By SibylSofiana
Chapter Six
Yelan Meets Ying Fa
Based on the first movie. Standard disclaimers apply.
~o~o~o~o~
Her son was home for the Spring Break, as well as Mei Ling.
Mei Ling had followed Xiao Lang soon after he had left for Tomoeda nine months ago. One could not really dissuade Mei Ling once she set her mind on something. Li Yelan gave a small smile as she made small notes in her appointment book. Such a strong spirit. A pity she has no magic.
She had seen her son briefly as soon as he arrived, but as she had business matters to attend to with Li Deng, she had postponed talking with him. Time enough tomorrow for that -- for now she wanted him to relax on his first day at home. She soon left Xiao Lang to the not-so-tender mercies of his sisters, who promptly smothered him with hugs and kisses (A-ya, Xiao-xiao! We missed you so much!)
Aunt Zhang had been harder to convince – the Elders had wanted Xiao Lang to give a full accounting of his accomplishments with the Cards – but Yelan had managed to persuade her to leave off for now. And to think Li Yun had to convince them that the Cards were important to the Clan!
Yelan just shook her head. Ah, she was just glad her youngest child was home...
~o~o~o~o~
That night, Yelan drifted into a dream. It was the same dream she had been having ever since Xiao Lang went to Tomoeda – she kept seeing a young wolf lying underneath a cherry tree. She did not yet understand the significance of the cherry tree, but she knew it was associated closely with her son. She struggled to remember the conversation she had with Xiao Lang a few months back...
~o~o~o~o~
"The Cards are scattered?" Yelan asked her son over the phone. Xiao Lang was already in Tomoeda with Wei, searching for the Cards.
"Yes, but the rashin board will help me locate them easily." A brief pause. Yelan could almost see her son worrying about something.
"What is it, Xiao Lang?"
"I-I don't have the Key to the Cards, Mother. Since the Cards were scattered, they are animated – the Key transforms into the Staff that returns them to Card form."
"Where is the Key then?"
"There's this girl... her name is Kinomoto Sakura. She has the Key. She is completely ignorant about the history of the Cards, but... the Sun Guardian has chosen her as Card Captor." Her son's frustrated sigh came through the line.
"Keroberos?!?" That was a thought. They had not anticipated the intervention of the Sun Guardian in this matter. Yelan was deep in thought that she almost missed Xiao Lang's next words.
"...already confronted her and would have taken her Cards by force, but her brother got in the way..."
Upon hearing this, she said abruptly. "You harmed the girl, Xiao Lang?" Yelan's voice was stern.
Sensing he had stumbled on an error, Xiao Lang stammered. "I-I...Mother, she had some of the Cards..." he tried to explain but she interrupted him.
"You are The Li. The Li does not brawl about like a common street fighter, especially with a girl. The Li is nothing if he does not behave with Honor. Do you understand?" At her admonition, Xiao Lang kept silent. "The Cards are important, yes. They are your father's legacy. But they are secondary to our ultimate goal -- to show the Elders that you are worthy. This is only a temporary setback...do not let it get the better of you."
~o~o~o~o~
The girl was the answer to the mystery. Yelan opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, a frown marring her stoic features. She felt a strong sense of foreboding intruding since morning on her usual calm. Her gift of sight was clouded, as if someone was deliberately obscuring her visions. She did not like this one bit. Powers were stirring.
She had to talk to Xiao Lang tomorrow.
~o~o~o~o~
Yelan had just finished her discussion with Li Deng in the library when Wei came in.
"What is it, Wei?" Yelan gave her old friend a smile.
"We have visitors from Japan, Madame." Wei's eyes twinkled. "Little Miss Kinomoto is here with her brother and her cousin, as well as a Mr. Tsukishiro. Miss Chin and the girls have already made them welcome."
The Card Captor Sakura was in Hong Kong? Yelan was astounded. There was no such thing as coincidence. Or so Clow Reed had believed. Did he have a hand in this meeting? Whatever the reason, it was an opportune moment to observe the girl who was Xiao Lang's rival.
She stood up from the desk. "Please excuse me, Cousin Deng. It seems we have guests."
~o~o~o~o~
"Watashi Kinomoto Sakura desu..."
The girl was quite pretty, Yelan thought. She had a clear gaze for one so young, and polite manners. Yelan didn't really know what to expect. Xiao Lang had been surprisingly reticent about her.
Yelan lifted the girl's face with her hands and looked into the girl's eyes. They were quite innocent and trusting. The girl had a gentle aura, but also a hint of steel. It was faint, but it was there. This Sakura would be a formidable adversary someday.
"You have such a strong spirit..." Yelan's eyes drifted towards the girl's backpack, where she could sense the Clow Cards were. "But strong spirits could lead into great trouble."
She could sense the girl was curious about what she said, but Yelan decided to speak no more about it. Instead, she focused on Xiao Lang, who stood even straighter on scrutiny.
"Xiao Lang, where is your report card?" she asked directly.
She almost smiled at her son's chagrin. Almost but not quite. Even if her son was the Li, he still had to have good grades for her inspection. Wei had assured her he was managing nicely and she was content.
~o~o~o~o~
Later that evening, she talked to Xiao Lang privately, after gently chiding him about his Japanese grades and praising him for his Math.
"Why is she here, Xiao Lang?" Yelan asked after a while.
As he explained about her winning a trip to HongKong in a raffle, she listened in silence. He also mentioned the afternoon's adventure where he tried to follow an aura he suddenly sensed and how he found Sakura by the old well in the city. Yelan was intrigued. There was something going on with the girl. She soon nodded, finally convinced on her plan.
"Tour them around Hong Kong tomorrow, Xiao Lang. And bring Mei Ling with you," she added. Just as he was about to protest, she raised her hand. "Watch out for her. You need to find out her weaknesses if you are to succeed."
Xiao Lang didn't tell his Mother about his dreams... that the girl in his dream had auburn hair and green eyes, wearing strange costumes... much like Kinomoto Sakura. It had confused him to see that his dream was real flesh and blood. He wanted to explain to his Mother how uneasy he felt to be around her, how strange...
But he was an obedient son.
"Yes, Mother."
~o~o~o~o~
Very late that evening, Yelan found herself in the courtyard overlooking the city. And not surprisingly, Sakura was with her. Yelan had brought her here instinctively. The girl had had a nightmare and had screamed out.
And she had heard. She could not sleep herself, being disturbed by strange omens. But she could sense that the girl's dreams were more insidious. She somehow felt protective over this girl Sakura.
"Stand there in the center," she directed Sakura, who obeyed her silently.
Yelan took out her fan and closed her eyes, murmuring the incantations that her grandmother had taught her to banish evil spirits and protect loved ones. The ground beneath the girl glowed, revealing a spell formation much like Clow's, and Sakura could only look at Yelan in awe.
After a few more minutes, Yelan closed her fan, satisfied. The spell would spare the girl her dreams, at least for the rest of the night. The glow around Sakura soon died down.
She shook her head and looked at Sakura's face intently. "Your strong spirit is attracting the wrong kind of attention. You must be careful, Sakura."
Troubled, beautiful emerald eyes looked up to her. "What should I do?"
Quelling the urge to embrace her son's rival in comfort, Yelan gently said, "You are the only one who knows. The answer lies in your dreams."
Sakura could only nod as she followed Yelan back to the house.
~o~o~o~o
After her encounter with Sakura, Yelan could not sleep, so she went to the library. She randomly selected a book from her husband's collection, and settled down on the couch. Thumbing through it idly, her eye caught a name written in a scrawl at the bottom of a page.
Madoushi...
Yelan felt a small chill. It was in Clow's hand. She had an impression of water, and drowning. The girl Sakura was in trouble.
~o~o~o~o
"Beware the water." Yelan said to Sakura in a low voice the next morning, as her guests were thanking them and saying their goodbyes.
As the girl looked up in bewilderment, Yelan bent down to kiss her on the cheek. She did not need to look up and see her son's reaction. His mother kissing his rival!
~o~o~o~o
But Xiao Lang did not know that Yelan had read something else last night that finally made everything clear to her. As Yelan stood by the doorway, waving them off, she remembered the passages she had read in Clow's handwriting:
I often dream of cherry blossoms, and I smile! Perhaps I should go to Japan...
Green eyes -- green eyes and tawny ones. A boy with tawny eyes, who looks like Uncle. My son? No, not my son. A little wolf! Fierce and loyal! But my little cherry blossom will be Mistress of the Cards, and Tamer of the Wolf!
Sakura. Cherry blossom. Ying Fa.
It all became clear to her what Yun had been telling her in the very beginning. "It's not going to come in the form we expected, but the end result will still be the same."
If her husband was still alive, she would have throttled him. Li Yun did love being cryptic.
But it would not do to enlighten Xiao Lang this early. He would have to play out the whole story of the Clow Cards before he could take his place as the Li, cards or no cards.
~o~o~o~o~
That afternoon, she was still pondering the ramifications of all she had learned when she felt a sudden dread. She could not feel her son's aura! Xiao Lang!!!
"Wei!" Fear had made her voice sharp, and Wei appeared immediately. "Send out for the car – I'm going to the city!"
~o~o~o~o
She made her way through the dark alleyways. She could sense Wei following her but she ignored him and concentrated on the girl's distressed aura.
She soon came upon Sakura and her cousin. Behind them, she could see the pillar of energy covering the old well. Madoushi's well, she now knew.
"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked.
The girl was dressed in a strange pink costume, but Yelan had no time to waste on trivialities. "I could not sense Xiao Lang's aura," she said quietly.
The girl was stammering an anguished "G-gomen..." but Yelan ignored her as she held her fan out towards the energy barrier. "Stand back," she warned. Yelan steadied her breath and concentrated on focusing her aura onto the fan she held. Struggling to maintain control over the sudden surge of power, she carefully turned the fan over.
And sliced the barrier with it.
As the girls stood frozen in their amazement, she said urgently. "Hurry, I cannot hold it much longer!" Even as she spoke, she feel her strength wavering.
The girl Sakura nodded and quickly went through. Before going down the well, she gave Yelan a look that promised to bring Xiao Lang back safe and sound.
When she was disappeared, Yelan's strength finally left her, and she fainted in Tomoyo's arms.
~o~o~o~o~
When she woke up, she could see Xiao Lang's worried face beside her.
"Mother!" Anxiety made Xiao Lang abandon his usual reserve, and he hugged his mother in his relief to see her awake.
She quietly lifted a hand to his face. "Are you alright, Xiao Lang?"
"Yes, I'm alright," Xiao Lang said, holding his mother's hand close to his cheek.
"And Ying Fa?"
"She's back at the hotel with her brother, Daidouji-san and Tsukishiro-san."
Yelan fell silent, then looked at her son. "She is a worthy rival, Xiao Lang."
Surprised, Xiao Lang looked at his Mother. What he saw in her face confused him.
"Yes. Yes, she is, Mother."
@@@@@
Quickies:
'Kung Hei Fat Choi' to everybody! (That's Happy Chinese New Year to the rest of us) Hope you like this latest installment :)