Chapter II: This is a Destiny, Unavoidable
"I created those Cards so that there would always be light in this dark world. Their powers were to protect, to serve, to rejoice mankind in magic. This was not the fate befallen. Who was I to dream of controlling fate? Controlling destiny? They are the Kinomotos and the Lis, two families shedding the blood of the other—only seeking the power I left behind for my children. The Cards were to give light to all people in this dark world, but for as long as they fight, there will be no light in their world."
A marble statue of a dragon coiled around the doorway, its claws outreached as if to warn intruders to take heed of passage. Sakura stepped past it and down the dark corridor that she'd seen many times before. Stone carvings adorned with jewels of ruby, sapphire, emerald, and amber lined the path to the elders' sacred chambers. They seemed to come alive, each with an aura of their own; their glassy eyes shimmered under the light of the torches as if they were watching the young woman's travel into the heart of their lair. The thought of it made Sakura shiver, but she kept on walking with only the sound of her footsteps to keep her company.
It was only here in these chambers that the Clow Cards did not glow with the warmth of their ancient magic. In these halls they became cold and empty, as if the spirits fearing the elders themselves had fled from Sakura's side and into another world. It was only here that Sakura was completely alone... and strangely enough, that feeling brought as much comfort as it did anxiety.
She stopped in front of a solid door under the protection of an icon: the legendary Sun Guardian, Keroberos. She inhaled deeply and knocked twice.
"Kinomoto Sakura, enter into our presence."
She did as bade and laid a hand on the door, and it swung open silently, magically. She stepped into the chambers of the elders, and like always, the magic coursing through the air took her by surprise. It was powerful magic, and yet it did not belong to the elders. It belonged to the spirits of the Kinomoto warriors before her.
"Why is it you have come?"
"I have brought back the cards," Sakura answered. She knelt on both knees and bowed before the seven elders, Ichikawa, Saori, Yukokaida, Nao Aoji, Fukae, Yanakishimi, and Hashimoto. Of all, she knew not one first name. Silently, she laid the deck of Clow Cards on the glass engraving before her. Ichikawa, the eldest, stood up before Sakura. His height could have easily been only half of Sakura's, if the Cardcaptor ever were allowed to stand before the three highest of the elders.
"Speak their names to us, Kinomoto Sakura," Ichikawa commanded with a steady voice.
She did as bade and touched her right hand to the tarot deck. "To please you, great elders, I have brought the Thunder, Rain, Dash, and Song." As if an omen answering to her final words, the torches died, and the twelve flames of the candles, one on each point of the Clow Star, vanished with them. In the darkness, Sakura remained silent, as the elders had not bade her to speak. The seconds seemed like hours on a sand glass and the silence did not fade. The elders, she supposed, were conversing with only thought, perhaps planning what she would have to do next. The lights, though mysterious in themselves, were the comfort and the guidance offered to Sakura. Never had the flames diminished, and never did they disappear altogether. This time, she did not know what happened.
"Kinomoto Sakura," the second highest of the elders, Hashimoto, began, and Sakura bowed, fearing the worst from his cold tone.
"I am sorry if I have displeased the great elders," she mumbled, keeping her eyes locked on the ground as if the floor itself held the very meaning of life. But in the elders' chambers, one never knew. Perhaps if one could read the ancient inscriptions carved into the stone that was stood and knelt upon, the meaning of life and all existence might be discovered. Sakura, though, knew it was not the time to wonder, and she bowed even lower in silent reverence.
"You have not displeased us, Kinomoto Sakura." Somewhat surprised, she tore her eyes from the stone flooring as gracefully as haste would allow, and found she was staring into the silver gaze of Yukokaida. "A great task you have completed this night, Cardcaptor Kinomoto."
"Yes," the other six elders agreed in one voice. Sakura smiled with her eyes only.
"But there can be no celebrations, young one," Yukokaida continued. "Though you have completed the task your Father once set out to do, it was only the beginning of what is to be your destiny. Now begins the trial of a true Cardcaptor."
Her emerald eyes flashed, a sense of honour and fear mingling around her heart. "I do not fully understand, great elders, what it is you mean by 'destiny'."
Yanakishimi, the youngest, and in Sakura's mind, the most favourable of the seven elders, smiled with kind eyes. "You are still young, and though wise in your youth, there is still a world you have not witnessed. In time you will understand the workings of destiny and fate, but for now you must know that your business in Japan is complete." Sakura did not break her gaze from the elders that sat before her. "You were born on these islands, yes, but no longer does your path lie along our roads." Yanakishimi stood, relighting the twelve candles of the Clow Star. He lit a candle of his own and faced the six other elders and Sakura.
"So this is it," Nao Aoji whispered. Sakura misunderstood his meaning and began to fear. What was it they were going to do with her now? What did they mean by saying she had no other business in Japan? If there was a world which she still had not witnessed, were they going to show it to her?
"Do not fear, young one," Fukae spoke, reading what was in those emerald eyes. "Do not fear." And she nodded.
Yanakishimi, though young and least experienced, was the most powerful of the elders. He stood without moving, his eyes drifting from Sakura to the other elders and back again. "You are right; this is it." He repeated Nao Aoji. "Tonight, in these sacred chambers, below the light cast by the Clow Star, and before the power and the spirits of the Kinomoto magicians before us, I proclaim this blood magician, though she may be a woman, to be the one. With Clow Reed as our witness, we call upon Keroberos to bestow his divine protection, so that Cardcaptor Kinomoto Sakura may become the one true Card Mistress. She will be the Card Mistress."
All was silent then; the fore-coming magic dared anyone to speak. Yanakishimi blew out the candle he held, and one by one, the flames of the other twelve on the Clow Star vanished as well. The Clow Cards still lay in the centre, and when the last flame disappeared, the circle around the Star began to glow. That circle of light lifted off the ground, and the magic began. Sakura could only watch in astonishment.
The tarots remained in the deck, but they too, were lifted by an unseen force. It stopped moving in the centre of the circle and suddenly, the mystical display became a show of brilliant colour. Above the Clow Cards a faint spiral appeared, forming a vortex whose tip reached but never touched the top of the tarot deck. Within the isolated chambers, a powerful wind formed from the magic unfolding before the eight spectators. It blew about the room; each time it made a complete spiral, another aura joined the growing funnel, and the hundreds of colours and shades of pink and red and orange and golden yellow seemed to mingle tightly but they never truly merged. They were all spirits, all auras of magic, and the soul of every blood magician in Japan who had ever touched a Clow Card, every Kinomoto magician who had faced their fate and failed. Sakura could feel her father's aura lost in the vortex, but she knew he would neither be proud nor shamed by the destiny she had followed. It was a bloody path she chose, but she had followed him.
The winds died down suddenly, though the mystic show had not yet finished. "Call the Cards by name!" Ichikawa commanded, and Sakura obeyed.
"Mirror, Shadow," she began, and the tip of the vortex vanished into the deck of the Cards. "Fly, Float, Jump, Shield, Wood, Bubble, Sword..." The spiral kept on disappearing; the power that had congregated in that vortex was binding to the Clow Cards she owned. "Power, Illusion, Snow, Sweet, Dream, Sleep, Flower, Little, Big," she rhymed off the names she knew so well and when she reached the final four, the essence of those auras changed within the Cards. "Thunder, Rain, Dash, and Song."
Suddenly the many colours merged to become one, a brilliant shade of pink as bold as the late spring tulips and yet as subtle as the cherry blossom's petals. "Out of all the Clow Cards, twenty-two are governed by the Sun, and another such number are ruled by the Moon. The remaining are the six Elementals and the two Final Cards that can decide the outcomes of all fate." Yanakishimi motioned for Sakura to take the Cards in her hand. "These twenty-two are all the ones ruled over by the Sun. Guardian Keroberos," he commanded, "appear before us with your judgement."
The Clow Star's light exploded in the centre of the room, and a glorious winged beast emerged from his centuries of slumber. The ruby headdress he wore glowed with the power Clow Reed bestowed upon him, and his dark eyes opened. Immediately, his gaze fell on the young blood magician.
"Kinomoto Sakura," he began, his voice one to match his winged-lion form, "you are the Mistress of the Cards governed by the Sun." Sakura clutched the Cards to her heart. She feared the beast that stood before her, yet she did not let such emotion show in her eyes. "They all have been sealed and I am their Guardian. It is from now on, Cardcaptor Kinomoto Sakura, that I fight for you, and only you. I exist to fight for you, and kill for you, and die for you. I obey only you." She bowed to the Guardian spirit.
"Thank you, Keroberos," she closed her eyes and whispered.
"Call upon my powers, Mistress, and I shall appear to serve." With that, his golden wings enshrouded him, and Keroberos vanished into the darkness.
Silence descended until the magic that coursed through the air completely faded. It was only then that the elders spoke again. "Kinomoto Sakura," Ichikawa began.
"Yes, great elder?"
"With the Cards and the Sun Guardian on your side, it is now time you to journey into the heart of China." She nodded, and waited for the elders to explain further. "There are no more Clow Cards in Japan, and if the incantations conjured the true image of the Cards' fate, there is only one dark magician in Hong Kong who controls the Cards governed by the Moon. This magician is a Li, and this Li is your only rival who will try and prevent you from holding all the Cards."
"So I must now battle a Li?" Sakura asked.
"No, not yet, young one," replied Hashimoto. "There are six other spirits to be sealed before you can fight the Li descendant."
"Six more Cards?"
"Yes. They represent the six greatest elements of our world, and they are so powerful, that neither Guardian of the Sun nor the Moon rules over them. You must capture as many of them as you can, for they have no master. They run free in the heart of China's magic. That is where you must go to find them—seal them. And then you will find Li and take back the Cards that belong to this clan, the Kinomoto family."
"Are there not two more Cards?" Sakura asked, remembering what Yanakishimi had said before.
"They will not appear until the one true Master of all the Cards appears. You must hold all fifty before the final two allow you to enter their presence and spar with them."
"I understand," was all that Sakura said in reply. But the elders did not dismiss her, and she waited for whatever was next to come.
"Kinomoto Sakura," Ichikawa started, "you have brought great honour to the Kinomotos and us elders. For the first time in so long there is hope that the magic of Clow will be returned to this clan completely. There is no way to express our gratitude, and so we offer you this: What is it most you desire before leaving Japan?"
There were so many possibilities of what she would ask, and the elders had discussed such things amongst themselves before. She was, as of now, the most powerful blood magician in Japan. But she was also a young woman. The things they'd expected her to ask did not disregard this point. They thought for sure she'd ask to bring with her a treasure from the ancient chambers, or perhaps request a banquet to be held so that she may mingle with the highest of the Imperial Courts. One elder had even ventured the Cherry Blossom would ask that the son of Hokkaido's prince be held for her return and he then given to her as a husband.
But she asked for no such things. The seven elders had forgotten that even though she was a blood magician, the truth remained that, hidden, her heart and soul was pure, gentle, and selfless. It was the one trait they could not change through all her years of training. She cared not for those fancies of life.
"Tell me again," Sakura simply answered, "the story of Clow Reed."
The elders did not show their surprise, and they did not question if that truly was all she asked. They merely nodded.
Eight hundred years ago, beneath the seventh moon, a magician appeared in the heart of Hong Kong. He claimed he had no family, no parents; he truly just appeared as he was. He spoke of fate and the existence beyond this world, and though people mocked him for it, secretly they believed in all he said. He lived among the people, and soon they realized that he was truly the most powerful magician in all of Japan and China alike. Whenever they asked for his name, he simply replied, "Clow Reed". The magic that ran thought his blood was incredible.
Clow Reed's dream was to create a legend. He wanted to control fate; he wanted to create a link to the existence beyond this world of which he spoke. He wanted his power to live on and be passed down through the centuries so that there would always be light in this dark world. He split the magic of his star into fifty-two spirits, each with a different power and a different purpose. He took pride in his creation, for they were made to serve their Master, but soon enough, something went wrong.
Each spirit had a mind of its own, though not all were rebellious, their nature was still capable of being devastating, and he needed to find a way to control them... a way to seal them into the realm beyond so that they could mingle amongst each other and be free until they were summoned for a purpose on the Earth. That is why he sealed each one into a tarot card, and in the end there were fifty-two gates to the other realm. Their powers confined, the Clow Cards were born. To protect the spirits, Clow created the Guardians of the Sun and Moon, Keroberos and Yue.
Yet on the farthest edge of Hong Kong, there was another magician whose powers rivalled that of the great Clow Reed. Her name was Madoushi. Those who once came to her for her power and advice had turned to Clow Reed instead. She was no longer held as the most powerful sorcerer, and stripped of her pride and honour, she came to hate the other magician. She challenged him many times, and many times they battled. Every fight they fought against each other ended in a draw.
One day, though, Madoushi challenged Clow Reed to a final match, where the one who lost would either chose to leave Hong Kong forever or face their death. Clow Reed accepted with no intention of losing, and yet somehow he did not intend to win. They fought again, and again after so many times before, it seemed that they would end it in a draw. So Clow did something unexpected by anyone. He summoned the powers of the Cards he had created, and the fateful battle ended in seconds.
Madoushi had lost, and as they had agreed, was to leave Hong Kong forever. But Clow Reed did not let her leave. He asked her to stay, because, though he did not understand how or when or why, he had fallen in love with her. He admired her strength and respected her courage. And his kindness had captured her heart.
For his kindness, Madoushi wanted to give something in return, and so she surrendered the powers of her own star, and gave them willingly to the Clow Cards. Between Clow Reed and Madoushi they sealed a contract, a vow, which oversaw the use of their combined magic. For many years they stayed in Hong Kong, until one day, that contract was broken. No one truly knew what means of treachery happened between Reed and Madoushi, but after a clash that brought about the falling of the stars themselves, the two magicians parted ways. Madoushi, in the peak rage, took the twenty-two Clow Cards that reflected her powers of the Sun and fled to Japan. Clow Reed remained in Hong Kong, but without the Cards governed by the Sun, the deck became unbalanced, and the eight more powerful escaped their master and disappeared into China. The Cards governed by the Moon remained with Clow.
There were very few stories of what became of either magician after that.
The strongest magicians from either family fought to possess the Cards their ancestors left behind, and the two Guardians of the Clow Cards could do nothing but watch the bloodshed as it came. They were neither for nor against either family or each other, for it had been ruled by Clow that they would serve the magician who held all the Cards governed by the Sun or Moon. The Cards in their sealed form without a master grew restless, and one day, they broke free and scattered themselves over Hong Kong, Japan, and China.
For centuries after, the feud remained strong between the Kinomotos and the Lis. The Kinomotos continue to fight because in all truth, they held the right to Clow's power. The Cards rightfully belonged to them. But the Lis refused this, and thus their feud continued... Resent grew to hatred, and that hatred fuelled the lust for blood. And after many generations, their fight for the Clow Cards was to become a fight for vengeance. They wanted revenge for those who had died before them.
Magicians from all over Asia heard of what had happened, how the Clow Cards roamed free, and they sought to capture the magic for themselves. The magicians who hunted those Cards became known as the Cardcaptors. The Cards were captured in time, but not one person owned them all. And so those Cardcaptors were forced to fight amongst each other for the Cards they did not own. The battles became bloody, for when Clow created the Cards, he made them so their master's name would stay inscribed upon them until the day that master either gave it away willingly... or died.
For centuries this continued like the beats repeating in a song, and it will go on until the day one rightful magician, the strongest of them all, holds all fifty-two Cards of Clow. Even then, the cycle of this fate will continue because we are vengeful. If not we fight for the cards, then we fight for the sake of our ancestors who died at the hands of our enemy. It will not end until one family's line is extinguished.
Clow Reed created these spirits and sealed them into tarot cards because he wanted always there to be light and hope in this dark world. But he did not realize that when he created the Clow Cards, he created a darkness so great, that every magician whose power did not match up to his fell destined to die. Until one day a Kinomoto or Li prevails over the other, there will be no peace or silence between these families. There will be no light in their world.
"And that is why this day I must return the Cards to the rightful Kinomoto family, and defeat the last heir to the Lis," Sakura concluded when the elders finished their tale. They nodded and she bowed deeply. "Upon my father's soul I vow to fulfill this 'destiny' of mine."
"We do not doubt you, Kinomoto Sakura. You are free to leave us now."
She stood up then and bowed once as she gathered her tarot Cards and left the elders' chambers in a whisper of silence. She did not look back, for there was a great task ahead of her, and she vowed she would not look the elders in their eyes until the moment she returned from China, holding all fifty-two Cards in her hand.
It was nearly two in the morning when Sakura crossed the corridors between the elders' chambers and the rest of the manor. When she entered the kitchen, she found her brother at the table reading. It was a book that had belonged to her mother.
"Touya-kun, you are still awake at this hour?"
"I could ask the same for you," he replied, closing the book. "It looks as if you were let out early... Are you hungry?" Sakura nodded and sat down while her brother opened the pantries, pulling out bread and some confectioneries—spiced butter and jam. He laid everything out on the counter and Sakura continued to watch. "In what mood were the elders in that you've been freed so long before sunrise? Or did you finally decide to cast a spell on those senile delinquents that call themselves your teachers?" he teased.
Sakura laughed out loud. "For once not one was disappointed in me. I could not get over the fact that Fukae and Saori only looked at me with neutral expression. They're the two that are always displeased or disappointed or disbelieving or disapproving of my abilities."
"And what could have caused that, I wonder?" Sakura was silent for a moment, because the news she brought was respectable, but it was not for celebration. She knew her brother would not be pleased. "You're not going to answer me, huh?" he asked, noticing a reluctance growing in her eyes. Sakura inhaled sharply.
"Touya-san," she began. "It was tonight that I discovered I had captured the final Card in Japan. In three days I will leave for Hong Kong, and from there I must travel into the depths of inland China." Touya's eyes were wide, shock, fear, and worry reflecting clearly. "The elders told me I am to hunt down the Elemental Cards and seal them, and then I will have to face the Li magician. If I defeat him I will own all the Cards."
"Sakura—"
"It's what I must do, Touya-san. I must return the Cards to the Kinomoto family, as they asked me to." There was a long silence after that.
"I cannot stop you because the elders have sent you. I cannot convince you not to go or them not to send you away. But at least promise you will come home." His eyes went cold for a moment, flashing with a feeling so hateful, Sakura became afraid. But she knew it was not her he would have killed if he possessed magic. He would have hunted down the elders. "I don't care if you return with those bloody Cards or without them, you will still come home... and come home alive."
It was a promise Sakura knew she could not keep. She knew the story of Clow Reed and the Kinomotos and Lis. For the Clow Cards, it was always a battle to the final end. She would have to return with the Cards or return not at all. "Promise me, Sakura," Touya repeated, but he knew she would not answer.
Kinomoto Sakura did not answer. The siblings continued to eat in silence, and across the sea, the heart of China was waiting for her. Her enemy was waiting as well.
Well, I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going with this fic... I put it to rest about a year ago because there were too many plot inconsistencies... and it was too firkin confusing. I thought I'd resurrect it, though. What'd'ya think so far? Should we introduce Li now? ;P
CrimsonDaybreak
NoireCat