Hibari took one look at the new transfer student from, surprise, surprise, China and knew he would be trouble.
He might be disguising his name, but Hibari knew a Li when he saw one. And this Syaoran was obviously sent to reclaim the cards.
Well, he wasn't going to make it that easy for the fool to bother the girl who had managed to bond with the cards.
She had taken one look at the way Fly was acting, and came up with an agreement everyone could live with. Fly would agree to let her capture it, and in return she would allow it to stay outside card form and be around Hibari as a 'pet' of sorts.
Hotaru had found that the stronger the bond between the cards and whoever their Master/Mistress was, the less they actually needed the cards to use their powers. She could call upon Fight, Sword, Dash, Jump and Windy without having to bring out the cards or the staff...she just had to concentrate and focus on which one she needed to use.
Kero had been very impressed with that, saying it was an advanced trick that Clow had never bothered to learn because he didn't actually need the cards to cast the same spells. For her to do it instinctively said she had a lot of potential.
Hibari scowled and promptly slated this "Syaoran" into a different class entirely. His placement test made it pathetically easy to put the idiot in his own class...which coincidentally also held Ryohei Sasegawa. Hibari might not bother with class that often, but that didn't mean his grades had ever dared to slip past an A minus.
With a few strokes of his pen, "Syaoran" was firmly placed in the grade above Hotaru Sawada. Who he had yet to reprimand for wearing the wrong uniform once one of his spies in her class reported the reasoning behind why she wasn't dressed like a girl.
Considering the shocking lack of care and regard for her, he couldn't entirely blame her for hiding her gender once puberty hit. He found the entire situation far too odd, because it had been going like this for years.
The only real change in her daily life was the Cards, which implied something had been freed when the cards were scattered.
Hibari glared at the student profile. He could just tell this brat was going to be a disruptive influence on his territory. At least he wouldn't have any end to excuses for biting him to death.
Syaoran was scowling. While he had found the school the Card Captor was in, for some reason they had put him in the year above hers and there were absolutely no classes in which their paths would cross. Not even the lunch hour.
And there was this one classmate who had taken the news he knew some martial arts as a reason to try and forcibly recruit him into the boxing club! The boy was so loud, he would swear he had lost his hearing at one point!
And the less said about a Hibari in his class, the better. If he had known that the stupid girl was in the same school as one of that clan he would have raised a bigger protest or demanded back up!
He could tell right away that the older teen knew exactly who he was. The fact that the boy had claimed the school as part of his territory to the point no one questioned him made it blatantly obvious he had stepped firmly in enemy territory. Whether or not he was aware of the cards being active in town was still up for debate. It was pretty telling that the way he was being openly observed by the violent teen with the steel-colored eyes and odd bird on his shoulder (and most definitely not in a friendly manner) had caused a massive rift between him and the other students.
Apparently if Hibari Kyouya was looking at you like that, then it meant you were on his short list to be 'bitten to death' and no one wanted anything to do with you. Everyone who caught the way he looked at Syaoran would avoid the transfer on principle and were very reluctant to have anything to do with him.
The one thing that bugged him was that bird on Hibari's shoulder. He could sense the magic coming off that thing, so there was no way it was normal in the least! In fact he would almost swear it was a Clow Card, but that was ridiculous!
What sort of idiot would allow the cards to wander around freely like that without keeping an eye on them?
A few hours later when Syaoran was more or less dragged to the boxing club, he found his eyebrow twitching rampantly. His estimation of the girl who had scattered the cards only dropped even lower the second he realized who, or more specifically what was in the club waiting patiently.
Everyone called her "Fi", but that was clearly a Clow Card waiting by the wall for someone. Judging by the way it was acting and the fact she was openly sparring with the loudmouth who dragged him to the club, he would bet his sword on that being the Fight card.
And yet no one was even batting an eye on her presence. In fact they almost seemed relieved to see her there.
"Who's that?" he asked one club member.
"Fi? She's Sawada's friend. You have no idea how glad we were that the school idiot managed to find someone able to match Ryohei-sempai in a fight. Having her around keeps him from bothering us."
"School idiot?" repeated Syaoran incredulous.
"Well yeah, everyone knows them as Dame-Sawada. They're the clumsiest, least academic student in the school, though rumors have it that they have something to do with why several teachers were fired and forcibly replaced."
Syaoran's face was openly twitching.
The girl was openly known in the school as a clumsy idiot, and she let the cards run around rampant to the point people recognized them on sight.
Clearly the clan hadn't sent him soon enough, if things were this bad!
Fight took one look at him and scowled. Then she did something that he never would have expected out of a card...she stuck her tongue out at him.
It was clear from her body language alone that she was openly dismissive towards him, which lead to everyone subtly avoiding him.
It was a very disconcerting feeling.
Syaoran withheld his disbelief at the fact the small teddy bear thing was in fact the great guardian beast Keroberos. His expression must have said volumes, but he kept his tongue.
Instead he rounded on the stupid girl who had only just managed to capture the card without causing a mess.
She barely even looked like a girl and the only reason he knew she was one was because the visions had made it clear the new Card Captor was a female. Her hair was unkempt, her clothes were positively baggy, and she had absolutely no confidence about her.
"This is who you chose to be the new master of the cards? A scruffy nobody that's stupid enough to let the cards run wild?" he scoffed.
The girl flinched openly. Keroberos glared at him.
"She might not look like much, but she has more potential than you do, gaki!" he snapped.
"She can barely capture a card without causing a disaster! Her own school knows her as a clumsy loser!" he said loudly.
She flinched a second time and seemed to shrink into herself. Syaoran looked at her derisively, and she seemed to wilt in herself.
"Pathetic. I can't even understand why the great guardian beast would chose someone like you to reclaim the cards, unless he was absolutely desperate. You should just hand over the staff and all the ones you've collected before you embarrass yourself further."
Kero nearly ripped him a new one. However he was beaten to the punch by Firey appearing without warning to hiss at the brat.
Syaoran backed up, drawing his elemental seals out in alarm with wide eyes. He watched in disbelief as Firey seemed to coil around Hotaru protectively and making it clear who their Master was.
Kero looked at the temperamental Element card with approval, before smirking at the interloper.
"Yeah, try getting her and Fight away from Hotaru-chan. Hell, I'd like to see you try and claim Fly away from Hibari!"
"How can you allow them to walk freely among humans?!" he demanded. It made no sense.
"They behave and it makes them happy," said Hotaru quietly. "Sword was very happy to find a sentient sword to talk with while I'm at school and Fight is happy because she has new people to spar with and improve her own skills. And Fly adores Hibari-sempai."
Kero had his own suspicions about the odd lack of uproar over the cards. It wasn't that Hibari was very good at tamping down the odd rumors... it was like there was a weird aura around the town that made it easier to accept the odd and unusual to the point people would merely roll their eyes so long as there was no immediate danger involved. It wasn't just Nana that had a weird reaction to this whole mess... Hotaru had found several of the cards window shopping once and none of the shopkeepers had done more than give the cards odd looks while Hotaru paid for a few little things the cards had expressed an interest in. Mirror in particular had been thrilled when Hotaru gave her a few pretty ribbons to put in her hair, while Wood had been thrilled with the small bonsai that now sat in Hotaru's room.
The cards should have been causing more of a fuss...and yet people had accepted their presence to the point they barely batted an eye at their presence!
To say nothing of the number of latent and active Flames in the area. The town seemed to be a place where they could quietly disappear from the criminal underground in peace.
And the limited organized crime in the town knew better than to piss off the Cloud kid...any 'dealings' were firmly done outside town limits from what he saw.
This kid had no idea what he had walked into... this wasn't just a normal civilian town... this was a place where it was impossible to have underworld connections in some way. And not just the Triads, because Kero had seen definite signs of the Cosa Nostra around.
Syaoran left, but the damage had been done.
Hotaru tried to hide the fact she was crying, but they knew what the boy had said to her had cut deep.
"Don't listen to that brat. The only reason he's here is because the book was stolen from the clan and they've been trying to get it back ever since. He has no idea what the real you is like."
"But...what if he's right?" said Hotaru, eyes red from tears. "Why did you pick me outside of convenience sake?"
Kero was so going to bite that kid in the ass later when he regained his true form. Hotaru was only now starting to gain some real confidence in herself both as a girl and as a person. The sniping comments that brat was almost certain to make could set what little progress they had made back months at best!
Hotaru cuddled with Dash and Jump... and to her surprise even Fly showed up five minutes later to nuzzle her hair.
"Hotaru-chan, it takes more than magical ability to be able to use the cards the way you do. They wouldn't bond with just anyone to the point you don't even need to summon the wand or pull the card out! I've never actually seen the cards this happy around anyone. Even Clow never let them out like this."
Hotaru winced at that. Kero quickly realized his error.
"I mean he never would have let Sword spend so much time with another sentient blade, or let Fight spar with people who enjoy it as much as she does. Or allow Time to snooze in an old clock and let Wood nurture a bonsai tree. They love you dearly and it shows in the way they allow you to use them without having to bring the cards out! There's no way they'd ever want to work with that brat unless he forced them too. They like you too much."
"Really?"
Fly pecked her lightly on the head.
"See? Even Fly adores you because you let them stay with that violent Cloud kid and roam around freely. No other magician would have let them have this much freedom with so few restrictions."
"Mama does love shopping with Mirror and the others. She's actually around more."
Nana had slowly started to drop her 'friends' in favor of the Clow Cards. They might not speak, but there was a sort of silent communication going on between the human and the cards when it came to shopping.
Kero patted her shoulder.
"See? I'm sure once all the cards are collected you'll prove that brat once and for all that you deserve to be their master. I doubt he'll treat them as anymore more than tools, with how he's behaving," said Kero.
"Why would anyone treat them like tools?" she asked, baffled. "They're clearly alive enough to have minds of their own."
"Yeah, but most see them only as magical artifacts and not as sentient constructs. You treat them like they're your family or your best friends and it shows," said Kero.
Hotaru had been so desperate for someone to talk to, to share things with, that she had latched onto the knowledge that the cards were sentient magical constructs and treated them accordingly.
Though even Kero was beyond baffled as to why Time had bonded with her so fast... it was almost like she had a natural knack for time magic or something.
"That boy was anything but subtle about his disdain in the girl. I'm not sure he'll achieve much when the Final Judgment arrives."
"Hmph. He's not even worthy of being a carnivore. I wonder why he was sent and not someone with actual tact."
"Likely because he's the heir and he's close enough in age to try and get close to her without causing suspicion. Or worse, attempt to seduce her into the clan," said the other voice in disgust.
"Not with that attitude he isn't," said the second. There was a hint of possessiveness in his voice.
The first took immediate notice of this fact and grinned.
"O-ho... has my little nephew started to develop an interest in a female?"
The second growled.
"Die."
"I'm merely asking as your concerned older male relative. You do know the basics of courtship at least, right?" he needled.
The first easily dodged the attacks while continuing on about "protection" and "being a gentleman", ignoring the fact it only made the second even more bloodthirsty and pissed off.