Chapter Four
Let's play a game, Kinomoto.
"Thanks for bring us around, Eriol-kun," Sakura thanked Eriol whom smiled mildly back at her. He had brought them around their house and Sakura was totally amazed by how enormous their house was. She sweared it was twice the size of Tomoyo's house and at least five times her's. Tomoyo giggled softly at Sakura. Sakura had no idea that she was actually video-tapping her the whole time.
"Sakura-chan, you are still sick. So do not over-work your body. You should really go back into the house and take a rest," Tomoyo smiled.
"Eh... But I still want to visit that place," Sakura replied as she pointed to the arena.
"Well I don't think you should go there now, Sakura-chan," Eriol replied, making both Sakura and Tomoyo looked over to him, "Syaoran is there now. Probably training hard now."
"Is Li always that fierce to Xin One-san?" Tomoyo asked, causing Eriol to blink at her in disbelief.
"No... Actually they are very nice to one another. But..." Eriol paused, wondering if he should really tell them about Xin's and Syaoran's past.
"But what, Eriol-kun?" Sakura asked as she looked at him with her 'famous' puppy-eyes, making Eriol sweatdropped.
"First of all, you have to know, Xin is one of Syaoran's cousin. Though we have to say, she is the child of the branch-out Li's family. Her family was the out-casted ones. When she was taken in, the elders in the Syaoran's family passed down a rule for her to follow. A rule that she was bounded to," Eriol sighed.
"A rule?" Sakura questioned.
"When the two of them first met, Syaoran didn't know that she was bounded with the rule. He thought she was like his other cousins, cousins like me. But he was wrong. She was put to the fault whenever he was acting out of the orders in the house. Though he questioned her a lot of times, she refused to tell him," Eriol continued.
"That's harsh," Tomoyo exclaimed.
"It was after I met Syaoran, and told him about it before he knew why," Eriol sighed.
"What is the rule that was bounded to Xin One-san?" Sakura asked again, slightly frustrated.
Eriol closed his eyes as breeze blew past them and sighed even harder.
She is to follow the order of the elders and to take on all responsibility of the offenses that Syaoran has been given in all cases.
Back in the house, Xin was looking at them from afar. She knew what was happening there and sighed. She didn't want to get Sakura involved in this. But she knew, a little help from Sakura will bring her out of her painful and miserable life. Not only her's, but also Syaoran's. She knew Syaoran was putting up an act. But it was out of her power to get him out of this life. Her own choice now was Sakura.
"Hope you meet it soon, Sakura-san. Good luck," Xin whispered.
After sending Sakura back to bed, Tomoyo and Eriol settled themselves down for a cup of tea. Silence accompanied them for no one spoke. After hearing that, it wasn't hard to believe why Syaoran was being so 'prefect' now. It was not a wonder why Eriol said that their relationship wasn't that bad. It was just because of the rules set down upon that made both of them be like what they are like now. Finally it was Tomoyo who broke the silence and came with the question.
"Can't you do anything about this, Eriol-kun?" Tomoyo asked. Eriol sipped his tea in silence, as if he was giving her the reply. "Why can't you?"
"Because I am out-numbered?" Eriol replied wisely as he put his cup down, "You have to understand, Tomoyo-san. The elders are the grandparents and uncles of Syaoran's. They will do anything to keep him safe and secure. Which is why I chose to keep him close to me. I want him to taste the kind of life to receive punishment and not being so protected by them."
"That is why you guys kept breaking rules?" Tomoyo asked.
"Well," Eriol rolled his eyes as he replied, "half of it is yes. And the other half of it is out of fun."
"But the only punishment you guys received is detention," Tomoyo exclaimed.
"I didn't expect Yelan to be this knowledgeable to have send us both to a school which she was participating in the whole time," Eriol's face saddened as he replied.
"Is that Syaoran's mother's name?" Tomoyo asked, "Yelan Li?"
"Yes, that's her name," Eriol replied.
"She is famous in Hong Kong isn't she? The billionaire lady?" Tomoyo asked, "I seen her once when I was with my mother. She is kind and nice to us. My mother does have some business duel with Mrs. Li as well."
"Yelan is kind and gentle. But she is strict," Eriol explained, "Ever-the-less, she was gentle to Xin. She was also the other one who opposed the elders when they set the rules upon her."
"I see," Tomoyo smiled mildly at her tea and stared into her reflection, "I hope everything will turn out fine."
"I hope as well, Tomoyo-san," Eriol said as he sat back and relaxed, "I hope as well."
Meanwhile, Sakura was soundly asleep in the bedroom. As she twisted and turned in the bed, a shadow appeared beside her. An evil smile was on the face as he placed his hand over her forehead. Magical as it seems, the moment they came into contact, Sakura stopped her turning and toasting and went deep into sleep.
"Have a sweet dream, Kinomoto. We will meet in your dream." The shadow said as vanished.
Sakura opened her eyes slowly. Things were not clear as first but slowly, they came into sight. It was in the night. Sakura looked around her. She was standing by the side of the arena.
"Where am I?" Sakura asked. Just then, a voice broke Sakura's thought as she looked up. Standing in the middle of the arena was a little girl with long black hair tied up high with a black lace. She was wearing black from top to bottom. Her eyes were looking to the front. Following her eyes, Sakura found herself looking at a row of old men and women staring down at the girl, some were narrowing their eyes to the limit of mildly looking at nothing.
'Who are they?' Sakura thought.
"Name?" One of the old men asked.
"My name is Xin, elders," The girl replied. Sakura gasped as she heard the name. Xin was the little girl? Then they must be the Elders that Eriol was talking about.
"Do you know why you are being summon here?" The Elders asked.
"Yes, I know," Xin replied without hesitation.
"Letting you into the Li family is already a gratitude to your parents who unfortunately got themselves killed while protecting Syaoran," The elders replied.
"I thanks you all for the gratitude," Xin thanked them politely.
"But you know the rules set down don't you?" The Elders smiled.
"I will abide by the rules as you all commend," Xin replied as she kneed down before them.
"Xin One-san..." Sakura whispered. Out of the blue, a strong wind blew towards Sakura, forcing her to close her eyes tightly shut. When the wind finally stopped, Sakura found herself in the garden. There, she saw, a boy with dark brown hair swinging a sword around. His age was about 6.
"Xiao Lang..." A voice called as the boy stopped his movement and turned around. A very beautiful and fair lady was standing, as she smiled and looked gently at the young boy. Accompanying her was Xin who was in blue t-shirt and jeans.
"Is that Li?" Sakura questioned as she stared at the young boy. She had to admit, Syaoran was cute at that age.
"Yes, mother?" Syaoran greeted.
"Let me introduce to you another cousin of yours, Xin. She will be living with us from now on," The lady introduced, and Xin bowed at Syaoran. "I will leave the two of you together for now. I have things to do."
"Yes mother," Syaoran replied.
"Please be careful, Mistress Li," Xin replied.
Three of them watched as the lady disappeared into the house before Syaoran let out a sigh.
"That was tiring, wasn't it?" Syaoran asked smiling brightly at Xin.
"Not really, Master Li," Xin replied.
"Don't call me Master Li," Syaoran shouted, "Call me Syaoran or Xiao Lang will be fine. Don't be so formal."
"I was ordered to call you that," Xin replied.
"Then I order you to call me Syaoran," Syaoran replied impatiently, "How old are you?"
"8, Master Syaoran," Xin replied.
"You are two years older than me, so you don't have to call me Master. I mean I am younger than you. It should be I who should give you the respect," Syaoran smiled.
"But..." Before Xin could speak, Syaoran already cut in.
"Let's play shall we?" Syaoran smiled as he pulled Xin along with him. Sakura watched as they disappeared from her sight. She was watching the whole thing happening. The scene when Syaoran and Xin met and the part about the rules. Why was she here in the first place?
"Because you are suppose to," A voice replied from behind, making Sakura to turn around. In front of her, was a man with shoulder-length black hair and a pair of black eyes.
"Who are you?" Sakura asked as she stared at the man.
"Who I am is not important, Kinomoto-san," The man smiled, "What is important is the power you are holding onto."
"Power?" Sakura blinked at the man.
"Magical powers, Kinomoto," The man replied, "And a powerful one indeed. Even more powerful than Clow Reed."
"I have no idea what you are talking about..." Sakura found herself speechless in front of this man. Magical power doesn't exist, does it?
"Let's have a game, Kinomoto," The man replied, "If you win, I will let you off. If I win, you are to be my lady."
"I am not having a game," Sakura replied, "This has to be a dream."
"It is a dream, Kinomoto," The man replied, making her eyes widened in shock, "And if you don't beat me, you can never get out of this dream. You will be stuck here forever."
"Forever?" Sakura repeated under her breath.
"Yes, forever," The man smirked at her. "That is if you don't fight me."
"I don't have magic," Sakura shouted.
"The magic itself had sealed itself off to be found out by you," The man replied, "Let's start the game shall we?"
As soon as he finished his statement, two fireballs were casted towards Sakura. Could Sakura escaped from this world? Just who the hell is the man? What does he wants from Sakura? Can Sakura make it in time to use her magic? All answers in the next chapter:
Magic release! Sakura the Card Mistress!
Sorry people for taking my time to write the story. I have bad time getting my ideas straight to write. So you guys have to be patient with me.
For 'When Things Come About' fans (I have no idea what else to put to substitute it), you have to be even more patient. Trouble time for me to sort things right.
Forgive my spelling mistake and whatever mistake there is. I have no time to check the spelling. I mean... I spent nearly 4 hours on the story pending and writing. My mom is nagging. You know. So...
See you guys soon,
Kit.
