Disclaimer: I do not own any CCS character... Pls do R&R!!! Thanks!!!
It was Chinese New Year. Keroberos had already lost count how many years they have spent the New Year with Clow. This year's New Year had much more festive feel than usual.
"It's the dragon year. It gets people excited," Clow said simply as they strolled down the path to the Li's residence.
The little children ran around the front garden playing catch while the adults sat around the house drinking and chatting.
"Clow! You're here at last!"
"You missed the reunion dinner yesterday! I was so worried. How have you been?"
"Come on in, take a drink!"
Clow politely rejected the cup of rice wine and said, "No, thank you. I will be leaving soon after seeing her."
He then turned to Keroberos and Yue, "Please wait for me for a moment. It will only take a few minutes."
With that, Clow followed his relatives into the inner chambers. Keroberos could hear Chinese music and voices singing in Cantonese. It seems that the Li's have invited an opera troupe to perform for the festive day.
"Hey! You over there! You with the silver hair!" a Chinese boy shouted rudely at Yue. "What are you?"
Yue ignored the boy instead and stared through him as if he was not even there. The boy tried again, this time on Keroberos.
"Hey! You! Are you that man's little pet kitty?" he sneered at Keroberos.
"What? You little twerp! You're not even old enough to shave!" Keroberos roared at the boy.
The roar was so loud that the boy fell onto the ground. The other children got curious and gathered around. Some of the other boys looked like the boy. Brown hair and eyes. Fierce and daring look. The girls looked pretty in an asian sense, long black hair and brown eyes. The kids all laughed at the boy. He stood up immediately and chanted some Chinese words. The other kids joined in and soon it sounded as if they were all chanting a rhyme. This made Keroberos rather nervous. He looked beside for Yue but can't seem to find him. He stepped back slightly, eyeing at all the other kids who were concentrating so hard on whatever they spell they were trying to cast.
"HA!" they all shouted together in unison and the after the next blink, Keroberos found that they have grown bigger. No, he had become smaller.
"Hahaha!" The kids laughed and the boy picked Keroberos up. He was smaller than the size of a kitten, and no matter how loud he tried to roar, all that came out of this mouth was 'mew'. The boys ruffled Keroberos' fur and tossed him into the air continuously, a few of the times nearly missing him. Keroberos looked around in fear and continued to mew for help. The kids laughed at his helplessness and continued with their bullying.
It was the boy's turn to toss Keroberos. He mustered his strength and tossed Keroberos high up in the air. It was so high that it was a few seconds before Keroberos would return into his palm. Just a millisecond before he landed, Keroberos slammed into the boy with a hard thud.
Keroberos had turned back into full size and now stare menacingly at the kids. He was about to roar at them when a familiar touch stopped him. He looked up and saw Clow next to him.
"It seems that you and the children are having fun," Clow said to him and then to the boy, "You might have played too much."
The boy stared at Clow unrepentantly, his eyes looking as though he was challenging Clow.
"Jin Keng! Stop this nonsense at once!"
Jin Keng's mother commanded and walked to the boy. She bowed and apologised to Clow, "I am so sorry for not being able to discipline my child well."
"It seems that the child have adopted the same virtues of the Li family. He has potential for being able to cast a spell at this young age. I guess it's time for me to leave now. See you next year," Clow said and headed for the exit.
Upon returning home, Clow locked himself in the study and soon came out with 2 new cards to be added into his deck of Clow Cards. Also, hidden in his own personal sketch book, was his drawing of a little bear-like figure with yellow fur, a pair of small arms and legs, two pearl black eyes and a pair of wings. He smiled to himself knowing that in the future, this little figure would start to speak in Osaka dialect and be the young girl's guardian. He would also be called by a very cute name, Kero-chan.