he struck the warriors and they fell to the ground futilely. The Ryanban's son groaned at the sight of his defeated warriors, overwhelmed by one. The last warrior went up behind Syaoran but he struck it deftly and it liquefied into mass that discoloured the ground. He landed smoothly on his feet and that irritated the Ryanban's son even more.
"You did it!" said Chunyan excitedly.
"You're getting carried away!" said the Ryanban's son.
"This sound … THE WIND IS APPROACHING!" Chunyan yelled.
The wind thrashed uncontrollably around Syaoran and for a few seconds he was suspended in mid-air. Then the wind ceased and he fell from the air. "SYAORAN-KUN!" I screamed. I ran to where he was. His head was bleeding. The Ryanban's son seemed pleased with it though.
"Take that! This is the Ryanban's secret magic!" said the Ryanban's son jubilantly.
"How can the father help out when it's the son's fight!?" Chunyan shrieked angrily at the injustice. "You guys really are the lowest family out here!"
"Shut up! If it bothers you so much, why don't you beat Aboji yourself, Chunyan!" he retorted. He added in a self-aggrandising way, "Well, it's not like you could even touch him!"
"When the Amenosa show up, all of your evil deeds will be judged!"
"They're not coming!" He turned towards the woman. "And since you didn't pay, your taxes will be doubled!"
"Sonna!" gasped the woman.
"If you can't pay up, I'll take your stall! You and the old man will both get three hundred lashes!" The Ryanban's son marched off with his troops. "HAAHAHAHAHA!"
"KUSO!" Chunyan shrieked in agony.
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Go, go Syaoran! Fight! Should I change the world after Jade Koku? Or change stuff in Jade too, make Sakura suffer. Oops, shouldn't be saying such evil things to the public. O_o