I…don't know what to say! I mean…the reviews…I was surprised when I saw them…thought I wouldn't get any. Well, I'd like to thank you guys for reviewing and reading! Well, here's chapter eight, please read and do review!
"They saw it," Syaoran announced when the reach the castle.
"Saw what?" Sakura asked, confused.
"My tattoo," Syaoran said, sighing. "The Li crest. So, the secret is out."
"What do you mean it's out?" Kokoro asked, busy looking for Tomoyo.
"Everyone knows that the Li's are sorcerers," Syaoran said. "Come on, let's go, Daidouji is looking for us." Syaoran pointed to a waving Tomoyo who was standing next to Nakuru.
"Do you guys sense something?" Sakura asked, looking around. She was sensing Clow Card. "I'm sensing Clow Card. But it's impossible, I collected them all!"
"We'll talk later," Eriol and Kokoro said at the same time. They tried to enter the castle, only to be pull back by Nakuru.
"Later," Nakuru said, dragging them off somewhere. "You guys might be late for the Sorting, but this is way more important."
"Like…" Syaoran said, rolling his eyes.
"A strange presence at a painting," Nakuru said. "Dumbledore want you guys to inspect first, and then tomorrow, all of us will inspect it." A few more minutes of walking, they came upon a portrait of lily magnolias, peonies, two tress of cherry blossom, and roses. "I need to go to the ceremony now. Eh…just sense my aura if you need to find the Great Hall." The five nodded as they inspected the portrait.
"It's only flowers," Syaoran said, "but there's a great aura to it."
"To be specific," Eriol said, "it's our aura." Kokoro walked towards the portrait, touching it.
"Watercolor," Kokoro muttered, "and it's wet." She held up her index finger and shows it to them. She took a sniff of the paint and said, "But the paint smells old." Sakura was staring at the two cherry blossoms tree until she saw something move inside the portrait.
"Eh…is it just me," Sakura spoke up, "or did something move?"
"Something did move," Tomoyo said, looking closely at the portrait. The two friends exchange glances until the portrait change picture.
"Hoe, it changed picture," Sakura said. "Who's that?" To Syaoran, this person look familiar, but he can't quite put his finger on it.
"He looks familiar," Syaoran said, trying to remember him. Syaoran shook his head. "Let's go, we'll see this portrait tomorrow, and figure out the mystery behind this." The other four nodded and followed Nakuru's aura. When they left, the portrait spoke up.
"My dear cousins," the portrait said as the portrait change back to the four flowers. In the Great Hall, Dumbledore has just finish announcing that there will be five transfer students: one from Mizu Reed Magic Academy in England, and four from Clow Reed Magic Academy in Japan. He also mentioned that one will be in Hufflepuff, two will be in Ravenclaw, and two will be in Gryffindor, since they were requested by the new professors. The students are now waiting to see the new students, anxious of what year they're going to be in.
"Hogwarts never accept transfer students before," a fifth year Ravenclaw said.
"Yes," another Ravenclaw said. "I wonder who's going to be in our house." At that instant, the door opens to reveal four students.
"Please welcome your fellow sixth year Hufflepuff, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors," Dumbledore said. Sakura and Syaoran walked to the Gryffindor, while Tomoyo and Eriol walked to the Ravenclaw table. Kokoro who is nowhere to be seen, was walking in, calmly with scratches on her. She walked to the Hufflepuff table, getting weird looks from her friends. She waved her hand at them, telling them that she's okay. "Ms. Hiiragizawa," Kokoro looked at Dumbledore, "please see Professor Tai after the feast." Kokoro looked at Satoshi and nodded. She sat down at an empty seat and stared ahead, keeping quiet. She went into deep thoughts, not realizing that food has arrived.
'Something is odd with that portrait,' Kokoro thought, 'and even worse, the door next to the Great Hall. There's something fishy about that room.' She then got an idea and focused on Eriol. (Eh…This means telepathy okay?) /Eriol,/ Kokoro sent a message to Eriol.
/Yes?/ Eriol replied, not looking at Kokoro, continuing with his food.
/There's something fishy about this school,/ Kokoro said back. Eriol just smiled. /I'll leave you then./ The line was cut off by Eriol, who was talking with Tomoyo. Soon, Kokoro started to eat, only taking a few bites. Soon the feast was over, and Kokoro stayed where she was, so did Eriol, Tomoyo, Sakura, and Syaoran. Harry and his friends wanted to stay, but was shooed by Professor McGonagall. "You wanted to see me, Sato?"
"Hai," Satoshi said. "Your wounds need to be healed." Kokoro shook her head. "Naze?"
"[These scratches might prove something important,]" Kokoro said in Japanese. "Oyasumi, Sato-kun."
"Oyasumi, Kokoro-sama," Sato bowed as well Kokoro. Once the five left the Great Hall, Eriol bombarded Kokoro with questions.
"What do you mean something's fishy about this school?" Eriol asked.
"Don't you get it?" Kokoro asked. "First it's the portrait that we saw, and then I saw a door next to the Great Hall," she pointed to the black door. "There's something in there. When I tried to get near it, millions of needles were shot my way. If I haven't dodged, I might be dead already. Well, oyasumi minna-san." Kokoro went a different way. Eriol and Tomoyo bid Sakura and Syaoran good night and then left for their own common room. When Sakura and Syaoran entered the Gryffindor common room, they instantly went to the fire place and started to talk in Japanese.
"[Don't you think it's weird, Sakura?]" Syaoran asked, looking into the fire.
"[Hai,]" Sakura replied. "[Demo, why would there be a black door?]" Sakura looked at Syaoran who was still looking at the fire.
"[I think that's one of the mysteries we need to find out,]" Syaoran said, not taking his eyes of the fire.
"[Oyasumi, Syao-kun,]" Sakura said. "Sleep well, my little wolf."
"Sleep well, Ying Fa," Syaoran said, getting up. He hugged Sakura before going to the boy dormitories. Sakura walked to the girl dormitories, not knowing Eriol and Tomoyo were having the same conversation.
In the Ravenclaw common room, Eriol's left arm was around Tomoyo's waist, as her head was on his chest. "[Ne, Eri-kun,]" Tomoyo said, not taking her head off his chest, "[do you think it's better to stay in Japan?]"
"[Iie,]" Eriol replied, looking at the fire. "[If we stay in Japan, we won't be able to see each other.]" Tomoyo just nodded. "[It's getting late, hime. Time to go to sleep.]" Tomoyo took her head off his chest and peck Eriol on the cheek.
"[Oyasumi Eri-kun,]" Tomoyo said as she walked up the stairs the girl dormitories.
"[Oyasumi hime,]" Eriol said as he went to the boy dormitories. In the Hufflepuff common room, Kokoro sat there, staring into heart of the fire, thinking. She stayed up until one in the morning before she went to sleep.
Deep in the Forbidden Forest was a cloaked figure, looking at the sleeping Kokoro. "You shall be mine once again, Mizu-chan," the figure said, still watching over Kokoro.
The next morning was really confusing. First of all Syaoran and Sakura couldn't find Eriol nor Kokoro anywhere. Then Tomoyo disappears, which Kokoro came, scaring the lights out of Sakura. Then, Eriol came took Kokoro's spot at the Hufflepuff table, mistaking it for the Ravenclaw's. Class schedule came; Sakura accidentally took Ginny's schedule instead of a sixth year schedule. Everything was solved, which breakfast ended, which signal time for class. Sixth year Gryffindor have Herbology with Hufflepuff. Much to Kokoro's pleasure, a fun class, turned into a class that's like Potions.
Sakura accidentally set fire on one of the plants, causing Gryffindor to lose five points. Then Kokoro purposely burned Syaoran's cloak, which got Kokoro detention and ten points taken off from Hufflepuff. Kokoro let out a groan as they were assigned a five foot long parchment of homework. They're subject, why do plants burn easily.
The next class Gryffindor has advance potions with all the sixth year in Hogwarts. They need five to a group, so the five sorcerers worked together. "I do not want to see any wands out, nor hear any talking in this class," Snape said as the door closed behind him. "Instructions are on the board, get to work. You have fifty minutes to finish the potions. Leave the vial of sample on my desk to be graded when done." Snape sat down as the instructions for Magnolia's Death potion appeared. Soon students were running around the room, getting ingredients for the potions.
Nothing happened until Neville blew up his cauldron. "Mr. Longbottom, it did state to put in a drop of anaconda's blood, then why did you put in two drops of anaconda's poison? Thirty points from Gryffindor," Snape waved his wand and the cauldron was replaced, and the mess was gone. The rest of the class was going just fine. The first two groups to be done are Sakura's group and Harry's group. (Which contains Neville and Dean.) "Homework is three foot essay on what's the use of Magnolia's Death. Class dismissed," Snape said as the bell rang. Everyone was cleaning up, when Sakura and Harry walked up to put the vial of potion on Snape's desk. Surprisingly, to Snape, their potion was the right color, which was the color of crimson, and the substance of the material was right, which was thick.
Everyone started to pile out for their next class. In which all sixth years goes to Physical Education/Martial Arts which was taught by Nakuru and Satoshi. When they got the Quidditch field, Nakuru was talking with Satoshi about something in Japanese. Satoshi was the first to notice the students standing in front of them, waiting. "Go ahead and sit down on the ground," Satoshi said as he tried to shut Nakuru up.
"We're just going to give you guys a brief explanation on what we're going to be doing," Nakuru said, "and doing. Of course, for some of you, this explanation will be nothing like wind blowing by." The five transfer students smiled as they pretend to listen, but looking around the Quidditch field. The explanation took the whole hour. When the bell rang, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw headed for History of Magic with Kaho Mizuki.
Harry has told Sakura that History of Magic was taught by Professor Binns a ghost, which Sakura didn't want to go until Syaoran told her that Kaho Mizuki was replacing Professor Binns. Sakura skipped all the way to History of Magic, happy to see her substitute teacher again. Just like Physical Education/Martial Arts, Kaho was telling the students what they're going to be learning throughout the whole year for the whole class hour. When the bell rang for lunch, Kaho held back Eriol, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Sakura.
"Eat lunch," Kaho said, "then meet in Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. That's when we'll start to discuss about the portrait. And bring Kokoro with you." The four nodded and then left for lunch.
Lunch was the fun time of the day, well, not for Kokoro. She was thinking about what happened during Care for Magical Creatures. Even though it was only Hufflepuff, they hate her. Well, only the students. It seems like Kokoro knows everything about the animal that Hagrid was talking about: a fox. Even though that repair the ten points damage, Hufflepuff hates her because she knows everything about a fox. Like what's its weaknesses, the location of its intestine and stuff. When Hagrid showed the fox to the students, only Kokoro dared to pet it, getting Hufflepuff another ten points. Now Kokoro sat at the Hufflepuff table, thinking about something else: the portrait and the black door. She didn't notice that her friends were right behind her.
"KOKORO!" Eriol shouted into Kokoro's ear, making her jump. She glared at Eriol, telling him to leave her alone. "If you're done with lunch, Professor Kinomoto and Professor Tsukishiro want to see us in their classroom." Kokoro nodded and stood up, following the four to Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Once inside, Kokoro immediately sat down in front of Satoshi with Dark in his full form. A panther with angel wings was standing in between a black cat with butterfly wings (Is it butterfly wing?), and a yellow lion with angel wings.
"Did you guys check the portrait out?" Ruby Moon asked. The five nodded.
"Is it even necessary that we check it with them?" asked Tenshi, Satoshi's guardian form.
"Yes it is," Yue replied hesitantly. "What do you think about the portrait?"
"The paint is still wet," Eriol said.
"But the paint smelled old," Kokoro finished, looking serious. "Have you ever heard of a painting like that? I checked all the painting in the morning, and the paint is dry. Plus, this painting change pictures, from four flowers to a man. Any guess who this man is?" The others shook their head. "Kaho, do you have Life of Clow Reed with you?" Kaho took out the book and hand it to Kokoro. "According to what Kaho said, that man is Syaoran's cousin, Clow Reed's descendant. His name is Tai Xian Long. He died three years after Clow Reed. He has been to Hogwarts before, portraying as Mizu Reed's cousin. Soon, Xian Long got used of calling Mizu 'cousin,' he started to call Clow 'cousin,' too. Clow being Xian Long ancestor, doesn't approve of calling each other cousin. Xian Long died while painting the four flowers. His soul entered the portrait, re-painting the portrait over and over. I get it now…it's his soul that's painting the portrait over and over. And how he's Syaoran's cousin, it's a mystery to me."
"I didn't put any of that in the book," Kaho said. "Unless you looked back at what happened when Xian Long was still alive." Kokoro just smile and nodded.
"I think it's best if all of us go there and say hi to Xian Long," Eriol said. The others agreed as the three Sun guardian change to their false form. Dark flew into Kokoro's pocket, while Spinel Sun to Eriol's pocket, and Kero flew over to Sakura's pocket. The three Moon guardians change back to their false form and followed Touya, Kaho, and the five students to the portrait, with three others following in the shadow. Kokoro kept on looking at the spot where the three were hiding, and still hiding throughout the trip to the portrait.
I shall leave you there. Please review. I actually took five days to finish this chapter. Do review!
