Cherry: Welcome to Chapter 2, you may pass go and collect 200 dollars. Just kidding, I don't have 200 dollars for every person who made it to chapter 2. If I did, I wouldn't be here writing fan fiction. I'd be a professional novelist making thousands of dollars with my well paying books and articles and such other crap! AHAHHAHAH! Actually... just to clear that up, my dream is not to be a novelist; it's actually to be a graphics animator. And speaking of dreams... I should probably start applying to colleges soon. TT Curse going into your senior year of high school.
Disclaimer: Needless to say, I have to repeat myself again. If I owned CCS I would be so happy that I would turn myself into a blue sloth and run around screaming. But, as you can tell, or rather, I hope you can tell, I am not a blue sloth, so I do not own CCS.
Chapter 2: Rainy Day Memories
Li Syaoran was sitting in his empty apartment with the TV on. Though, he was not watching it at all. He had a very distant look in his eyes and was staring at a wall that had only one picture on it. It was a group shot of his entire family that had been taken before his father was killed while working on a case. For as long as anyone could remember, the men of his family had always been FBI agents. And Syaoran was no different.
- Flashback -
"Papa!" little seven-year-old Syaoran called out to a tall and handsome man that had his back turned. "Papa!"
The man turned around with a smile on his face.
"Yes Syao?" he replied in a deep and handsome voice.
"Pap, mama wants to take a picture!" Syaoran exclaimed happily.
"Ahh, I see," his father replied.
He scooped Syaoran up off the ground and put him on his shoulders. Little Syaoran laughed heartily. His father walked over to his mother and kissed her on the cheek. Syaoran watched in silence; he wanted to do that too, to the girl of his dreams.
"Come, let's that the picture now," his mother explained.
Syaoran's four older sisters gather around and all of his aunts and uncles, and all of his cousins stood in a large group.
Once everyone was settled, the photographer took the picture.
- End Flashback -
Syaoran blinked and looked away from the picture. God now he missed his father. Not two months after that picture was taken his father was shot and killed while he was about to bust a huge opium distributor in Hong Kong. Apparently, after an attempt to bring them out, the distributors left Hong Kong; or so the rumor said.
"Tomorrow's forecast shows much more rain. Drive safely if you go anywhere," the TV anchor's voice broke through Syaoran's thoughts.
Had it been raining? Syaoran got up and walked to the window. He looked out and a flash of lightening danced across the night sky. A sad smile formed at the corners of his mouth. It was raining when news of his father's death came. That morning he had known something was wrong.
- Flashback -
"Mama!" Syaoran's voice rang through the house powerfully.
"Yes Syao?" his mother asked smiling up at him as he ran down the stairs of his home in Hong Kong.
"Something bad has happened!" Syaoran exclaimed shaking.
He tried to be calm and keep his voice stead so hi mother would believe him.
"Something bad? Syao, are there monsters in your closet again? Have your sisters been teasing you?" she asked a bit amused.
Just then there was a knock at the door and his mother headed over to open it. There stood a man, silhouetted by the flashing lightening in the background.
Syaoran couldn't hear what they were saying, but he did see his mother's face pale and her eyes widen.
His mother walked back over to him with tear stained eyes. She took his hand and led him into the living room where his sisters were sitting.
"What is it mother?" Feimei asked when she saw her mother come in.
"Mother, is something wrong?" Fuutie added.
Their mother sat down and gathered Syaoran up into her lap. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. She took a shuddering breath and looked up to her family.
"Your father," she began. "Has... has been shot."
Syaoran's eyes widened as the news sank into him. His sisters were in shock but their eyes began to well up with tears and then began to sob.
"Mama, just because he's shot... can't he get better?" Syaoran asked looking up at his mother.
She shook her head sadly.
"Syaoran," she said softly. "I'm afraid that he won't get better, he's been killed."
His lower lip began to tremble. He knew what "killed" was, his pet rabbit had been killed by wolves when he was five. He tried to hold the tears back, he tried to be strong, and he had to be strong - for them. His mother wrapped him in a hug again. Syaoran couldn't hold it in anymore. He let the tear fall; unhindered.
- End Flashback -
By now, Syaoran's intense, fiery amber eyes had become amore golden, dull color. He cringed as he remembered those times in his life. That was the day he had sworn to get revenge on those opium distributors - no matter the cost.
He was about to sit down again when his phone rang.
"Hello? Syaoran speaking," he said into the receiver.
His voice was a little shaky and he tried to get it under control.
"Syaoran, thank goodness you're there," the voice on the other line said. "Are you alright?"
"Meling?" Syaoran asked,
"Yes, it's me. Your mother asked me to call you to see how you were doing," Meling replied.
"Tell her I'm fine. I've settled in here very nicely and my boss is very generous," Syaoran replied smiling a bit.
"Are you smiling?! She's very worried about you! Don't take this lightly!" Meling exclaimed.
"Meling, calm down. I was just smiling because I'm glad she cares so much, but I'm twenty-six now," Syaoran replied.
"Anyway, Aunty wants me to come out there to keep you company. Is that alright with you?" she asked.
There was a long silence.
"Syaoran!? Are you still there?!?" Meling cried frantically.
"Yeah, sorry. It's fine if you want to come out here. I have two extra rooms in the apartment," Syaoran replied.
"Ok, I'll be out there in a couple of weeks. Take care of yourself," Meling said.
"You to Mei," Syaoran replied.
"Bye."
He hung up the phone and leaned against the wall. So his cousin would be coming out. This would prove interesting.
Out of all the females in his family, Meling was the only one who had sworn with Syaoran to get those dirty bastards that murdered his father, so she was also an agent. She was a pretty damn good one too; at least in his opinion.
As he walked to the kitchen to get something to eat he stopped in front of the mirror. Staring at his reflection he tried to smile. People always said that he was the mirror image of his father. Syaoran himself thought that he looked nothing like his father. Sure, throughout his high school, girls had flocked all over him, but he was never interesting in any of them. He was always too busy trying to keep his grades up and keeping himself fit for the Agent searching at the end of the year that the FBI held when they needed new people
Syaoran was always fit, he played on the school's baseball team, the soccer team, the basketball team; he was also on the school's karate team and kendo team.
He sighed as his stomach growled. He hadn't been able to eat anything at all that day. It's not that he felt sick, he was just nervous about his interview with his new boss. All that morning he had worked on his manners and common courtesies. He wanted this job; he needed this transfer.
Syaoran walked into his kitchen to see what he could find. He only had a few things to eat since he had not gone to the store yet. He picked up and apple off of the counter and bit into it.
He wandered around the apartment until he came upon one of the spare rooms. It was filled with boxes, some of which he had not even opened. Meling would probably want this room. The walls were a dusty rose color and the window frames and doors were a soft cream color.
"I should probably finish unpacking, Meling will bite my head off if this place isn't 'homey' enough," he said laughing to himself.
He picked up a box and opened it. Inside, neatly wrapped, was the sword his father had left him. Syaoran slowly took the forest green silk cloth off of it and unsheathed the blade. It was spotless, every inch of it glimmered in the light from the nearby lamp.
- Flashback -
There was a crash of metal against metal ringing in the background. Syaoran watched from his window as his father trained. His eyes followed the path of the sword as it cut through the air.
Yelan stood in the doorway watching her son silently.
"Syaoran," she spoke up.
"Yes mama?" Syaoran replied.
"Your sixth birthday is coming up soon. Why don't you go ask your father what you present is," she suggested.
Syaoran's eyes lit up and he smiled. Yelan smiled back and stepped aside to let him go out. Syaoran charged out of the house towards the training area where his father was. When he got there, he father was resting with the sword across his lap. Syaoran stood there quietly watching to see what his father would do.
"Syaoran," his father said looking up at him with unruly chestnut hair and intense, but handsome eyes.
Syaoran jumped. "Y-yes father?"
He was desperately trying to be on his best behavior
"Syaoran," his father said smiling with a softer look in his eyes.
Syaoran smiled and ran over to sit on the bench next to his father.
"Papa, mama said I could ask you about my present early," Syaoran said.
"Did she now?" his father asked amused. "Well, I'm afraid to tell you this, but you won't get it until I pass on."
Syaoran's shoulders dropped.
"But you can use it to train with if you want to," his father added.
Syaoran's eyes lit up again.
"Really?" he asked.
His father nodded.
"Well? What is it?" Syaoran cried impatiently.
His father lifted the sword from his lap and placed it into Syaoran's. Syaoran was speechless; he had never imagined that he would get his father's sword.
"I... I ... thank you," Syaoran said quietly.
- End Flashback -
Syaoran got up and left the room. He needed a safe place to put the sword where it would not get damaged. It was one of the few things he had left that reminded him of his father.
Syaoran found a spot; there was a cabinet at the end of the hall, where it would be safe. He slowly unpacked the some more of the boxes will into the dark and rainy night.
When he looked up at the clock again it read eleven forty-five, and he decided to head off to bed, for tomorrow he would be meeting his new partner.