There are some questions I need to straighten out before we move on --
jai oublie - Ano… -sweatdrops- I'm sorry. I was really messed up at that time. Plus, I don't really know the difference between lovers and girlfriends/boyfriends. Yup, I'm still maturing… and here's a little something that I want to announce to everybody.
I had fully held a boy's hand for the first time on 28th of November, 2004.
-sweatdrop-
… Yup. I've never held another guy's hand (except for my father's) for the whole thirteen years of my life. Embarrassing, no?
XiaoShing - Thanks! Pyrotechnicians are people who make fireworks/study the art of pyrotechnics. I'm not sure of the word, but I got it off a game x)
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Atry: Whoa… I've just read a book series that had dragons in them called 'Point Fantasy: Dragonsbane' and 'Point Fantasy: Dragon Search'. It certainly gave me an idea of knights and dragon's princesses and dragon initiation ceremonies and dragon homes and spells and magic threads and witches and cats (CATS?!) and wizards' staffs and buckets of lemony soap water. Yup.
So! It's inspired me to start this chapter! Read on!
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Disclaimer: I never owned CCS, dammit! I own the whole concept of dragon-summoning, though… I think.
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:: LeGaCy DrAgOnS ::
Chapter 10: A Watchful Guardian
By Atruyai
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-Fireatta Village-
"…Humorous?! What do you mean?!" Syaoran snapped as Sakura tried to hold him back. Rarreu just stared at him coolly. "You know, it seems like we're starting to resemble cats and mice." He said, slightly peeved. Syaoran counted to ten, thinking that it's best that the reputation of 'Kanzei-kun' be protected. Killing this person would certainly earn him scornful feedback from people all over the land, and their journey might get a little bit too stressful to handle.
"You are the baka neko, surely." Rarreu prodded further with his choice of words. Syaoran just exploded right there. "You! Who are you? How dare you tease and mock members of the royal family! Anyway, if I'm the baka neko, then you're the stinky kuso nezumi!" Rarreu shrugged. "At least I'm not the one stupid enough to believe me." Syaoran screamed in frustration and counted to a hundred. Sakura decided that Syaoran had enough.
"Kind sir, may you spare us the knowledge of how you became to know of my partner's identity?" She asked business-likely, smiling. Rarreu smiled back at her charmingly. "Ah, my princess. I reckon that you remember the fireworks display a few nights back?" He reminded her, pointing to the sky. Sakura nodded eagerly.
"Well, I'm the one who prepared it for you! Ah, such a wonderful piece, the Clawing Rainbow Dragon! Isn't it, baka neko?" The blonde teenager smiled evilly to Syaoran, who fumed. "You see, we pyrotechnicians make fireworks. Admirable, huh? And while I was doing the last arrangements for the Clawing Rainbow Dragon for Your Majesties, Kinomoto-hime, I heard you mutter Prince Li's name amidst your affair." Rarreu said again, nonchalantly. Sakura and Syaoran felt as though the air around them were fifty degrees Celsius.
"Y-You saw us… Satoshi-san?" Sakura squeaked. Rarreu shrugged. "It was accidental, I would say." Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other shyly, and blushed even more. After a few more blushes, Syaoran finally mumbled out his thoughts.
"This is bad. If word got out, the enemy would be tailing us for the rest of the journey. I have an idea, but I don't like it." Sakura and Rarreu looked at him curiously. "Let us hear it, Li-san." Rarreu said gravely. Syaoran glanced at him, then at Sakura. With a final, defeated sigh, he grumbled: "Satoshi-san… would have to join us."
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The three of them rode out of Fireatta, sacks full of supplies. Rarreu's mother had tearfully let him go, while Reiya packed them a lot of food for their long journey. Now, Syaoran was mounted on Zeko, Sakura on Irie and Rarreu on Blanche.
Rarreu and Sakura were chatting away about random things, smiling and laughing as Syaoran glanced at them jealously. But he didn't actually realize that he was jealous. He thought maybe he was too annoyed by all their loud chattering. Kero and Foxip were both chasing each other, flying everywhere.
"Hey Foxxy! I bet you can't catch me!"
"I can so, Kero! I can also do a loop-the-loop at the same time! Muahaha!"
Sakura and Rarreu sweatdropped at them. "Wow, they're really getting along well, huh?" Rarreu said, nodding to the two hyperactive creatures. Sakura made a face, but then erupted into tiny giggles. Syaoran gripped his reins harder and galloped a bit, distancing himself as he grumbled about Sakura trusting Rarreu too much.
After a few more hours of riding, they stopped at a forest. It had a small stream cutting through it, so Sakura spent a little bit of time filling their water containers as Syaoran and Rarreu set up camp. The sun had already dived beyond the horizon by the time they settled down around a bonfire, eating some of the takoyaki Reiya packed for them. Kero and Foxip munched their way through Kero's remaining muffins before drifting to sleep inside Sakura's tent.
Rarreu finished his last piece of takoyaki and yawned. "I'm off to bed! Don't you two go on doing naughty things behind my back, okay?" Sakura and Syaoran blushed under their bangs as Rarreu retreated to his own tent after hauling Foxip out of Sakura's. A minute later, silence fell between the two remaining campers.
Crickets chirped melodically as the gentle gushing sound of the river rebounded against the tall trees. The moon bestowed a rather morose ray upon the small camp, dark clouds whirring around the spherical figure. Rain was ensured later on in the night, possibly.
Sakura fidgeted on her log uneasily, chewing on the last of her food. Syaoran was throwing twigs into the fire distractedly, watching as the flames engulfed everything in seconds. In the distance, a lone wolf howled.
"…I think I'm jealous…" Syaoran muttered quietly, looking at the princess across him. His squinting eyes were flashing with a kind of subsiding spark, and were many tones lighter than its usual colour. His bangs fluttered in the gentle, caressing wind, giving him a sort of retiring look. One could not decide on whether he was physically tired, or emotionally pained. Sakura tilted her head to the side confusedly. "Jealous? Of whom?"
The Li prince stood up, dropping his tiny load of twigs and crunched dead leaves into the ravenous, clawing burst of fire. He walked to his tent slowly, as if in deep thought. "Nothing. Just… go to sleep." He said superficially, looking up to the velvet-painted sky before going into his tent. Sakura blinked, not fully understanding Syaoran's strange behaviour.
Inside his tent, Rarreu smirked.
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The next morning, Sakura awoke to a smell of something cooking. She got dressed in simple clothing again, and tumbled out hastily, stumbling on a scene in which Rarreu was cooking while arguing with Foxip at the same time.
"You numbskull of a foxfly! I said fish, not Wish! What are we going to do with these Wish Berries?!" Rarreu scolded, holding up a few small, yellow-coloured star-shaped berries. Foxip growled, his red fur blazing in a show of spiky threat.
"You said Wish! I'm sure you did! Don't go blaming me for it! Why don't you go and catch the fish yourself, you fat-ass!" He retorted, sticking his tongue out at Rarreu childishly. The teenager yelled out obscenities and quickly wringed the flying fox's neck, out of pure anger. Sakura sweatdropped. "Ano, I'll go ask Keroberos-san to catch them…" She said, calling on Kero, who changed into the great Sun Guardian, Keroberos. The lion's shiny ruby-encrusted headgear reflected the sun's bright rays, sometimes blinding those looking at him. This is one of his defence factors.
Rarreu and Foxip stopped trying to kill each other and gawked. "I-Is that Keroberos, the legendary guardian of the sun, keeper of the mythical cards?" Rarreu asked. Sakura nodded. "How did he…?" Rarreu started, but one look from Keroberos silenced him.
The guardian grabbed Foxip in his teeth and tore the small 'fox' away from Rarreu. "You two fight too much." Foxip 'eep'ed, struggling to be released. Rarreu shook his hand to relieve his fingers from the wringing he did earlier.
"Kero-chan, can you please catch us some fish?" Sakura begged, pointing to the stream beside the camp. Keroberos spat out Foxip into muddy soil and stepped beside the small river, glaring at the surface for any sign of movement in the water.
Syaoran emerged from his tent a minute later, all ready for disembarking. He glanced at the picture before him, and both of his eyebrows shot upwards. Grunting, he prepared the horses, and dismantled every tent carefully, taking out everything inside before packing them into a sack. Once he finished, he curiously checked the brownish mixture in the pot, cooking slowly.
Keroberos stared into the water for another ten, long minutes before his paw swiped the surface in a blur. A soft flopping sound was heard, and a huge cod jumped from his hand, landing exactly on the steaming pot Syaoran was peering into. The prince jumped, startled, and promptly dropped himself on a log timidly.
"Wai! Excellent, Keroberos-chan!" Sakura clapped, her set of white teeth slightly showing between her parted, smiling lips. Rarreu poked the cooking fish in the pot with a chopstick, sweatdropping. "Wow, it's dead… it's really dead…" Syaoran gave him a 'well-duh' look.
Sakura picked up the Wish berries Rarreu threw away earlier, inspecting them carefully with curious eyes. "Satoshi-san, what do these do exactly?" She asked, holding up the berries by their stems.
Rarreu, who was trying to drown a dirty Foxip in the river, looked up to the princess. The unconscious Foxip drifted away with the current and jammed himself between two rocks. Rarreu didn't even notice, nor did he care. "Wish berries? …Now you've mentioned it, Wish berries are rare… very rare in fact. Let me see them."
He took the berries from Sakura's hands as Syaoran eyed the two teenagers from the corner of his eye. The Li prince scowled for a brief moment before his eyes shifted back to the fish frying in the pot, some of the stray pieces of the fish skin crackling from time to time. Keroberos had already caught himself another fish and had settled under a shady tree to eat his breakfast.
Rarreu broke off a piece of the berry, and chewed it. He nodded, fiddling with the other Wish berries while finishing the chewy bit in his mouth. A minute later, he swallowed. "Just right. They're ripe enough for their magic to work, and that's a good thing. Foxip should be congratulated for his finds… hmmm… where is he anyway?" Rarreu turned back to the river, and missed the sight of Foxip lodged between two smallish rocks. Sakura seemed to be nonplussed by everything.
"Strange… oh well. I better give the wish a try." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "I wish Foxip was on my right shoulder." A ball of light formed on the said place, and Foxip appeared on Rarreu's right shoulder, just like he wished. "Perfect! It works like Merlin's spell." The green-eyed boy turned to Sakura, smiling gloriously. "Kinomoto-hime! I would appreciate it if you kindly put these away in a safe place for me. We might need them. No, we will need them. They provide us with one wish for each branch of the star. And call me Rarreu, hime." He patted the berries into Sakura's palm, and went to check on the food.
"Sakura, Rarreu-kun." Sakura called after him, and poked the berries in her hand, studying them again. She skipped off to put them in her shoulder bag, along with her Cards. Syaoran stared at her again, before realizing that he was stared at too. He snapped at Rarreu.
"What are you looking at, kuso nezumi?" He barked, shaking his fist at the 'damned rat'. Rarreu rolled his eyes. "I was just looking, baka neko. I don't suppose that is against the law, ne?" This just enraged Syaoran even more. "You could just shut up!"
They started to argue as Sakura and Kero sweatdrop hopelessly.
-Somewhere else-
"Do you think I should send out the Chimeras now, Fan Tienn?" Rikei traced the reflection of Sakura in his Observation Crystal, smirking in a sinister way. His advisor bit the end of his quill thoughtfully, an evil gleam in his eyes.
"Well? Hurry up!" Rikei barked impatiently, glaring at the short man a few metres away from him. Fan Tienn jumped. "S-Sire… wouldn't the Black Chimerical Fowls have a better chance at destroying the brats?" Rikei's smirk grew bigger. "Fan Tienn, my good man, you do have a working brain!" He sauntered off to a small table sitting in the corner of the room, and picked out a small tube with a cork on top. The shadow-black liquid inside the container looked as dangerous and suspicious as the murky waters in a bottomless well.
"Fly, my beauties! Expand your dark wings and spread your menace!" He unplugged the tube and the liquid instantly changed into gas. The black cloud shaped itself to form three shadow-like birds. Rikei crowed with laughter. "This… will successfully get rid of that annoying man disturbing my relationship with my dear Sakura!" The birds, or creatures, whatever, cried shrilly, as if understanding the purpose of their release by their master. Flapping their black wings, they magically flew through the walls and disappeared into the shades.
-Syaoran, Rarreu and Sakura-
The gang was trotting down a small path beside a green meadow, with Syaoran in the lead, trying to ignore Kero and Kimo's bantering. Sakura and Rarreu fell back a bit, talking about matters of the Dragonyte Kingdom… well, not really. "The Myu family? Their son is absolutely disgraceful! He had bedded nearly a dozen ladies and servants! I am amazed the royal family was kept in the dark about it, it was the gossip of the year!" Rarreu nattered energetically as Sakura sucked in his words alertly.
"And then there was the animal trader, Seiren. Folks say that his animals were actually creatures stolen from practicing wizards and witches! Some even went the extra length, saying that Seiren keeps a stash of demons at the back of his cart! He's quite the devil, I suspect. Haha, no pun intended, Kinomoto-hime!" Rarreu laughed loudly, and Sakura sweatdropped. The pyrotechnician stroked Blanche's mane lovingly. "Blanche… she was bought from Seiren, you know."
He said it with such wonder that Sakura couldn't help but to stare at the white horse. Now that she thought of it, Blanche really did looked a bit like the magical type. With her long, wavy white mane and creamy white skin, the horse nearly resembled a more feminine version of the Greek Pegasus, but without the wings of course.
Syaoran turned halfway around in his saddle, watching the two riders enviously. He suddenly felt a burst of possessiveness for Sakura, and he shuddered. What was it about the girl that could make him so… over-protective of her? This is not good… the matter could easily distract him. He wasn't a man of many weaknesses.
He hadn't said anything to her since that small 'confession' last night. He was afraid to. That one small sentence made him realize a lot of himself than he ever knew, for example, his feelings for the Dragonyte princess. He hoped it wasn't love. Maybe it was just admiration. But it was still something, he thought gloomily.
Syaoran nearly fell off his saddle when Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. Well, one thing he knows for sure: the girl could always surprise him, no matter what. "Li-kun… you seem a bit stressed… daijoubu, tomodachi?"
The Li prince blinked. Him? Her best friend? Okay…
"Daijoubu desu." Syaoran replied, blushing. Sakura looked on worriedly.
Rarreu hid a lop-sided smirk from showing on his face. However, he screwed up his face as he strained his eyes to see the three black shapes nesting at the bottom of a shady tree. Each had a pair of angry red eyes that made him flinch. He pulled back the reins of Blanche, and the horse stopped.
"Li-kun, Sakura-hime. There's something evil over there." He raised his arms slowly and pointed to the black beasts under the tree. A pair of red eyes turned to his finger, and the animal squawked to its friends. The other two answered their companion's call, and stretched their wings. Syaoran shielded Sakura from them impulsively, his sword forming in his hand.
"What are they?" Sakura asked in a low tone. Syaoran growled, the grip on his blade tightening as he felt Sakura's fear growing. "Black Chimerical Fowls. They feast on human flesh and drink pure bloods." The two royalties saw Foxip glowing red, white and brown bizarrely. It reminded Sakura of Mayii, who wasn't included in the quest because of her upbeat personality. She wouldn't be that useful in a crisis, either.
Rarreu pushed Foxip from the group as the Ikaeran (that's what Foxip's species is called) glowed brighter. The blond-haired teenager joined Syaoran beside Sakura, his eyes still on the mysterious creatures in front of them. "Blaito Chowls, the scientific name. They're really hard to find, since most of the population was wiped out by SoWaMI, the Society of Wizards and Magical Individuals. But some still trap them in bottles, often for evil deeds. They are very deadly, picky critters. They only enjoy the blood of people of noble birth, and human flesh. And they have a special ability. They can-"
Sakura stared in horror as one of the birds lurched forward, but was blasted off by a ray of blue, and was thrown back to its post. A huge blue creature, similar in comparison with Keroberos, stood between the birds and the humans. It was Foxip.
Now, his fur was blue all over, with small grey tints. He had a long snout, like a wolf's, and long, pointy fangs. His ears were long and slightly floppy, and his eyes were sharp. His tail was like the tail of Satan, only blue. He had the same bat wings, and they were black. There was a white streak along the bridge of his nose, giving him a tribal look.
Keroberos transformed with him. He and Foxip produced a fire beam of blue, red, yellow and orange, perishing two of the birds. The last one remaining, the biggest of the three, stood strong. It shot a bigger beam of red back, and send the Sun Guardian and the Ikaeran flying into the air.
Sakura, Syaoran and Rarreu escaped another wrathful ray directed to them. Sakura wanted to use The Shield to protect them, but because Rarreu was there, she couldn't. Syaoran managed to block half of another beam, sending the attack back to the bird, which absorbed it.
The bird grew larger, and slowly made multiples of itself. Sakura and Syaoran grimaced. "That's what I was trying to say… the birds can make identical duplicates of themselves…" Rarreu explained, almost pitifully. "We've no choice but to run away…"
Just after he finished talking, a portal opened near to the bird, and a voice roared throughout the meadow. "Run away! Go!" Sakura thought the voice was oddly familiar, but she had no time to remember who it was as Syaoran was pulling hard of Irie's reins. He and Rarreu were already starting to dart off. Sakura didn't hesitate. She yanked the harness from Syaoran's hands and galloped away, the Li prince close behind her.
She did saw something of the unknown person: a black tail.
After they had gone, a black dragon flew out of the portal, with a man on its back. The man had a silver sword hung diagonally across his back. He was wearing a black trench coat.
It was Vyclae and Dracul.
Vyclae's grey eyes glared at the pack of Black Chimerical Fowls ahead of him, and he reached for his sword. Holding the tip of the blade to Dracul's mouth, he recited a magical spell while Dracul bathed the sword in black fire. When the sword glowed a bright purple, Vyclae charged forwards with a cry.
The birds tried to stop him with their shafts of red, but Vyclae appeared to be protected by a grey shield. In one sharp thrust, he stabbed the bird on the centre. A black and purple light exploded from the contact, and the meadow seemed to spin around the silver-haired man. The fowl screamed a final, angry cry, and crumbled to dust.Vyclae dropped onto the ground, his Silver Dragons' Tail Sword beside him. He was gasping for air.
"I did it, Dracul… I really did… I've protected the young ones…" His eyelids lowered bit by bit. "Ever since Fujitaka-sama saved you, my dragon friend, I've been deeply indebted, although secretly… now is the time that I could repay him properly… I'll look after the chosen ones… no matter what…" Dracul 'hrr'ed softly and rested beside his human friend, guarding him.
With a soft smile, Vyclae lost consciousness.
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Atry: Oooooh! Another person to the good side! Feh :P This chapter was supposed to be different, but I realized that I had forgotten all about Vyclae! -gasp- Typical of me.
What is Rarreu up to? Will Rikei send more threats to our hero/ines? Will Vyclae stay on their side until his death? …And most importantly, will Syaoran confess to Sakura anytime soon?
Stay rooted for the 11th chapter of Legacy Dragons!
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REVIEW, ONEGAI! Watashi 'review' daisuki desu! U-u;