Disclaimer: Me owning the characters from Card Captor Sakura, Harry Potter, Magic Knight Rayearth, Ranma 1/2, Fushigi Yuugi, Detective Conan, Ah! My Goddess and GateKeepers will be the day when Miyuki and Ken-chan finally get together, which, we all know, is literally forever. Don't let Miyuki know I said that, though. I would rather face the lawyers that CLAMP, J.K. Rowling, Takahashi Rumiko, Watase Yuu, Aoyama Gosho, Fujishima Kousuke and Gonzo Studio sic on me than having an air gun pointing at my temple.
# Note: That comment on Ken-chan and Miyuki was caused by excessive You're Under Arrest Novel Intake. Don't mind me.
# Note 2: I would have updated sooner, but the stupid Internet filter had filtered So I can't get onto it for WEEKS. And I was applying for a scholarship so I was busy taking exams and whatnot. Next chapter will, hopefully, be up before August is over.
"Come to me..."
Sakura looked around her surrounding. She only saw many tall dark trees. But, against the normal theories, she can see the sky as clear as if she was in a plain. A clear silver full moon was on the sky.
"Come......"
She heard it again: the clear, child-like voice. The words rang through the forest like a bell. She turned around towards the source of that voice. Then she saw a lake. It was very calm with gentle ripples spreading outside from the centre, where a figure was floating on top of the surface.
The figure glowed in a silver light, eventually blinding the whole area. That was the time when Sakura woke up.
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The Continuing LegendChapter 5---------------------------------Sakura peeked an eye open and trying to see if she can go back to sleep again. But she decided shot up at her top speed instead, frantically yelling "I'm up!" to her roommate, the 4th year Ryuuzaki Umi, who was muttering under her breath and holding something that suspiciously looked like a ball of freezing cold water in her hands. She chuckled and the water disappeared in the thin air. Sakura was visibly impressed.
"Are we going to learn that?"
"Not right away. You won't be starting on elemental magic until your third year. It's too exhausting for first years...Forget it, it is exhausting for third years too. But it's better if you're using the magic of your element. Mine's water. You won't know what element you'll be until you start learning the magic."
Sakura carefully stored the information in her brain and grabbed her school robes from her wardrobe. Half an hour later, she walked out with everything in place and the blue Nereus House badge pinned on her robe.
"Bring along your books." Umi said as she stuffed her textbooks into a denim bag. "It's already seven. People will be piling over the cafeteria. Including the time for lining up, finishing our food and running to our classrooms, we won't have enough time to come back. What do you have for today, anyway?"
Sakura was picking out the textbooks she needed for the day when she heard the question. She looked at the timetable in her hand and read the schedule for the day out loud. "Transfiguration at 8:35, Charms at 9:45, after that there's a short break and Potions at 11:15. Then it's lunch time. A single period of Defense Against Dark Arts and double Flying at the end of the day."
"That means," Umi grimaced, "you'll be meeting the most easy-going, the freakiest and the two strictest but generally nice professors in one day. I don't know if I should congratulate you or pity you."
The Card Mistress could only blink confusedly at the comment.
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The went down to the cafeteria of their dormitory, the Wing of Wind, and true to the blue-hair girl's words, there was a long line right outside the food counter. The roommates joined the line and looked at the menus. After they got their food from a cheerful white-hair witch in her late-30s, Umi led the younger girl to a table at the corner of the cafeteria. "This is for our own personal safety." She told Sakura sternly. "Wave your friends over here if you see any of them."
Five minutes later, Tomoyo came into her view and Sakura called her to her table. Just when the camera girl was maneuvering herself within the crowds, two blurs burst into the hall and started to bounce around the room from the floor to the ceiling. Umi sighed into her bowl of Miso soup and mumbled, "here we go again." The other diners also ducked their head as if they were afraid of being hit by something.
"Give me back the bread, Ryouga!" One of the blurs, which was really a teenager in red shirt and sporting a small pigtail, charged.
"I got it first! Just get lost, Ranma!" The other blur, a boy of the same age as his "opponent" with black hair and a yellow bandana, yelled back. The two fished out their wands out of nowhere and sparks were soon all over every available space, despite the undignified yells from the white-hair witch-in-charge of the cafeteria. With great difficulties and miraculous effort, Tomoyo finally reached her friend's table without spilling the content of her tray. As soon as her tray touched the table, however, someone hold up Tomoyo's hands in his. Umi jaw-dropped, then looked at the newcomer as if she wanted to drown him the next time he washes face.
"I want to apologize for my peers' uncivilized behaviors. If they do bother you again, don't feel shy to seek for the protection from me, the great Kunou Tatewaki, 6th year, Vulcan House. May I ask for your name, my graceful Angel?"
The idiot didn't even notice two flaring auras behind him: one like blazing flame and the other like freezing glacier. Two wands were pointing at his back and their owners bellowed "Petrificus Totalus" and "Stupefy" respectively. He fell over, bounded and stunned. At the same time, revealing Eriol and an older girl with short blue hair.
"I can't believe you, Kunou-senpai! Do you know the word 'shame'?! Going after a first year! Can't you just get a clue?! Argh!!" She continued to yell until the previous pigtailed boy come to her side.
"Just give it up, Akane. Since when would Kunou Moron listen to you, or anyone for that matter?"
"I know. It's another matter if it was me, or Kobayakawa-senpai, who got chased by him. We can knock him into the next century with our eyes blindfolded and everyone knows that. But a first year! Is he really that desperate?!" She threw up her hands in frustration. "Say, where's Ryouga-kun?"
"Turned into you-know-what and sneaked into the kitchen. Let's pray that Doulin and Ryuuen won't use him to make pork chop for today's lunch..." They walked away with Kunou floating in the air. After they left, everyone but the first years returned to their meals. Umi was about to tell the younger girls about the situation when two other girls of Umi's age, a redhead and a bespectacled blonde, approached her. The blonde spoke up first. "Is there something wrong, Umi-san?"
Umi shifted her stuff so that her friends would have enough place to sit. "It's the Vulcan Wreck Crew again. And that shameless jerk dare to go after a first year before Akane and that boy," she gestured at Eriol, who sat himself next to Tomoyo, "cursed him for good."
The two girls winced and looked at Tomoyo and Sakura--they could not tell who the victim was--sympathetically. Umi gulped down a cup of red tea then turned to Eriol, "but where did you learn to do that stunning curse? Uh..."
"Hiiragizawa Eriol." The sorcerer answered the unvoiced question. "I've attended the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for a year before I came to this school."
"Really?" The red-hair girl perked up. "Cool! What does that school look like? I'm Shidou Hikaru, by the way!"
"I'm Hououji Fuu, nice to meet you." The blonde added politely. "As much as we're interested in the European school, I think it is necessary for them," she looked at the first years, "to know about the Vulcan Wreck Crew, as Umi-san had put in, especially since one of them had become Kunou-senpai's constant target."
"Always our voice of reason, Fuu." Umi nodded. "Those are the origins of the alias 'House of Chaos'. They all come from several long lines of so-called 'pure blood' families. I don't know about the details, no one did, but they fought over the smallest things. And when I talk about 'fights', it's not like broken bones or black eyes. It was a full-fledged, no-barred-hold duel. Every rule in existence would be thrown out of the window if a fight broke out between them, except they would never use the Unforgivables. The Kunou-idiot is in 6th year, like he said, and the other three are in 5th. They are, unfortunately, some of the best duelers and know quite a lot of nasty hexes and curses."
After the explanation, they moved on to the other topics, such as the subjects and the professors of the school.
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"What's the first lesson again?" Meiling asked as they walked along the corridors of the Indigo Block. They met the Li cousins, who were in a different dormitory, outside the said building and currently had another 10 minutes before they were late for their first class.
"Transfiguration with Gaia in the Cerulean Room." Syaoran answered as he read from his timetable. "I've asked some seniors and they said it's next to the 'Pewter Room'."
"I think we've just passed the Pewter Room a moment ago." Tomoyo commented. "Oh, Cerulean Room, here it is!"
They entered the room with the words "Cerulean Room" written clearly on a blue plaque on the classroom door. It was a moderately large room with ten rows of chairs and desks--two seats per row on the two sides and 4 seats per row in the middle. The classroom was still rather empty with only about a dozen students. They were either talking or reading their textbooks. The Card Captors occupied the third row where Tomoyo and Meiling on the left-hand side of the classroom and the rest seated in the middle.
In the following ten minutes, more and more Nereus and Gaia students filled up the classroom. At 8:35am sharp, a man with powder blue hair walked into the classroom. When he faced the class properly, some students failed to keep their surprised gasps to themselves: there was a large scar over his left eye. His sighed as he saw the students' reactions.
"Allow me to speak a few words before your questions." He said. "I'm your transfiguration professor, Li Houjun. And to Gaia students, I'm also your Head of House. Although some other professors joked that I should be in Nereus because of my hair color." There was some scattered laughter and both the professor and students relaxed. "About the scar, all I'll tell you is that I've got into a nasty duel with the death eaters. For those who don't know what a death eater is, feel free to ask your history teacher. Now, introduction's over, how about a little show?"
He ended jokingly and picked up his wand. One casual swish turned an empty chair into a plush sofa, another flick and the sofa returned to its original state of a wooden chair. He smiled at the students' impressed applaud. "As much as we enjoyed the show, you will have a long way to go before you can change one thing to another. For practical work, we'll first start with changing the material of an object, like a sewing thread to copper wire. And before that," he twirled his wand, and turned a stray piece of paper into a textbook which was identical to the students' copies of The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), "we have to learn about the some basic theories of transfiguration first. And one more thing that you won't like."
The professor tapped on a pile of paper and they distributed themselves to the students. "That was our schedule of the year. Exercises and class work are given out randomly, but the dates for essays and tests are listed in that schedule. It won't be changed unless something big happen, like flu had broken within the school or something like that. Now, textbooks to page 5, please."
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After the transfiguration lessons, the Card Captors gang rushed down at least five corridors to the Cinnabar Room for their charms class. They had gotten more or less the same lecture from Prof. Cielo. Some of the bolder students dare to ask him about his height problem. But then a flick of his wand which caused the table to run around the classroom and bark at the students had sufficiently convinced them he was a professor who knew what he had to teach, despite his rather (cough) childish appearance.
By the end of the lessons, many first years were very tired and glad they have a twenty-minute break before their next class. As they left the classrooms, students from the other years and houses had already choked up half of the hallway. Sakura realized that it would be too difficult for a group of five to stay together and soon got separated from her friends. She wandered to a slightly more deserted hallway, wondering where they were. At this time, she heard a young male voice behind her.
"Hello, are you lost?"
Sakura thought she could ask for some directions and quickly turned around, only to discover a boy in his mid-teens dressed in traditional clothing of some old Chinese nomadic herding tribes. Normally, this would not be a problem, except for the fact that he was not solid: his body was of a translucent state, like he was some illusions. The Japanese girl immediately put two and two together and come to the correct conclusion: this boy was a ghost.
"HOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"
Some other students turned and see if something happened, but quickly went on with their business when they found out it was just a ghost in the corridor like it was a daily occurrence. One of them dryly said, "this is victim number what? Seriously Chamka, do try to remember you're already dead and stop scaring students around."
The boy/ghost scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops?"
"Sakura!"
"Sakura-chan!"
Around the corner, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Meiling and Eriol rushed into the scene. They had their wands trained on the ghost as they were thinking that Sakura was attacked by him. He held up his hands, trying to pacify the situation. "Wait, wait a minute! I didn't do anything! She just saw me and started to scream bloody murder......"
"Syaoran-kun, Tomoyo-chan! I'm all right! Really! It's just......" Sakura trailed off and her friends, finally realized what had really happened, put down their wands.
"It's just because he's a ghost, huh? This is Sakura for you." Meiling grinned.
"I would prefer to be called a spirit you know." He mumbled. "I'm Chamka Tan, the sort-of guardian spirit of Gaia House."
"Sort...of?" Tomoyo, who was taking this spirit business rather well, asked.
"Not every house has a guardian spirit. Well, not yet. Those who will be the guardians of the other three houses aren't dead yet. I'm the only spirit here because I attended this school, let's see, about a hundred years ago. Or is that two hundred? It's rather difficult to keep track of time when you're dead." He said the last part more to himself than to the first years.
"Is there a reason why the houses need the guardians, or guardian spirits?" Eriol asked from the back of their group.
"Oh, you lot are those who don't know about the prophecy of this school. I can tell you if you really want to know. Or you can ask the guardian-spirit-to-be of your house. But I suggest you run for your lesson now. Class is about to start in--"
He didn't get to finish his sentence as the bell rang throughout the school building and announced the end of the short break for him.
"There you go." He shrugged.
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After a hasty promise from Chamka that he would retell whatever prophecy the school carried, the gang ran off to the Seafoam Dungeon for their Potions class. They discovered that they would have this class with the Viento House instead of Gaia like they did in the previous lessons. They were a few minutes late and when they burst into the classroom, they saw their professor was already taking the attendance. She quirked an eyebrow at them and she spoke up.
"This time I will forget about the lateness since I don't think many of you would have time to familiarize yourselves with the school building." She whispered in a quiet and nearly creepy voice. But no matter how low her volume was, her words had echoed clearly within the dungeon. "I believe you are Ms. Kinomoto, Mr. Li, Ms. Daidouji, Ms. Li and Mr. Hiiragizawa?"
"Yes, we're really sorry and..." Sakura apologized breathlessly. But the professor only interrupted coolly with a "choose your work table." As soon as they were seated, she addressed the class.
"Now all of us are present, I will have the standard introduction. I'm Prof. Haibara, your teacher for Potions, obviously. If anyone thinks that Potions is just chopping herbs up plus a few stirring, I suggest you leave this class now, for I will not hold any responsibility if your caldron blow up in my lessons." She ended her threat with a smirk and the students felt they had cold sweat broke out from their skins.
"We will not be brewing anything until next lesson. If you don't know what you have in your Student Potions Ingredients Supply or what do we have in this dungeon, the school will be burnt down in a second. So we will spend this lesson learning about the common Potions ingredients."
After the short introduction, the professor immediately went into the topic. Her lecture was straight to the point without any flowery elaboration on the herbs and organic parts they found in their textbooks. Although she was very good at helping students to grasp the basic concept, most of the first years were glad that the lessons were over when they left the dungeon. Maybe that was only because it was lunch time, but even if this professor didn't play favorites, her occasional threats and highly sarcastic comments were a bit too much for the students to handle.
Many many MANY Fushigi Yuugi cameos here. At the beginning I was thinking if I should add another one. But that would be a little too overwhelming. So I leave him for later. I didn't plan to have Tomite-chan (a.k.a. Chamka) in the first place. But I fell in love with him after reading the second volume of FY Genbu Kaiden. It's saddening: knowing how cute a chara is, then remembering he's the first to die in the story... ((Blow nose)) Er, that happened with Nuriko-sama too. ((Sigh)) Is it just me, or the Seishi I fall in love with are always the first ones to die? Well, Ami-chan didn't die. So, fortunately, it's not...(I hope!) Oh, a new plot also come with the pack!
I didn't do that menacing-potion-teacher thing on purpose. But Haibara Ai (hereafter as Ai-chan) is my obvious choice for the candidate of the Potions Master/Mistress. After all, she was the scientist who developed an apotoxin that would shrink a teenager back to his/her 6-year-old body. It was sheer coincidence that she and Snape were both having that unapproachable character and like giving out threats.
I'm also pleased to say now plot bunnies are following me like some lost puppies--something that haven't happened since the time I did another massive crossover two years ago. Some ideas even sprang up during my exam! Now I have enough plot to last through Sakura and co.'s fourth year, if I do continue the series.
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Until next time!!!