Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura
Chapter 7
Rescue the Regent
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Regents Estate
The group had been led back to the Regents house and are standing in the main hall. They had been told to wait there for a few minutes, and Maggie Chen had left to see her mother who was at the city hall. It took a while before anyone noticed the large bags Tomoyo was carrying with her, ones that she didn't have before
"What have you got in all those bags, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked her friend curiously
"Oh, just some materials" Tomoyo smiled as she patted the bag
Syaoran eyed the bags suspiciously
"Materials? What materials and for what purpose?"
"Clothing materials, of course! I'll be using these to create some more costumes for Sakura-chan. After walking around this city I have already thought up some really wonderful designs" Tomoyo burst out laughing
Before anyone could comment on how crazy she was, one of the servants arrived and spoke to the group
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Please follow me"
They were led back to the room they sat in earlier. It was now occupied by Eriol, Stranger and Raine who were discussing something. Raine immediately took notice of the group entering the room.
"Good afternoon, everyone. Please have a seat"
As everyone sat down on the chairs, Sakura looked towards Raine with a concerned expression
"Are you all right after…"
"Yes, of course Kinomoto-san. And Stranger has already filled me in about all that has happened here"
"I'm glad" Sakura smiled in relief before sitting down between Syaoran and Meilin. Stranger waited for everyone to be seated before he started talking
"Now, we all know we can't enter the Hall, right? Well, the council will let us in if we do something for them"
"What, exactly?" Syaoran asked rather irritatingly, knowing that it'll be something big and possibly dangerous
Raine took a deep breath before explaining
"Three miles west outside of the city is the tomb of the hero Gui Zang, who was one of the Final Heavens. Now according to Mrs Chen, the Regent was sent out along with some soldiers to retrieve an artefact from the within the tomb. The artefact is the staff Gui Zang used"
"Why would they need his weapon?" Meilin asked
"It is said to be one of the most powerful weapons in this world. The council figured they could use it to guard the Hall, seeing as the original guardian of the Great seal and half the Shenhua army wasn't enough to stop those intruders before"
"Even so, stealing from a grave…" Syaoran shook his head in disgust
"The idea was a last resort. Something had to be done" Stranger said, shrugging his shoulders
"So anyway, where is the Regent with this weapon?" Sakura asked
"Three guesses" Eriol said, giving one of his curious smiles
Syaoran stared at Eriol for a second, then lowered his head
"The Regent went into the tomb, but somehow got trapped inside?"
"You got it, Wolfie" Stranger said, looking rather impressed
The room remained silent for a while. Syaoran slowly raised his head back up as he thought
'Maybe that's what Maggie meant before…'
Raine began to search through a bag that sat on the floor next to her. She eventually found a large scroll, which she then unravelled and placed onto the small table in the centre of the room
"This is a map of the tomb. It's just a copy, the Regent has the original"
Everyone gathered around the map as Raine began to point at certain parts
"There were traps set inside the tomb to keep it protected, which the Regent was fully aware of, and these markings show the locations. That means that he should have gotten through without setting any of them off"
"So then it is most likely that there is one trap that wasn't marked here, one which the Regent might have stumbled upon?" Syaoran questioned as he studied the map a bit further
"Yes. One that was probably set off by removing the artefact"
"Hasn't anyone tried to help him out of there?" Sakura asked
"They sent many troops out there to try and force there way inside the tomb, but there is a strong magic barrier blocking any way inside or out. No matter how much power they got together, they couldn't break through" Raine replied as she began to roll the map back up
"So they want us to try?" Syaoran guessed
"That's the plan. We have to get in and rescue him" Raine said, placing the map inside the bag
"If no one has managed to get inside, how do they expect us to?" Syaoran asked, raising an eyebrow
"Well, my cute little descendant" Eriol smiled "We are a rather…unique group. We have powers far greater than any of the people in this world so getting inside may be a possible task for us"
"Okay, but even if we do manage to get in. How long has the Regent been there? How do we know he's still alive?"
"He's only been gone two weeks. The group took plenty of supplies with them so they should be fine" Stranger simply stated, although it wasn't very reassuring
"There is something else, though" Raine spoke up "They are still not to keen on trusting outsiders; so only five people are allowed to go. The rest will have to wait here"
"Only five?" Meilin said in disbelief, while Raine nodded slowly
"Yes, we already took the time to decide the group. Li-san will obviously be going, we need three people with very strong magic so that's Kinomoto-san, Hiirigizawa-san and I. Stranger will be going along as support"
While everyone just nodded in understanding, there was a sudden scream from Tomoyos direction
"Wait!" the girl suddenly cried out "Someone needs to be there to record Sakura-chan wearing the costume I'm going to design for her!"
Almost everyone looked to Tomoyo worriedly. She was really crazy when it came to things like that. Stranger actually found this quite funny
"Alright then" he said with an unusual grin on his face "Daidouji, you can go instead of me"
"Really?" Tomoyos face really brightened up
"Well, as long as no one else has any objections to it" before anyone could answer (namely Sakura and Syaoran) he carried on speaking "Good, It's settled. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go sought out your supplies"
Stranger stood up and left the room, taking Raines bag with him.
"This is so wonderful!" Tomoyo laughed hysterically, Sakura smiled nervously and Syaoran dropped his head into his hands
'God, trapped inside dark tomb with both Hiirigizawa AND Daidouji…"
"When are you guys going then?" Nakuru asked, and Eriol answered
"We'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, just before the sun rises. That way it'll be easier to cross the desert"
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Later that night
It was a full moon and the night sky was clear of any clouds. The temperature was warm, with a light cool breeze travelling through the air. Syaoran sat on the window ledge in his room with the large glass windows open, reading his fathers notebook.
"Lower the stance keeping your back straight…shift left foot forward while pushing the left hand out…" He read the notes aloud and looked at the small sketches drawn showing the move being performed
"Pull back right fist…then higher stance quickly shifting the right foot so it's level with the left… and strike with right hand"
Placing the notebook down, he got up and moved to the centre of the room. He stood in a two-character stance (his feet together and hands down by his waist), before he began to slowly perform the first actions of the move
'Lower stance…back straight…'
He quickened the pace as he reached the next part
'Push out, higher stance and strike"
In one swift movement, he moved up and struck the air. Upon completion of the move, he noticed how the room and its contents began to slightly tremble. The power of the attack caused this; those who weren't even struck by it could feel the force.
'It's pretty late; maybe it wasn't a good idea to practice that attack. I hope I didn't wake anyone'
After a few minutes, he heard a light knock at the door. Whoops. Perhaps it's someone to complain about the noise, someone coming to tell him to stop training and get to bed…
"Come in" he answered, waiting to see whom it was
The door slowly opened, and a young auburn haired girl peeked inside
"Syaoran?"
"Sakura?" He quickly moved to the door and opened it wider, allowing her to step inside, then he quickly closed it "Is everything all right?"
"Yes, everything's fine" Sakura gave a reassuring smile, and glanced around his room "Where you in the middle of something?"
"I was doing some training. I didn't wake you, did I?" Syaoran was ready to kick himself in case he had woken her, but she slowly shook her head.
"No, of course you didn't. Its just Meilin-chan asked me to give you this, seeing as she forgot to earlier"
Sakura placed something into Syaorans hands. He looked at it in disbelief. It was his Sakura bear.
"How long has she had this?" Syaoran asked, quite shocked
"Meilin-chan said she brought it with her after you ran from home. She thought you would have wanted to take it with you"
She watched as a smile crossed his face, then blushed when he looked back into her eyes
"Of course I wanted this with me"
His eyes wandered to see that she was carrying her Syaoran bear in her left hand. That made his smile grow wider, and made her blush even further. Just then, he suddenly remembered something.
"I have something for you" He took her hand and brought her to the window. A small package lay on the side, which he picked up and handed to her.
"Here. I bought it from the market this morning"
Sakura looked at the package for a few seconds before deciding to open it. After carefully unwrapping the package, she found the small bear necklace inside.
"Syaoran…"
Syaoran was so happy to see her smile. Noticing that she was trying to make sense of the engraving, he smiled and whispered to her
"It reads 'Love for Eternity'"
Sakura immediately flung her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely
"Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome" he smiled again before slightly pulling away
"I love you, Syaoran"
"I love you, too" Syaoran replied, placing a light kiss on her cheek.
They sat down together on the window ledge, Syaoran with his back to the frame and Sakura resting her head on his chest. They looked out over the city that was illuminated by the light reflecting from the moon.
"It's a beautiful night" Sakura sighed dreamily
"Yeah…" Syaoran agreed as he looked out towards the desert. For a while they sat in silence, admiring the ancient city that slept peacefully.
'I just hope that tomorrow will be a simple rescue mission' he thought silently to himself, before looking back down to Sakura. His eyes widened in surprise.
She had fallen asleep.
"Sweet dreams…" he whispered into Sakuras ear, and her lips formed into a light smile
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Elsewhere
A ninja bowed before his master, as he relayed a message
"We have found out the location of the Li clan heir. He is inside the city of Shenhua, staying at Regent Chens estate"
Jigoku sat on his throne still half asleep as he listened. He lightly scratched his chin before asking
"Have they gained access to the seal?"
"Not yet. We have picked up some information that the Regent has been trapped inside a tomb, and it's possible that the clan heir will try to save him"
It took a while before the old man responded. He leant back into his chair
"Wait for the clan heir to get inside, then make that tomb his"
The ninja nodded his head in understanding
"Yes, my lord"
A/n I found my old Sega Dreamcast so I've been playing Shenmue all week (I love that game). Also, I'll now be dedicating this story to my grandmother who passed away on the 26th of February. She was a great person who always put others before herself, and she was so tough she could've fought and won an entirewar in a few days if you you gave her a machine gun and some hand grenades