Ice Jayden: I really REALLY like Card Captor Sakura, but I do NOT own it. Never have, never will.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter. Wow, there were a lot of them, hehehehe. So, just smile and have a very wonderful day.
PTV: Thank you and here it continues... but is not completed.
SailorSakura: This be the update and a longer, just a wee bit longer, chapter
NorthDemonAce: A honeymoon? I might see about putting one in, but maybe they will wait till they know each other much better first. They are still very much so strangers, although that will change a lot by the end of this chapter. Chances are it wont happen cause I just don't want to have to write that. To much trying to figure out how romance works, not my thing.
Rosie: I thought I already had Syaoran save Sakura? I don't know if it will happen again, Sakura doesn't like playing damsel in distress, although she likes having Syaoran rescue her.
AnimeAngel302: Thankz : )
Dreamers-wish: Wow, you reviewed all of my chapters, thank you, thank you, thank you... um, wow, I got a little swirly-eyed. And don't worry, I'm writing this story only until it's finished. And I do have a bunch of random other story ideas floating around my head trying to distract me, but, I want to finish this first. I'm no good at having two stories at the same time.
Meow-Fairy: Why thank you, as I've said before, I am updating ASAP all the time. This is the story I'm focusing all my writing energies on. (Well, I'll occasionally write a teeny tiny bit in other stories I have.)
Dark dragon 00: Thanks, I'm glad you think so.
Phantom Demon: Yah, I laugh WAY Too much while I'm writing it. That slows me down a bit, its hard to type when you're laughing.
AnnieS23: Wow, a lot of people said Two to One was a cute chapter, must be true. Thank yah lots.
Time Warp: I know, I thought it was a bit short too, but it isn't the shortest chapter, that would be chapter two, it is the only chapter that is less than four pages in word when I wrote it. So all the chapters, including seven, are four or more word pages. Thus far, chapter one is my longest chapter, my goal, to make a chapter longer than the first. I spend too much time thinking about the silliest little things, hehehe.
Sleepy.cat.zzz: uh oh is right, he ain't gonna be happy one iota with Sakura being sealed to Syaoran. That will be revealed in the story, anywhos, he really is gonna be mad when he finds out she married a Li. Mwahahahaha.
Serenia-sd: That's the kind of guy I see him as too, and I knew that he would be extremely stubborn and refuse to marry Sakura if he knew what he was agreeing to do. So I had to play a trick on him.
Sakura Blossom161: Hmm, I'm always writing. At least my roommates seem to think so. That or I'm reading, so yah, I'm writing more or less, constantly. I hope to actually write/edit enough to update again soon. Such a pain editing one owns stories.
Smiles: Thanks, I like compliments. I have had good days and baddish-good days. I always try to make every day a good day and the best way is to simply smile all the troubles away.
Sarah the original: Thank you very much.
Mariko: Arigato!!! This is supposed to be as original as I could think of. I think some of my unwritten ideas are fairly original too, but they are as of yet unwritten.
Anyways, on with the story...
Cast In Stone
Night Flight
Sakura flew up to where Kero and her brother were to see how they were doing. Touya didn't look thrilled about being on Kero, but happy that Ruby Moon was not smothering him. Flying wasn't very good for talking; the wind blew the words away. Well, it doesn't seem to affect telepathy one bit, but she still felt slightly uncomfortable with that form of communication. In fact, she found herself worrying that she was broadcasting all of her thoughts to him accidentally. She needed him to teach her how to tell if she was broadcasting all of her thoughts or not, he seemed to know what he was doing. How come he knows how to speak telepathically through our bond and I don't?
Because I've studied magic all of my life, including telepathy. Sakura gave a little squeak in surprise and looked around to find where Syaoran was flying in respect to her. He was behind her and a few feet down, skimming along the top of a cloud and playing with it. He seemed to be in his own little world and he looked really cute with the cloud mist parting for him as he played. The cloud had a pinkish tint to it from the setting sun that offset his dark green robes giving him an otherworldly appearance
Could you teach me how to know if I'm talking to you? Did you hear that? Yes on both accounts. It is very simple; let me show you through the bond. Sakura felt his magic bringing various magically properties to the forefront of her mind. She could see, in a magical sense, how to feel the link between them and pass thoughts and magic across that bond as well as to keep them from simply flowing to the other side when she wanted to have some more privacy.
As they flew her mind began to drift, especially now that she didn't have to worry about Syaoran hearing all of her thoughts. She allowed herself to feel all of the magic of the past and present as she flew through the darkening sky.
She could feel the Imperial capital very strongly even though it was far away. It was filled with magic marks from spells caste within over thousands of years; it felt like a center of magic. Both good and evil radiated from it.
The Emperor lived there and Norio died there. She knew without a doubt that he was no longer living with her magical senses. All life was filled with some level of magic even if it could not use it. The dead garden was a dead spot of the living magic that thrived all around them on the earth. All of the statues contained therein were nothing more than statues now, Syaoran somehow managed to find a loophole in the spell. He must have been more powerful than the caster of the spell and so was able to stop it from killing him but still unable to stop it from changing him into stone.
She felt somewhat guilty, she was happy that he was her husband and that he had been a statue for a thousand years so that they could be together now. And she still didn't really know him very well, just that he is her own age, knows a lot about magic, and his birth name was Li Xiao Lang. He had indeed been Chinese.
It was then that Sakura realized that he was a Li and it had been the Li Clan that had made so many advancements in magic. The entire clan had been slaughtered when the Empire formed and the Chinese palace was burned to the ground. Well, they kind of missed one.
She was presented with a rare opportunity; her husband was from an era that many myths and legends came from. He knows the truth and could tell her. Already he had proved truth behind one myth, magical swords really did exist. Syaoran, could you tell me about the time you lived. There are so many stories, but no one really knows which ones are true because the Li Clan was so secretive.
I know, she felt him mentally sigh, I have a hard time telling anyone anything, not that it really matters anymore so I will try. What did you want to know? Well, growing up in Japan, it was protected from Imperial invasion by a powerful magic spell caste by someone long ago. According to the most popular myth, it was the Li prince who had saved our nation. At least until the Clow Cards were completely mastered and then it was up to, well me, to protect it. I didn't do a very good job though. On the same day I transformed the last Clow Cards into Sakura Cards the protection spell vanished and the Emperor and his minions used a magical portal to transport themselves to Japan and attacked while taking me prisoner. I'm just not strong enough to save them.
I'm sure you're strong enough, you're the most powerful sorceress I have ever met, and I have met quite a few. As for the myth of it being the Li prince who caste a spell to save Japan, that isn't true. It was the Queen of China, the most powerful sorceress living at the time who used most of her magic to protect Japan until the cards were mastered. The prince simply activated the spell once he had brought the Clow Cards to Japan for safe keeping.
So, you do know quite a bit, did you actually know the Queen? He sighed before answering, I did know the Queen; most of the Li Clan did. Sakura's eyes shimmered in excitement; the last Chinese Queen had been a bit of a legend. Right behind Clow Reed in greatness, and her spouse had known her. Why did the Li Clan keep all of their magic to themselves and yet they gave their most powerful magical item, the Clow Cards, to the Japanese Kingdom? And if they could protect Japan from the Imperials, why couldn't they save China? And did they really ride unicorns?
So many questions, his voice was definitely amused and Sakura had to smile. How did I go from almost marrying the worst sorcerer alive to the most mysterious and cute one? And there's another one before I could even begin to answer the others. Sakura blushed a bright red as she realized that she had forgotten to block that thought from him. I really don't know how to answer your last question, uh, mysterious and... cute? Sakura was absolutely burning up from embarrassment. She really needs to work on blocking him from her private thoughts. I don't recall anyone racing around on unicorns, although Mei Ling claimed to have seen one once. As far as protecting China from the Imperials, that would have been extremely difficult. Japan is an island and all of the Imperials were in China preparing to take over when the protection spell was activated. As you know, it kept anyone loyal to the Empire from entering Japan by any means. China was full of Imperials from the day Chang, the first emperor, started to gather a following. It is easier to keep rats out with a spell when there are none there to begin with. As for your first question, I am sworn to secrecy and will not tell you until everything is over.
Sworn to secrecy? Oh well, I guess I should expect the Li Clan to want to keep some secrets even now. Who was Mei Ling? My cousin... and my fiancée. You had a fiancée?! Oh, I'm so sorry that you were forced to marry me. You must have loved her, just like I loved Norio. Like she was my sister, nothing more. I promised her when I was seven that if I never found someone I loved more than her, I would marry her. We were going to get married in another year and a half, when I turned 20. That was if we both managed to survive the Imperial attacks, so we both knew we would never actually marry. The Imperials would never let a Li sorcerer live, it would cause a lot of problems. And Mei Ling would never let them hurt her family without a fight. And believe it or not, we knew that the Li Clan would fall before I turned 20.
That's so sad, to live without any hope for a future. Sakura could feel tears forming in her eyes. She had never realized that the Li Clan died with the foreknowledge of their imminent demise. And she thought that living while the Empire ruled most of the world was bad, surely it could not compare to knowing that you would die brutally in battle and right after your deaths, darkness would reign.
It was slightly eerie, they had been telecommunicating for some time now and the silence was almost deafening. It was then she noticed that they were flying in the dark with only the light of the moon and starts to guide them. She sought out where Yue's aura was and decided that he must be in Japan. The rest of their group must have used a magic portal to get back, especially since most of the Imperial forces would be trailing Sakura and those with her. The Emperor was not one to give up his prizes easily, and to him, Sakura was nothing more than a grand prize that he could own.
We did have hope for the future, just not our own; otherwise I would not have tried so hard to help you and your friends. It was hope that kept us going until the very end and I will not loose hope for the future now. Why do I feel as though you are hiding something really big from me? Sakura could feel his smirk as he replied, maybe because I am. And if you don't mind my asking, who is Norio?
Well, I do mind, but I will tell you since you have told me so much. He was my fiancé and my greatest love. We met when he was visiting Japan. It was during his visit that I opened the Clow Book and released all of the cards. He and Kero helped me capture them again, although Norio was almost as clueless as I was. He at least had received a little bit of magical training and could shield us from some of the cards attacks. He even managed to capture two of them, but gave them to me since I was the true card captor. I managed to pass the judgment against Yue and become the Card Mistress. He supported me through everything, even when Eriol came and forced me to change all the cards from Clow Cards to Sakura Cards. We were planning on getting married in a few months, but then I got captured by the Emperor and about a month later so did he. Only the Emperor decided that my fiancé was in the way and he... he... Oh, and you'd think that I could telepathically tell you what happened. Um, well, Norio isn't... alive anymore. He's a... um, what you were, only he wasn't strong enough to survive.
Tears were streaming down her cheeks from closed lids. If he loved you as much as you love him, then he would be sad to see you crying. Be strong, for him and for everyone who needs you. She then felt something warm and soft brush the tears off her cheeks. Opening her eyes she saw Syaoran flying right next to her, concern in his eyes. Summoning her inner strength, she gave a barely perceptible smile.
They continued to fly in silence to Japan. A long flight, that would take more than a day for any normal flying creature, but at their pace they should arrive around dawn. Sakura felt like collapsing, it now took all of her concentration to stay awake. Her use of magic in the fly card was draining her already low magic reserves. As she was flying, she felt buoyed up in strength slightly and noticed that Syaoran had sent some of his own magic over their bond to her. He must have noticed that she was running dangerously low. The part that scared Sakura was that they stilled had at least three more hours of flying before they would arrive.
Maybe you should let your guardian carry you instead of flying yourself, then you could rest and you need it. Letting out a weary sigh, she could only agree and flew over to Kero and Touya. She shouted at the top of her voice, "I'm going to put fly away and ride with you!" Touya and Kero both nodded in response to let her know that they got her message. As she joined Touya on Kero's back, she had fly return to its card form. As she leaned onto Touya to sleep, she remembered that Syaoran had been flying through the power of the fly card as well. Immediately she panicked and looked around for him.
She let out a great big sigh of relief as she spotted him behind Eriol on Spinel Sun. It was then that exhaustion took over and she fell back into her brother and fell immediately asleep.
Syaoran felt grateful and irate at the same time; grateful that he no longer had annoying wings on his back and irate that he was sitting behind Hiirigazawa. He had known that Sakura would put fly away and he didn't feel like plummeting to the earth, so he had joined Hiirigazawa. He didn't know why, but just being in Hiirigazawa's presence set all of his nerves on edge. Hiirigazawa, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind his presence at all.
He spent the next three hours of flying trying to calm his nerves. Hiirigazawa hadn't done anything except force feed him medicine the first morning, so his reaction to his presence was way out of proportion as far as Syaoran was concerned. He just didn't understand why he felt the need to hurt Hiirigazawa or avoid him as much as possible.
He watched as the sun rose and reflected off the ocean. He could see land in the distance, they were almost to Japan. His eyelids were heavy, but he couldn't sleep even if he wanted to right now. His nerves were still on edge and he had goosebumps on his arms. He really was excited about getting away from Hiirigazawa so that he could get some rest. It had been an extremely long day, and an even longer night and he was absolutely exhausted.
As soon as they landed Syaoran jumped off of Spinel Sun's back. He watched as Hiirigazawa sleepily dismounted and then fell to the ground asleep. Guess I'm not the only one in need of a good nights rest, even if the day has already begun. He walked a slight distance away from Hiirigazawa and then fell asleep on the soft grass.
Touya lifted his little sister off of Kero and let out a sigh. The monster was out of it completely, and he knew from experience that she would not wake easily. He saw both of the sorcerers go to sleep. Hiirigazawa looked like he simply collapsed, most likely asleep before he even reached the ground. The Li brat, the monster's husband, was a little pickier about where he slept and had walked a slight distance before laying down to sleep.
In his arms he felt Sakura shiver. Heaving a slight sigh, he walked over to where Li was sleeping and placed her next to him with her head on his chest. He saw Li's eyes open and look at him; already Sakura was pressing herself against him to get warm. Her wedding dress, long though it may be, was not warm enough for the monster. Li seemed to understand, that or he was too tired since he seemed to think about protesting but did not and his eyes closed to welcome sleep once more.
Touya then grabbed one of the gaki's arms and put it over Sakura, again those amber eyes opened to look at him. He tried to pull his arm away but Touya held it there. He then used the huge sleeve as a blanket for the monster and gave the gaki a warning look. Again he seemed to understand, although he did glare right back until his eyelids grew too heavy and closed. Satisfied that the gaki was asleep, he let go of his arm and watched for a few moments to make sure that he left it there.
Feeling exhausted himself, he moved away from the couple and Hiirigazawa. Making sure that Ruby Moon wasn't paying any attention to him, he found a hidden spot to sleep. He didn't want to be disturbed. He saw that Kero was now in his false form and sleeping on top of Sakura using the gaki's sleeve as a blanket as well. Spinel Sun had taken up guard duty while Nakuru was sleeping next to him. Pleased that everyone was situated for their naps, he allowed himself to fall asleep.
Lying on the grass, he found sleep elusive. He could hardly believe how chaotic yesterday had been. First his sister was going to be marrying against her will to the vilest man alive. Then they were rescued by the gaki, Hiirigazawa, and the guardians. Next he finds out that his sister would die in a few hours unless she was married to a sorcerer. Hiirigazawa didn't want to be her husband and Touya didn't want to have him as a brother in law either. Their only remaining option had been the gaki.
It was slightly surprising to him that he was the one who had forced, sorta, the gaki to marry his sister. He was the overprotective brother who chased all the guys away, although Norio would simply smile charmingly at Sakura and ignore Touya. As for the gaki, if it wasn't for Touya, the he would still be a statue in the Emperor's garden rather than running around very much alive. How exactly he had released him from that spell was still a mystery to Touya. Now he was his brother in law and it was his duty to make sure that he took care of the monster. After a while his thoughts turned to dreams of all the chaos and possible outcomes as he slept the day away.
To be continued...
So, there is another chapter, just a tiny bit longer than the last one. Sorry, I know a lot of people wanted a longer chapter, but I've had a busy week and it is this much now, or slightly longer beginning of next week. So, just smile and be happy I got this much done and then be real sweet and leave me a review to get my muse excited again. Another muse has recently shown up in my head distracting me from writing this story and making it difficult for me to even think about Cast In Stone, so very annoying.
