Omg it's a miracle. ;;; I'm actually updating so early. And to tell the truth, I'm so NOT a writer that it's outrageous. I like math… and art. So it's really really surprising that people actually like this:D Thanks for the love and support. XD So, on to the chapter! And I can't believe my hits jumped from 200 to 700 in like three days. O.o
Disclaimer: One day… when it rains takoyaki and the sky has Sakura Card constellations etched into it, you'll know that CCS belongs to me.
Key:
Narration
Thoughts, dreams, flashbacks, emphasized words
EMPHASIZED WORDS (also)
----- scene change
Spells, incantations, etc.
Japanese/
-san – honorary suffix that basically means Mr., Mrs., or Ms.
-chan – endearing suffix
-kun – suffix for guys or female colleagues at work
Hoe! –neither a prostitute nor a gardening tool; it's Sakura's trademark sound of surprise
Chinese/
Ni hao - hello!
Spirited Away
Chapter Eight: First Day Back
Miss Ling tsk-tsked at Sakura as she crept into the classroom, much like the first day of school, embarrassed and late. Punctuality was never Sakura's strong point. It couldn't have helped anyway since it took quite a long time to explain everything to Tomoyo, who strangely remained quiet throughout the whole explanation. She seemed to take it all in without a doubt. Sakura would have to call her up again after school to make sure she was all right.
"Miss Kinomoto, you've been absent for four days of school and you finally show up late… again," Miss Ling announced sternly while the class was barely able to conceal their laughter, "I'm afraid I will have to make this one a tardy. The punishment for a tardy is clean-up duty after school. Is that clear?"
Sakura sighed in relief, cleaning duty wasn't too bad, "I underst—"
"Well were YOU fighting an evil being a few days ago, resulting in exhaustion of all your magical power and being injured and having to complete hours of schoolwork on top of that, not to mention the fact that she saved many peoples' lives last week and that—"
Sakura sweat dropped as Syaoran just managed to cover Meiling's mouth. Meiling broke free and crossed her arms over her chest with a scathing "hmph".
Sakura found curious stares coming her way again and quickly made her way to her desk. Meiling and Syaoran disappeared from the front and reappeared next to Sakura's desk. They had insisted strongly on going to school with Sakura instead of Kero since they were less obvious and only those with a magical sense could see them, as the two had assured her. Syaoran, Meiling, and Kero were all worried that Sakura would collapse since she was still slightly fatigued from her lethal encounter.
It was interesting, however, the way that Hong was gaping open-mouthed at the space around Sakura's desk and the uneasy feeling that Syaoran felt when he saw the blue-haired back of a certain person's head.
"I'm very glad to see that you're well and with us again, Sakura-san," Eriol greeted when she sat down.
Sakura smiled appreciatively, "Thank you for your worry, Eriol-kun." At that moment, Meiling and Syaoran suddenly disappeared at exactly the same time. Sakura looked around confused, wondering what had happened.
"What's wrong, Sakura-san?" Eriol asked.
"Oh, nothing… nothing's wrong, Eriol-kun," Sakura replied, smiling and trying to act as natural as possible while obviously scanning the room.
Her distracted, darting eyes didn't catch the smile on Eriol's lips.
"Miss Kinomoto, Mr. Hiiragizawa! Focus please!" Miss Ling suddenly called from the front.
"Yes, Miss Ling," both students answered and Sakura spent the rest of the morning with her head filled with physics formulas, with not much more room to think about two disappeared ghosts.
-----
"There's no mistaking it… it's definitely him," Meiling stated.
"So he reincarnated himself too… the bastard…" Syaoran muttered.
Meiling eyed Syaoran disapprovingly. "Syaoran!"
He held up his hands defensively. "Okay, so it's Hiiragizawa. He's a powerful wizard and he can see us. But what's he doing here? How long has he been here?"
"Not long, I don't think, though I wouldn't know. If he had been here earlier, you would have sensed him," Meiling speculated.
"Well, I think that Hiiragizawa needs to have a little chat with us..."
-----
"Ahh… finally afternoon break," sighed Sakura as she slid her Chinese literature book into her bag and relaxed in her seat. Studying in China was a very grueling and different experience than in Japan. School days were much longer here, subjects much harder, though it was rather nice that the breaks were much longer as well. The afternoon break lasted for two hours, which allowed students to eat lunch and socialize with friends.
"I see you're adapting to Chinese school customs very well, Miss Sakura," Eriol complimented in Chinese with a smile on his face.
"No, no it's still …still," Sakura began her sentence in Chinese, hoping to practice, but couldn't help but convert back to her native language," terribly hard." She and Eriol laughed lightly and Sakura took out a bento box from her bag. Suddenly, a few girls from the class curiously approached her, trying to figure out what were the mysterious colorful things she was eating for lunch.
"Ah um ni hao!" Sakura said brightly as she took out her chopsticks, noticing them looking at her.
The girls suddenly erupted in elated, quick strings of Mandarin while Sakura desperately tried to understand them.
"Can you… speak… slower?" Sakura asked of them, trying hard to speak accurate Chinese.
The girls smiled kindly at Sakura and pulled up chairs while speaking slowly and clearly to her. Sakura was surprised to find that they thought she was very kind and sweet and that she shouldn't let Hong get to her. Sakura, however, made great attempts to defend Hong with her limited vocabulary and her classmates couldn't help but admire her.
They were most interested, however, in the food that Sakura's eating. It took a great deal of time for Sakura to explain to the girls that in Japan, they ate fish raw more than when it was cooked. So lost in conversation, Sakura didn't even notice when Eriol slipped away.
-----
"Yes, my cute little descendant," Eriol smiled toothily, "is there something you wanted to see me about?"
"Why the hell are you here?" Syaoran muttered, irritated. Even after centuries, old habits really did die hard. That "cute little descendant" crap Eriol pulled would make him permanently unable to reincarnate himself one day.
"Be polite, Syaoran," Meiling scolded. She looked at Eriol cautiously, "I never really knew you personally but I've heard of your great powers. Please tell us what your intentions are by being here in Hong Kong."
"My intentions should be very obvious to you both," Eriol eyed both of them sternly, almost like a father would eye his children, "Sakura's powers exceed my powers many-fold so you should know…" He trailed off and for a moment, Eriol looked as if he was trying hard to assemble the right words in his mind.
"How long have you been here then?" Syaoran snapped impatiently. He hated when Eriol avoided directly answering questions.
"I was here," Here Eriol's eyes looked tired and he paused before finishing gravely, "…the first time."
Syaoran paled. This was extraordinary considering how pale he was to begin with. The atmosphere stilled and became frigid though Eriol seemed not to notice.
"What…?" Meiling whispered, her eyes alarmed, "You were here… when that happened? Why didn't you tell us? Why the hell didn't you tell us? It could've been different… Lina could have…"
"You can see the future, can't you?" Syaoran snarled suddenly with ferocity, "Oh great reincarnation of Clow Reed, were you too busy tinkering with your little creations to face other important matters at the time? Such as saving a life?"
"I couldn't," Eriol replied quite calmly, "I did not have my full powers at the time. I could not see the future."
"Why the fuck not?" Meiling glared at Syaoran for his language.
"Kinomoto Fujitaka. Does that name sound familiar to you two?"
They both shook their heads until suddenly Meiling recognized the name and with a start, said somberly, "Sakura's father."
"He contained my powers. He arrived in Hong Kong in an earlier trip about 5 months ago. As you both well know, that travesty occurred last year. Also, until I turned 15, I could not regain my powers," Eriol explained.
"Why 15?" Meiling ventured to ask.
Eriol took a breath and his deep blue eyes glimmered when he answered, "Because Hiiragizawa Eriol died in 1803 when he was 15 years old."
Silence hung in the air.
"God damn…" Syaoran whispered, "what happened, Hiiragizawa?"
"It's a long story," Eriol replied with a smile but his reply definitely had a curt edge to it.
"Well, we need to know exactly what you plan to do here, Hiiragizawa," Meiling spoke after a moment of uneasiness.
"I plan," Eriol stared at Syaoran, "to save you all."
"NO!" Syaoran yelled suddenly, startling both Eriol and Meiling, a dark void of fury and deep pain in his voice. The empty hallway echoed with the strange sound of it.
"Of course we will need Sakura-san's help—"
But before he knew it, Eriol found himself pinned up to a wall with a very strong force, and a ghostly fist hovering mere centimeters in front of his face. He also found himself face-to-face with a seething, furious Syaoran.
"Don't you dare involve her in this." Syaoran's eyes glared with the ferocity of fire though Eriol continued to look nonplussed.
In one smooth movement, however, Eriol had thrown off Syaoran's grip and landed gently on the floor. He stood with his back facing the two phantoms.
"Last time was a mistake. I agree, a horrible mistake," Eriol said. He then turned around to face the two. His face held a determined expression, "But this time is different. Don't you see? Can't you feel it?"
He was met with painful looks from both specters.
"So you're both not doing anything because you're afraid that it will be a mistake again," Eriol stated neutrally.
Syaoran stared at Eriol affirmatively and nodded though Meiling simply looked away.
"I hope you know, Syaoran," Eriol said, his voice completely serious, "that you only hope that it's a mistake."
Syaoran tried but could not find a word to say.
At that moment the bell rang and with one last reproachful look, Eriol walked off back to his classroom to gather his books.
-----
"Ah, Eriol-kun!" Sakura waved enthusiastically as Eriol walked towards her, clad in his PE clothes.
"Hello, Sakura-san," Eriol greeted warmly.
"Hoe? I didn't know you were in my physical education class. You weren't in this class on the first day of school," Sakura pondered.
"Oh, I had a schedule change," Eriol smiled, as always.
"Well I'm glad because that means that we have 5 classes together", Sakura said happily, "C'mon, let's go join the others to play soccer!"
Eriol consented by getting up and walking with her to the field.
"Eriol-kun," Sakura said as she started to do a dribbling warm-up, "it seems like I've been getting along better with the class! I think they've started to like me." She smiled broadly that that notion.
"Of course," Eriol replied as he bounced a soccer ball on his legs and recalled several interesting conversations that he had had with a few of the classmates some days ago, "You are very fun and charming to be with."
Sakura blushed at the comment and nearly tripped over the soccer ball when she heard a grunt behind her. She turned around and saw that Syaoran and Meiling were right behind her, actually clad in soccer clothes. Syaoran looked rather cross and sulky while Meiling just laughed.
"Li-kun! Meiling…chan…" Sakura began to say but froze when she noticed Eriol smiling and staring at Syaoran and Meiling. It was almost as if…
"…I can see them, Sakura-san?" Eriol finished her thought with a mysterious sparkle in his eye.
Sakura gasped.
"You can… Eriol-kun?" She whispered as her legs stopped dribbling altogether and the ball rolled next to her feet.
"Yes," He replied, "I have magical ability, just as you do." His bouncing of the soccer ball never ceased.
Sakura suddenly became worried, "Does this mean that there are a lot of people with magical abilities that can see Li-kun and Meiling-chan? Have I… endangered them?"
"Oh, heavens no," Eriol chuckled slightly at her incredibly caring nature, "They're fine as they are."
Syaoran continued to glare.
"Except… I think Syaoran is a little upset," Eriol put on a full-on smirk as Syaoran's glare burned more and more dangerously, "Or even… jealous."
"Hoe? Why would—"
But before Sakura could get her question out, Syaoran had zoomed off and finding an unsuspecting student, promptly dove into his body. Sakura gaped.
The boy suddenly ran inhumanely fast back to where Eriol and Sakura stood and yelled, while suddenly mastering the language of Japanese, "Dammit, Hiiragizawa!" His friend, whom he had been talking to, also started running, bewildered, to where the group now stood.
The boy, or rather, Syaoran, started bouncing a soccer ball on his knees, much like Eriol was doing.
"Not bad… but I expect better out of you, ace player of Scarlet Dragon Academy!" Eriol taunted but was cut short as a soccer ball that was definitely aiming towards his face was caught in his hands.
Syaoran did nothing except glower angrily.
"Eh… so feisty today," Eriol said flippantly, tossing the ball back to Syaoran who continued to bounce it back and forth between his knees. Suddenly Eriol kicked his ball and it shot towards Syaoran like a rocket, who promptly kicked both his and Eriol's balls back at his opponent. Thus began a flurry of soccer balls being kicked back and forth as if they were bullets being fired during a duel. Sakura was amazed as both Eriol and Syaoran performed incredible acrobatics to return the soccer ball, including some flips and twists.
"Amazing, huh?" Meiling remarked to Sakura, who had not moved since the "battle" had begun.
"Yeah, it's just… wow," She managed to say.
"Syaoran was on the varsity soccer team all his years in the Academy," Meiling whispered, seeming not to care whether Sakura was listening or not, "And always… she was always…"
A searing flashback took a hold of her.
Syaoran was sweating, panting, struggling as he barreled down the field. He always resented the hot uniform that the Academy required the team to wear, it was completely impractical for playing sports. The ball was being dribbled towards the home team's goal and Syaoran gritted his teeth. They were tied… it was the championship game.
"Li!" Yelled a teammate and he whipped his head around to him, his sweaty hair whipping his eyes.
Meiling watched in awe and adoration as she sat with Yelan and Syaoran's sisters. But she also saw the only one girl, the outcast, that Syaoran paid attention to on the other side of the field. She stood alone but joy and determination surrounded her like a huge halo. Meiling felt a twinge of jealousy.
"Let's go!" Syaoran yelled as he ran so fast that he overtook the opponent's teammate who carried the ball and with a skillful slide, managed to knock the ball over to a player of the Scarlet Dragons.
The crowd roared as the player with the ball sprinted down the field as fast as he could.
Syaoran followed him closely but suddenly realized that the whole Burgundy Oxen team had gathered in front of their goal in what seemed to be an impenetrable defense. He grit his teeth as he and his teammates circled the goal.
As Syaoran looked desperately for an opening and the time ticked on, a sweet, sweet voice reached his ears. Syaoran looked at the source and Meiling did as well, with a heavy heart.
"SYAORAN-KUN!" Sakura cried, waving her yukata-clad arms wildly, "SYAORAN-KUN!
You can do it!"
At that moment, Syaoran's desperation melted away and in place emerged iron-clad determination. He barked out several orders to his teammates and suddenly passed the ball to Eriol in the far right corner. The Burgundy Oxen team then began congregating towards the corner.
Syaoran smirked; they had taken the bait.
In one huge kick, Eriol kicked the soccer ball high into the air and as gravity started to pull it back down, Syaoran leapt into the air and whammed his foot into the ball so hard that the stitching burst as it sailed, untouched, into the goal.
The crowd went wild.
Meiling could feel the tears of happiness as she stood up and screamed at their unprecedented victory.
From all the way across the field, she saw Sakura smiling and nearly dancing as she jumped around excitedly.
Meiling glanced at Syaoran and saw that he was completely under Sakura's spell.
"Meiling-chan!" Sakura suddenly exclaimed, tearing Meiling away from her thoughts, and relief was evident in her voice, "They've stopped, they've called a truce."
Meiling looked and sure enough, the two boys, looking as if they'd each run to the top of a mountain and back down, were panting and staring at each other.
"You're still… five centuries… too early… to beat me," wheezed Syaoran through his human body.
Eriol smiled calmly, though sweat ran down his brow in streams. Two shredded soccer balls lay in a pile between them.
"Chen! Chen!" a boy ran over to "Syaoran" and shook him, "Wow! I didn't know you were so good at soccer! Nor that you could speak Japanese!" It was at that moment that Syaoran's spirit emerged from him, comically red and sweating. The crowd that had gathered to watch began lessening as well.
As Chen and his friend left with the friend still exclaiming how Chen should join the soccer team and Chen barely able to remember anything that had just happened, Meiling, Sakura, and Eriol laughed heartily. Even Syaoran managed to smile, which somehow caused Sakura to blush, and in turn made Syaoran flush madly. This only caused Meiling and Eriol to be highly amused.
Eriol, however, could sense that Sakura had many, many questions to ask him about what his connection was to the two ghosts and was formulating answers when he noticed a vacant look on her face. She appeared to be staring off to the distance.
"Sakura-san?" Eriol looked up to see Syaoran and Meiling looking bewildered as they hovered within the branches of a nearby tree. They had no clue what she was seeing either.
"It's a… it's a…" Sakura suddenly became aware that she was keeping a large secret and stared at Eriol warily. He knew magic, but still…
"Sakura card?" Eriol completed her statement, a slight smirk on his lips. She always could sense these things much faster than he could.
"What…?" It was Sakura's turn to look bewildered and she quickly looked to Syaoran and Meiling who both nodded confidently.
"Oh…oh yes," Sakura replied, nervously, trying not to look Eriol in the eyes, "A Sakura card."
"Well, then be my guest…" Eriol said with yet another smile.
"O-okay," Sakura took a shaky breath. This was still very surprising to her that Eriol possessed magical power, but she had an important task at hand so she couldn't delay.
Sakura took out her star key pendant and began murmuring the incantation:
The key that holds the power of the stars.
Reveal your true form …to…
"…me?" Sakura's voice trailed away as she realized that several people had stopped their PE activities to see what she had been doing. It must have looked quite bizarre: a girl holding a pendant and muttering words to it, and in a different language than these Chinese students were used to.
"Ah…hahaha… it's… a toy!" Sakura explained the crowd in their language. There was a general sound of "Oh I see" and they dissipated. It was a mystery to Meiling and Syaoran how such an excuse was still able to work through the centuries…
"Um Eriol-kun," Sakura twisted nervously to face him, "You know magic right… so how can I summon my wand and catch this card without um… being noticed?"
But Eriol was already a step ahead. His celestial wand had already been summoned and with one glowing red motion, the entire school fell silent. Sakura gasped and worry clearly etched itself into her pretty features.
"Relax, Sakura-san, they're only asleep," Eriol assured her.
"Whew, that's good," Sakura breathed. Syaoran couldn't help but suddenly feel an ache in his heart at her sweet and sincere kindness towards everyone.
"The coast is clear, Sakura-san," Eriol declared.
"Okay, then I won't hold back!" Sakura said brightly and threw her star key in the air. As it hung glowing in front of her, she chanted:
The key that holds the power of the stars.
Reveal your true form to me.
I, Sakura, commands thee under contract.
Release!
The small key elongated into an elegant pink rod and Sakura grabbed it and sprinted towards where her senses told her to go. Eriol, Syaoran, and Meiling followed.
In the shadows of the trees, a glimmer of autumn hair swayed in the wind.
-----
It wasn't until 200 feet later that Eriol sensed the card. He could feel that it was the Maze.
"Sakura-san," Eriol began to warn, "watch out, it's the—"
But before Eriol could finish his sentence, walls sprouted out of the ground and encased Sakura and Eriol in a huge labyrinth that spawned the entire PE field. Sakura and Eriol were separated. Meiling and Syaoran had strangely been pushed out of the maze and could not get close. Meiling was extremely amused at the look of helplessness on Syaoran's face.
"Hoe!" Sakura exclaimed as she stared at the tall green walls that seemed to keep growing taller and taller. Grabbing a card out of her deck, Sakura commanded, "Sword! Sharpen my wand to a blade that is true!" The wand changed into a blushing pink katana.
In true samurai style, Sakura sliced deep into the wall and it split. But came back together again as if it were made of jello. Not giving up, Sakura tried again but it was to no avail.
"Sakura, Sakura can you hear me?" Meiling's soft voice wafted down. It almost sounded like she was talking from underwater.
"Meiling-chan?" Sakura called out. She looked around but saw no one.
"Sakura, I'm above you!"
Sakura looked up and sure enough, Meiling and Syaoran were hovering above.
"Okay Sakura, I'm going to try to guide you out. It's the only way to capture this card!" Meiling called down.
"But I need to find Eriol-kun first!" Sakura cried out.
"Hiiragizawa is on the other far side of the maze. I believe he can get out by himself just fine," Meiling reassured her.
"Well, if you say so," Sakura replied pensively.
After about twenty minutes of following directions, Sakura found that she was very near the exit. She was right next to the outer walls! Without waiting for Meiling's next instruction, Sakura dashed towards the exit and was within a few feet of the edge when suddenly a figure leapt in front of her.
She was tall and slim, with long dark auburn hair that reached her waist. Her eyes were a catty shade of amber and in her hand was an ancient-looking bell with many colored ribbons attached to it. She smiled kindly at Sakura, something that looked so familiar to the girl.
"Hello, Sakura-chan," She said with a certain tone of endearment in her voice, "It seems like you did not need my help to capture the card this time."
Sakura only looked at her with confusion written all over her face. When was the last time…?
Then Sakura heard footsteps behind her and knew that Eriol had arrived. She turned to ask Eriol whether or not he knew this person but the answer was clearly displayed on his face. He was standing extremely still and the look on his face was a mixture of sadness and complete shock, something rarely ever seen.
"Hello, Eriol," the woman said simply in a gentle voice. A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her rouged lips.
"…Kaho?"
-GASP- Who is Lina? What's Eriol's TRUE connection to Meiling and Syaoran? What do they mean by "the first time"? And most importantly, is this an E&T fic or not! Find out, NEXT TIME! MUAHAHA.
It was supposed to be different, but this seemed like a better way for the chapter to go so I went with it. XD I hope this chapter answered some questions and inspired a lot more! Be patient, all shall be answered in time.
I realize that in the manga/anime, Fujitaka has the appearance of Clow Reed while Eriol had all the power. But I always thought it could be the other way around since Eriol always looked more like Clow than Fujitaka did, in my opinion. :P
Oh I'm sorry to any Kero fans… he didn't appear in this chapter. : But he will come in the next! And Yue will also… somehow… appear. I just need to think of how he should appear.
I realized that I make a lot of people interrupt each other. I hope it's not annoying anyone.
Thanks for the support!
DreamerDust