Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, rub it in my face why don't you?

All right! I'm back and full. Ready to continue. The response to reviews part is at the bottom of the chapter. At least I hope so, see you guys in a little while. The next update may be around March break with 2-4 chapters. It would be 2-3, but after those great reviews… I though I might update more… well… let the story go on…

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Ten:

More Problems Part One: A Hope For Syaoran.

After getting a table to themselves and ordering food, Sakura and the gang were waiting expectantly for what Meilin and her cousins had discovered (and Tao too of course). Sakura even forgot about following Asura in the light of things. After all, who cares about the lover's stone when one could find the lover? Sakura flushed as she gave that title of affection to Syaoran, hoping the others couldn't see the colour in her face.

"So Meilin, mind telling us what's going on?" Tomoyo asked, curiosity obviously shown in her voice. Instead of Meilin answering, it was actually one of Syaoran's sisters who responded. "I suppose that it really all started about 10 generations after yours, ancestor," she said, nodding to Eriol, who in turn acknowledged what was said with a nod as well. (I really don't remember getting the names of Syaoran's sisters, anyone able to help?) "The name of this ancestor was not really known, we doubt he even knew his own name other than being a Li."

"You see, it isn't without a reason that Syaoran was named Xiao Lang, or as you prefer, Little Wolf. Our clan has been related to the pack of a wolf ever since this mysterious Li. It would seem that while he was young, our clan was devastated beyond all hope due to a massive clan war. The other clans at the time envied our power and wealth, and despite the fact that we did nothing to harm them, out of their jealousy, they ambushed us all together. Li was about the sole survivor, except perhaps for a few. In his time of hiding, he was around 10 years old, meaning that he was about as defenseless as a 1-year-old baby. A lone wolf found him and took him under her wing, metaphorically that is."

"Li grew up in the forest, learning ways of stealth, power, speed, and so forth from animals. By the time he was 18, the wolf that treated him as her son had joined a pack of other wolves. She was greatly welcomed, but he was not. Soon, over a period of 3 months, the old pack leader died and a new leader was declared through a massive all-out battle. This new leader detested humans for their physical weakness and wanted to kick Li out, but his "mother" would not allow that. At that, the leader attacked Li's mother-wolf. She was much older now and didn't really have a chance."

"Can we get to the point already?" Meilin asked, obviously uncomfortable about something. A stern look from the four sisters told her to be quiet and the story was continued. "Anyways, as the pack leader launched for his second attack, Li stood in the middle of the fray and received three scars on his chest. Each one of these was deeper than the next. The leader, having recognized the loyalty that was shown by this human, stepped a side after exchanged a few more blows as a test."

"Everyone lived happily for a while. That is, until poachers came and hunted about every one of them down. Li himself was captured and sold to what we would call a circus today. Every night of the full moon, he would howl for his mother and the others that were as close to him as a family can be. As more time passed, an elderly man bought him in terms of slavery for reasons that we could not gather. In a more domesticated environment, he learned to read, write, speak and such. He even started a family of his own with the daughter of the man that had enslaved him. The story of how that happened, is another for another time."

"Now, getting to the point, as the first child of Li grew into adulthood, Li could see the same scars on his son as the ones he had on his own chest. The child's mother could as well, but not the son himself. Since then, every time a new clan leader has matured and ripened into adulthood, that scar would be seen by everyone else in the clan to show that he is worthy. Nobody really understood why, but it did seem that the magic in our blood made this happen."

A silence took over as everybody digested what was said and thought about the subject on his or her own terms. "So you mean to say…" Eriol started, but was interrupted with the confirmation. "Yes," Tao said, appearing out of nowhere. Everyone turned to look at him while he just continued as if nothing was wrong. "This Asura managed to reveal those scars to us today, in the exhibition match. During his final blow, the three scars appeared. I was quite reluctant to believe at first, but it seems that I'm not the only one who saw." He finished, looking at his relatives.

"But I thought Syaoran was supposed to be the next clan leader." Tomoyo said, voicing everyone's question out into the open. Realization dawned onto her as she looked down. How could she have forgotten that Syaoran was- Tomoyo was snapped out of her thoughts with Tao speaking again. "It would seem that you forgot that our favourite little wolf is dead." He crooned, not sure whether to sound content or sorrowful.

Sakura look at the others around the table and realized that they were trying to hold back their tears as much as she was. "That's not possible," replied a calm Eriol. As all eyes turned onto him, he continued. "For magic as significant as what you have described, it would only work from blood to blood. So unless this Asura had drunk Syaoran's blood, there's no way that he could have bared that mark." This appeared to bring confusion upon everyone. "I don't think Syaoran had a brother now, had he?" Eriol asked, trying to solve this matter. The sisters said nothing and thought for a while before shaking their heads in the negative at the same time (that's really freaky).

"We'll ask mother," they said, still thinking about what this could all mean. It just happened that then, their food arrived, and their stomachs growled in approval. After a shared minute of laugher, they began to dig in. Tao returned back to his seat around a company dressed similarly as he is. (They're all wearing like… the witch hunter style ensemble, except all the clothes were white and matched with a light blue hint.)

It also happened that at that exact moment, the main door opened and the group saw Asura stride in with Taroh rubbing his eyes sleepily. He glanced around for a while, nodding to various people (including Sakura, to her surprise) and sat by another table not too far from them. Sakura scolded herself for not noticing that the Chairmen were occupying a table in the room as well. They seemed pretty intent on engaging Asura in their conversation.

Tomoyo, asking another question, brought Sakura back to her table. "Eriol, why were you swearing today?" Syaoran's sisters looked at him mildly surprised that their ancestor would act that way. "Forgive me, please," Eriol started, rubbing the back of his head in the embarrassed manner. "But you must believe me when I say that Asura is quite beyond what I had ever though of as the limit of human magic." Everyone was silent as they waited for him to continue.

"You see, during that exhibition match, Asura had shown some great skills and power by controlling that Abyss card so easily. As you all may well haven known, Abyss cards have great power to fulfill great tasks, but the cost is too much to bare for most people, depending on which card. The fury card that he used today would have made anyone here into a berserk killing machine at just level one! He managed to surpass that level and kept as cool as an ice berg." He said, as if talking to a bunch of school children.

"Levels?" One of the sisters asked. Eriol took a sip from his glass before he continued. "When he fought with fury, the flame around him would have signified the levels of rage that he was either tapping into or releasing. The red flames being level one. Barely anyone I know had been able to keep sane under level one and those that managed to enter level two were destroyed in an instant by their own rage. But Asura was able to tap into level three and remained calm while he wiped the field with the chairmen and imperials."

"Guess he must be really strong huh?" Meilin asked, more like a statement. Eriol shook his head as if frustrated with himself. "I don't get it, something doesn't feel right. During that fight, I sensed that Asura wasn't even paying attention to the fight. It was like he didn't even know what he was doing until each second before he made a move. It's like he's a machine or some kind of animal that only relied on instinct."

After that, everyone pretty much remained silent while eating, each thinking either about Syaoran or Asura. Or in Sakura's case, both.

Scene Change

"So Asura, tell me, why do you speak as one from the land of Fae?" Tashinku asked, clearly curious. "Were you brought up there? It seems to me that you are quite human."

"I am so, sire," Asura replied, remembering proper manners before people of power such as these chairmen before him. "During my years of training, I was garrisoned at various places in the Fae realm. In my education, I had to battle all creatures, good or evil. I learned that every creature had an ability to fight and win. Even the tiniest snail could win against a lion, but it just does not have the will to."

"Well said," Leroy appraised, nodding approvingly of the response. "What do you plan on doing after collecting all the abyss cards? That is, if you were to be successful at gathering them?"

"I would like to find my parents," Asura said, a look from Taroh reminded him to correct himself. "My apologies, our parents." Accenting on the "our" part. Taroh seemed happy with the change and continued to eat his ice cream leaving the adults and Asura in peace.

"It really is too bad that you do not remember them," Tashinku said, sympathetically. "I sure would have liked to meet them."

"Me too," Asura said, but before anything else could be said, an explosion resonated throughout the building and Syaoran stood up and dashed for where he knew the explosion came from after bidding the elders a quick good bye. Taroh, of course, tailed after him excitedly….

I'm done! I'm done! Yea! So here you are guys, I'm done these two chapters, here are the responses to your reviews. See? I do remember… But I'm not sure which are the new reviewers, sorry if I forgot you…

To silver angel 03:

I guess I kind of forgot about the thing with lemons, I want to put them in, but it's kind of complicated right now. I can't seem to even make it romantic. I mean seriously, how do I do that with no Syaoran in sight and I don't think u want me to make Sakura that kind of a girl now do you? But I guess I can try something with Eriol and Tomoyo… I don't really know… Thanks for the review and I'm working on it, if you can tell me what would make it more… in the mood I'd gladly appreciate it. But I think there are still people who don't want lemons in this.

To GakiGurl09:

I hope this was worth the wait as you say it. Originally it wasn't going to be Asura (it's Asura, not Syaoran-Wannabe) but I guess I changed to make it flow better (couldn't see where I was going with the original) but I still think it is more obvious. Oh well it's the past now. Glad to see that you like this story and thanks for the review.

To Lil Cherry Blossom Angel:

I know that I'm going to need luck to write more. But I hope this was pleasing. Like I said before, I can't think about how to make things romantic due to the separation between Syaoran and Sakura. Besides, I don't really know what is considered as romantic and what is considered the thoughts of a perverted little boy. Well… I do know a bit, but I don't want to make the love incredibly corny but trying to force so much romance into it. And I'm trying to not make them seem OOC, but then again I don't remember their actual ways that they act… hasn't seen CCS in a while now. So anyways thanks for the review and hope this chapter finds you well…

My next update should be 2-4 chapters around March break, unless I feel this great urge to update earlier due to reviews or inspiration or something. Sorry for the wait…

U-T signing off…