Note: Due to confusion with my other languages and the fact that the Japanese words are based upon my hearing abilities (which honestly suck when it's not English words) SachiXhappiness will be filling in the Japanese words in the fan fiction (except 'san' etc) 'coz she knows what she's doing and has quite happily agreed to doing so, so a round of applause for SachiXhappiness!
Chapter 4
The bell for the end of school rang and the homeroom teacher stood up. For the last lesson of the day he had been talking to them about how they had found the first day and answering any questions they had. Julius picked up his bag and packed away the notebook and pencil case he had gotten out in case something interesting was said, he hadn't opened the book since he had gotten it out, it was just too fast to follow with this teacher, that was why he was so great.
"Well there you go! The blessed sound of the end of school bell, it always sounds different to me than the other bells, yes?" he picked up the books he had on the table. "Go home safely and I'll see you all tomorrow!" he said, the signal for everyone to start leaving. Julius slung his bag over one shoulder as usual and noticed once again that Sakura was standing there twiddling her fingers nervously.
"Please, Kinomoto-san, don't be so nervous. I would prefer to be friends so please, say what you want to say." He said, smiling comfortingly, Sakura calmed down a little and took a deep breath.
"R-Ragnar-san, would you like to walk home with us?" she said in a rush, Julius smiled; glad she had gotten it over with faster than last time.
"Of course I would, I believe I live in the area Daidouji-san's home is so I can walk with you that far." He smiled again; Tomoyo came up behind Sakura, already having packed her bag. She smiled.
"Shall we go then?" she asked. Sakura rushed over to her seat and packed everything away quickly and joined them quickly. Tomoyo and Sakura began to leave but stopped when they noticed Julius wasn't following immediately after them.
"Ragnar-san, are you coming then?" Sakura asked, Julius broke away from whatever was distracting him and smiled.
"I'm sorry; I just got a little distracted. Shall we go?" he said, joining them and they walked out together, Syaoran was waiting outside and Sakura looked as if she had just remembered something.
"Oh, sorry Tomoyo-chan, Ragnar-san! Syaoran and I are…." She trailed off. Julius smiled.
"I understand. I'm sure Daidouji-san and myself should be able to find our way home by ourselves." He said kindly. Tomoyo looked as if she wanted to go after Syaoran and Sakura as they headed off but Julius stopped her for a moment by putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I think that this time they should be left alone, don't you agree?" he asked, Tomoyo hesitated for a second and Julius decided to press her a bit. "Daidouji-san, I understand that Kinomoto-san is a very precious person to you but perhaps they should be alone with each other, perhaps they are allowed to have secrets of their own?" he said kindly. Tomoyo nodded after a moment and smiled.
"Now that Sakura-chan has someone even closer to her I think maybe I should look to myself rather than to her for once." Julius nodded and smiled, glad she had changed for the better so easily.
"Right, now should we get going?" he said, gesturing down the corridor, Sakura and Syaoran had already disappeared. Tomoyo nodded and smiled.
"Un! (Yes!)" She said simply, Julius smiled again.
At the crossroads they both turned in the same direction. Tomoyo glanced at Julius who was looking from side to side for cars on pure habit. They crossed safely to the other side and immediately they both stopped.
"Ragnar-san, where do you live then?" Tomoyo asked, Julius smiled.
"Your house is the mansion in those huge gardens isn't it?" he asked, although he obviously knew the answer.
"Yes, that's right." She said, Julius smiled.
"You know there are other houses similar to yours in the area, right?" he said, she nodded.
"Yes, there are lots of them although a few are a bit bigger and some are a little smaller than ours, my mother says she would have bought a bigger house but they were already occupied so she settled for this one." Julius smiled.
"Then, you know the one two houses down from yours, the large one with the glass observatory?" he asked, Tomoyo nodded again and smiled.
"Yes, the observatory is quite eye catching, it is higher than a lot of the bigger trees and you can see the telescope through the windows." She said, remembering it clearly in her mind.
"Yes, that's the one. My parents were able to contact the agent faster than other buyers, or so it seems as I appear to be living there. Although my parents are rather busy so I live with a couple of friends from England who wanted to see Japan, visitors often call them servants but I think my parents prefer to call them friends. They stay there and clean the house and spend the rest of the time exploring the city, I deal with everything else like cooking. I believe your mother also is a merchant of sorts?" he said, asking the question at the end.
"Yes, of a sort. She the head of a large toy company, she's often busy so I don't always see her every day as she's at the office but she always calls to make sure everything's okay." She said, Julius smiled.
"My parents are busy with our business in England and bought the house so that when they are here on business for a while they have a place to stay, although I expect I will rarely see them. Well, I should probably go and prepare tea for myself and my friends. I will see you tomor-" He stopped suddenly and looked around, he felt that presence again. He suddenly grabbed Tomoyo and pulled her close to him and leapt back, landing a few feet back. Someone dressed in their school uniform shot out from the sky with a sword and slashed the air where they had been a moment ago, rising slowly. They couldn't see their face but Tomoyo and Julius both recognised the hair at the front.
"Li-kun?"
"Li-san?" They both asked at once. The person stood up and they could see his face, it was indeed Syaoran, or at least it was a very good impostor. Julius put himself in front of Tomoyo in a defensive stance.
"I don't usually like to fight but if you insist upon attacking us then I must take action. Daidouji-san, please go and warn Kinomoto-san and Li-san, another impostor will be going after them, if you see me you must ask a question that only we four will know the answer to, they could take on any form." He said calmly, watching the Syaoran impostor in front of them. Tomoyo nodded and ran off, stopping for a moment.
"But I don't know where they would be!" she said, Julius smiled.
"That's simple, the park where they can be in private, I can sense them from here. Please don't hide it, Daidouji-san, I can sense inside you that you are not completely without magic." He said, Tomoyo smiled and ran off.
"I won't let you get away!" the Syaoran impostor said, his voice exactly the same as Syaoran's. He leapt up, attempting to get over Julius' head to take Tomoyo down in the back so that she could not warn the two of his partner. He found Julius in front of him, grabbing his wrist and bending it back hard so that he dropped the sword involuntarily. It fell to the ground and clattered to the ground. They pushed away from each other and landed with the sword between them. The impostor ran towards it but again he found Julius had gotten there first with unbelievable speed.
He picked up the sword and examined it for a moment, the impostor recovered and charged at him, Julius looked up, a gleam in his eye and he slammed the sword into the ground, it stuck there in between two pavement slabs and didn't look like it was going to move easily.
The impostor leapt up over the sword but Julius moved so that he was standing on the sword as the impostor landed where he had been standing. He twisted around desperately and threw a punch at Julius, the punch hit the hard hilt of the sword, his knuckles hit the hard metal and he yelled in pain. The sword blade shattered and metal shards fell to the floor around him as he held his hand and glared at Julius who had not landed a single blow on him but had effectively made one fist useless for punching in seconds.
The impostor roared in rage and charged straight for him, forgetting that if he turned and ran he could catch up with Tomoyo easily now that Julius wasn't blocking the path but he was angered by the pain and humiliation Julius had caused and rational though wasn't governing his mind. He swung another punch but Julius leaned right and took a step back, the punch going over his shoulder, he grabbed the impostor's arm and turned around so that he was facing the same direction. He pulled on the arm, lifting the impostor off his feet and slamming him into the hard ground.
The impostor was winded and Julius stepped away from him, he ignored the glare the boy gave him.
"You can't fight any more, go home and don't bother me or the ones I'm charged with the safety of, or be prepared to accept the consequences. Now go while I will let you." He turned and ran after Tomoyo, leaving the impostor to struggle up and then stagger away with his pride shattered with the sword, he stopped for a moment and glared after Julius and pulled a bell out of his pocket. He rang it once and continued on his way, limping, with a horribly satisfied look on his face.
Sakura and Syaoran walked on the park path, heading to a more secluded part of the forest so they could have relative peace, although it was obvious they were a couple, the fact that they were holding hands and both were blushing a little was a strong hint to even the workers hurrying to get home after work.
They turned off the path, both knowing the way. They stopped on the grassy edge by the cliff and stood together there for a while, holding hands. Then Syaoran turned to Sakura and took her other hand, she turned and faced him as well, looking up into his eyes. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close to him; she wrapped her arms around his back and pressed her face into his chest, snuggling into the embrace.
Then Sakura felt Syaoran tense and looked up, he was looking away to the way they had come from. She turned her head and saw Julius standing there, smiling as he usually did. Sakura and Syaoran both broke away, their faces bright red, Syaoran seemed a little annoyed their private moment had been disturbed. Then he saw that Julius was holding something in his hand, loosely and hanging by his leg.
He raised his hand; he was holding a sword and his face had turned malicious. Syaoran placed himself in front of Sakura and pulled out the compact form of his sword, closing his eyes and unlocking the spell that bound it in its small form, when he let go of the tassel his hand was wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
"…Ragnar-san?" Sakura asked, finally pulling herself back together from surprise.
Julius jumped at Syaoran and swung the sword down, it cut through the air with a hiss and Syaoran brought up his sword and met the blow, easily blocking it, he pushed up and knocked Julius off balance for a moment. He turned a little to the right and kicked Julius in the stomach while he was in mid air, sending him tumbling backwards.
He fell in a heap and started getting up but he grimaced, having no wind and bent double by the kick. He slammed the sword into the ground and lifted himself up on it until he was in a half crouch half standing position. He glared at Syaoran and pulled a flute out of his pocket.
"Sakura-chan! Li-san!" Tomoyo came running in from the forest behind them and Julius turned, still holding the flute and sword. Tomoyo saw Syaoran standing protectively in front of Sakura with his sword held defensively and Julius scowling ferociously. She looked between them for a moment but Julius acted first. He blew a few notes on the flute and he slowly began to fade, black circles appeared in the ground, a dark purple darkness floating out of them like smoke.
Then blobs began to rise out, they took the vague shapes of humans but they were black and vague, the shape was the same but there were no features, and their fingers were just sharp claws, sharpened into a hand of daggers.
"Tomoyo-chan! Over here!" Sakura yelled and Tomoyo ran over to them, Sakura was holding her staff now but Syaoran insisted on being in front of them.
"What's happening?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know but these things aren't going to be friendly." Syaoran said. Then someone dressed in their uniform shot out of the trees, a blur of movement and instantly roundhoused one of the dark figures, it broke up into dark blobs and they quickly broke up again until there was nothing left. The figures closed around the new person who was just landing.
As soon as he landed he kicked high up behind him, twisting as he did so. His foot connected to the head part of another shadow, breaking it up. He brought his foot down on the head area from above of the next shadow and pushed off on his leg still on the ground, jumping clear of the shadows. He began to spin with both legs outstretched; they slammed into two of the shadows, breaking both apart. He landed balanced on both legs and pushed off on both, smashing into a shadow and elbowing it in the face area; he kept the momentum going and stretched his arm out full, his fist slamming into another shadow.
Blood sloshed on the ground although from what it was hard to tell. The boy landed and jumped backwards, twisting around and kicked the last shadow under the chin, making it disappear. He stood up straight for a moment and then wavered on his feet before falling to his knees, bending over the ground and rasping.
The three gathered their wits and rushed over to the boy.
Julius ran across the road, luckily there were no cars, and onto the park track. He couldn't see Tomoyo but he could sense a presence heading towards the cliff edge where there were two other presences headed, with yet another presence not far behind the first. He guessed the two were Sakura and Syaoran and the last was Tomoyo so the first would be the assailant.
He ran to the centre of the park, a fountain surrounded by benches. He looked around and saw a track leading past the cliff, further up he could faintly see a path leading to the cliff from it. He took it and ran up it but found his path blocked by black shadowy creatures. He stopped and backed away a little. He had been caught off guard.
He felt a searing pain in his side as a creature from the mass behind him leapt and slashed at him, he only just managed to jump to the side to avoid any vital injury, although it was still serious, it was deep and could have easily damaged one of his muscles badly.
He stood up, holding his side and looked around, he was encircled by a mass of the creatures and there were a lot of them. He winced as a fresh flow of blood was pumped around his body by his heart; the blood diverted to his side flowing out of the wound and down his side, his shirt was turning red.
He had to end this quickly and get to the cliff edge, now they were all in danger and he wouldn't let them be hurt, especially not Tomoyo. He held his hand out in front of him and a magical blue wind stirred up, collecting around him and solidifying in his hand and then suddenly dispersing with a flash from his hand.
He was holding a staff with a heavy metal head of an owl, a wise creature. He slammed the staff onto the ground and blue light and sparks shot out of the ground from the contact and spread out across the creatures, everything disappeared in a bright blue light.
"Oi! Daijoubu desu ka?" Syaoran asked. They all knelt by him, still not sure of who he was although it looked like Tomoyo knew.
"Ragnar-san!" Tomoyo said, looking at his face. He was a little pale and a little bit of blood had trickled out the corner of his mouth.
"I'm fine." He said, coughing. Blood splattered the ground. Then Sakura noticed that his right side was hideously scraped, through the blazer and shirt and cutting deep into the skin, blood was flowing out of it and trickling down to the bottom of his shirt and soaking it red, the blazer hid the worse part of it.
He began to fall sideways but Tomoyo caught him, she looked at Syaoran and Sakura pleadingly.
"We must get him medical attention." She said, Julius shook his head, coughing.
"No, if you can get me to my house I'll be fine. If you took me to a hospital it would raise questions, more importantly you would be left un-guarded. I was careless for a moment and this is the result." He braces himself and pushed off with his hands and raised one knee to a kneeling position and pushed off his knee with one hand and he slowly began to rise, they all rose slowly with him, ready to catch him if he fell.
He wavered for a moment and his eyes closed for a moment, the snapped open and he stopped for a moment. He held out his hand to the bushes and a staff with a metal owl's head flew out into his hand. His hand wrapped around the head and he leant on the staff heavily, breathing heavily.
"You're bleeding really badly!" Sakura exclaimed, Julius winced as his blazer pressed against the wound. He slowly reached into his blazer pocket with his left hand, leaning on the cane with his right. He pulled out a cell phone and handed it to Tomoyo.
"Find my number on that, when it picks up ask for 'Ken'." He said weakly. Tomoyo pressed a few buttons, obviously familiar with the phone even though it was more advanced than the type her mother's company made.
She held it to her ear and it began to ring and someone picked up on the second ring.
"Hello, may I ask your name?" the person asked politely yet cheerfully on the other side, a stark contrast to their current situation.
"I'm Daidouji Tomoyo, can I speak to Ken please?" she said, there was a pause and a shout. There was the sound of the phone being changed over and then a voice with an Osakan accent came over the phone, it sounded suspiciously similar to a voice she knew very well.
"This is Ken, what's up?" the Osakan voice said.
"Ken, it's me. Come to the cliff in the park." Julius said, his voice strong for a moment. There was a pause and then someone else picked up the phone, the voice was very similar but a little different.
"Julius is that you? Ken just flew out of the window just now, what's up?" a small white plush toy with wings shot out of the bushes and hovered in front of Julius. Sakura almost fell over.
"Kero-chan?!" she asked loudly. Syaoran stared at the plush toy.
"Kero? You know Kero! Oh wait, you're the master of the Sakura Cards, ain't ya?" he asked. Julius coughed.
"Ken, I'm going to need help getting back." He said, he stood up straight and the staff glowed blue before shrinking until there was nothing there. Ken's wings grew to a huge size and wrapped around it in a cocoon, and then the wings parted, revealing a huge white lion-like creature with wings. It sat down on the floor calmly.
"Can you help me, please?" he asked Tomoyo who held his arm and supported him as he turned around and sat down on the white lion's back. The lion stood up as if his weight was nothing.
"It was nice to meet ya all, tell Kero you saw Ken, I'd love to see his face when he hears I'm here." He said, lifting off and flying off with Julius on his back, leaving the three standing on the cliff. Tomoyo turned to Sakura and Syaoran.
"I should be going home now before Okaa-san gets worried." She said, running off, leaving Sakura and Syaoran alone on the cliff edge to finish what had been interrupted.