"So when you grabbed her and fell to the ground, the feathers scattered?" Ayame asked as Syaoran concluded the story.
"Yes" Syaoran nodded.
After her conversation with Kurogane, Ayame had made her way up to the terrace to check on Fai and Mokona. But instead, she found Syaoran segregating and folding the sheets that had been hung to dry during the day. She was pretty annoyed at first, but then decided to take the opportunity to learn what had exactly happened beneath the ruins back in Clow.
"And when all this was happening underground, you were fighting those people in black armour along with the King and the other soldiers?"
"Yeah" Ayame let her eyes wander over the spectacular view of the city that the terrace offered. The sparkling and twinkling lights bathed the princess and the young boy in a soft, multi-coloured glow as they both sat in silence, pondering over what they had learned from each other's' stories.
"But Ayame-san… that means…" Syaoran began cautiously.
"It means that someone did all this on purpose" Ayame finished the sentence, "Someone started the disturbance underground and sent soldiers to the surface so that no one could interfere"
"So what do we do now?" Syaoran was trying his best to keep his voice steady but his clenched fists gave away his anger and frustration.
"There is nothing much we can do at the moment" Ayame sighed, "We don't know who this person is, nor do we know what he or she wants. All we can do now is to look for the feathers"
At the mention of the feathers, the anger in the boy's amber eyes melted away to be replaced with worry. Ayame knew why – it had been a whole day since the feather Fai found in Syaoran's clothes was returned to Sakura. Her body had warmed up and her breathing had normalised, but she still showed no signs of regaining consciousness.
"We need to get at least one more feather back for her to wake up" Ayame answered Syaoran's unspoken question. When the boy turned and blinked at her, she couldn't help but chuckle.
"I have known you for what, eight years now?" she ruffled his hair affectionately, "Do you really think I won't know what's going on in that head of yours?"
"It has been eight years" Syaoran replied with a smile.
They fell back into silence, albeit a comfortable one this time.
'Eight years, huh? It seems like only yesterday…' Ayame thought as she looked at Syaoran, who had resumed folding the sheets. He had come a long way from the awkward little boy who used to hide behind his fathers' legs.
'They grow up so fast' she laughed inwardly when she realised that she sounded like an overly attached mother.
"Ayame-san…?" Syaoran's question snapped her out of her reverie.
"Hmmm?"
"How is your right foot now?"
"Foot?"
"Ayame-san, you twisted your foot earlier today" Syaoran explained.
"Oh yeah, I did" Ayame said slowly, finally remembering. But that is absurd, how could she forget something like that.
Ayame slowly got up from the bench she and Syaoran were sitting on, purposely putting extra pressure on her right foot. Nothing, no pain at all. As a matter of fact, she hadn't felt any kind of pain for a while now, no wonder it had slipped out of her mind. The last time her foot had protested to being placed on the floor was when she was having dinner, and that was a little over an hour ago.
"It's… it's healed…" she whispered, her eyes widening in shock as she looked at her foot.
All logic told her that it was impossible – her ankle had been swollen and she had limped all the way back to the hotel. However, now that she thought about it, the pain had been slowly receding the whole time, she just hadn't noticed it.
'Something is just not right…' she thought as she focused all her attention on the foot. And then realisation hit her like a thousand volts of electricity.
Magic. Her magic had healed her foot.
Even though she hadn't felt it in her body for a very, very long time, she still remembered the feeling of power coursing through her veins. And now, Ayame felt it again, a small trickle compared to the river of energy from before, but it was unmissable. Somehow, her magic had returned to her.
And it made absolutely no sense.
Unbidden, all the questions that had plagued her ever since she landed in Hanshin flooded into her mind. The feeling that something inside her awakened when her mother's bracelet was taken from her, the fact that she had been able to see Kurogane's aura… and now, she could feel her magic flowing inside her, all pointed to one thing – Ayame had never lost her magic. Her father had got it all wrong.
But had he though?
"Ayame-san?" Syaoran's worried voice pierced through the haze of questions in her mind. She had completely forgotten about him.
"I'm fine" she mustered a smile, hoping to convince the young boy, "I was just a little surprised, that's all"
The frown on Syaoran's face showed that he didn't buy it. However, Ayame was saved from any further questions by the timely appearance of Mokona.
"Syaoran, Aya-chan, I found you" Mokona sang as she hopped across the terrace and perched herself on Ayame's shoulder, "Arashi was wondering where you two were so Mokona came to look for you"
"Well, looks like we should get going" Ayame picked up half the sheets but Syaoran swiftly plucked them away from her hands.
"I'll take them, Ayame-san" he picked up the remaining half and gave Ayame a meaningful look, "I think you would like a few moments alone with your thoughts"
Ayame raised her eyebrows in surprise, "How did you know?"
Syaoran's eyes twinkled just a little as he smiled, "I have known you for eight years too"
Ayame huffed at Syaoran's back as he carefully balanced all the sheets and walked out of the terrace, gently closing the door behind him.
"Isn't Aya-chan going to ask why Mokona stayed back with her?" the little creature asked, nuzzling Ayame's cheek.
"Why?"
Mokona jumped into Ayame's lap and said, "Because Mokona can feel that Aya-chan is troubled"
Ayame stared at her, speechless. How the hell did Mokona know?
"Don't look so surprised, silly" Mokona giggled, "It is one of Mokona's 108 secret abilities!"
"108 secret abilities, huh?" Ayame tickled Mokona behind her ear, "So you can transport us from one dimension to another and sense how people are feeling?"
Mokona nodded, her big white ears flopping.
"And Mokona can also contact someone who might be able to help Aya-chan"
This interested Ayame immensely, she could really use some answers right now.
"Who will that be, Mokona?"
"Yuuko!" Mokona exclaimed cheerfully.
Before Ayame could even register what the little rabbit had said, the red jewel on Mokona's forehead gleamed and projected a circle of light in mid-air. And in that circle, was the image of the Dimensional Witch.
She couldn't stop her jaw from dropping when the image of the Witch spoke, "Hello there, Mokona. Didn't expect to hear from you so soon"
"Mokona called because Aya-chan was troubled and Mokona thought Yuuko could help"
"Umm… yeah… actually…" Ayame faltered, still trying to process the fact that she was talking to a moving image. But her fumbling stopped when Yuuko fixed her with a pensive stare.
"Mokona…" Yuuko said slowly, still not taking her eyes off Ayame, "Can you keep the connection on and go to sleep for a while?"
"Okay" Mokona chirped before snuggling into Ayame's lap. She fell asleep almost instantly.
"Wow" Ayame breathed.
"I was expecting a call from you" Ayame turned her attention back to the Witch, who was watching her with narrowed eyes, "But I didn't expect it to be so soon"
"So you know what I want to talk about?" Ayame asked cautiously. She wanted answers, yes, but years of conducting diplomatic negotiations had taught her that finding out what the opposite party knew was always the best thing to do.
Yuuko gave her a sly smile, as if she knew what was going on in the princess' head, "A small amount of your magic has returned to you, has it not?"
Ayame pursed her lips, her instincts had been right. The Dimensional Witch knew a lot more than she was letting on.
"Does that mean that I never lost my magic?" Ayame asked. She knew the answer to that question, but she hoped against hope that she was wrong.
"That is correct"
Ayame felt a pang of anger, intermingled with a small feeling of joy. Joy – because now that she had her magic, she could be more useful in the quest to find Sakura's feathers. Anger – because now she had no choice but to face the bitter truth; her father had lied to her.
"But why now? For all these years, I couldn't feel a single drop of energy" Ayame pushed her rage down and tried to keep her mind calm.
"I'm sure you have figured that out by now, Princess Ayame" Yuuko replied.
Ayame wanted to rip that crafty smile out of the Witch's face, but Yuuko was right. Some part of her had worked it out when she had seen Kurogane's aura the previous day. It was precisely why she had begun doubting her father in the first place.
"My mothers' bracelet, the one you took as payment" Ayame answered her own question, "A hidden enchantment on it prevented me from using my magic"
"Yes… and no" the smile on Yuuko's face was gone now, "The enchantment on the bracelet only served to bind together the other spells"
Ayame couldn't believe what she was hearing. Other spells!?
"So you mean to say, that there is more than one spell holding my magic back?"
"Five, to be exact" Yuuko replied, "The five seals were held together by a binding spell on the bracelet. Once the bracelet was removed…"
"The seals began to weaken… and the magic began to leak out" Ayame completed the sentence.
It made perfect sense. No wonder there was so little magic trickling through her veins. Ayame then asked the next obvious question.
"How do I break the seals?" She didn't care how or why the seals were there, she just wanted her power restored.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that" Yuuko's lips thinned.
"What?" Ayame resisted the urge to punch the hovering image. She knew that her fist would go right through it, but that didn't stop her from wanting break the nose on that pale face. That patronizing Witch tells her all this… and then withholds one crucial piece of information.
"I can't give you that information because it does not fall within the boundaries of the request" Yuuko said calmly, sensing Ayame's anger.
"Whose request?"
"The request made by the man who placed those seals on you" Yuuko answered slowly, "Your father, the previous King of Clow Kingdom, Clow Reed"
Ayame's head reeled when the weight of Yuuko's words settled in; to say that she was shocked would be an understatement. She groaned and buried her face in her hands, trying to make sense of everything.
"So, in a nutshell, my father sealed my magic after my mother died. Then, he paid you to give me bits and pieces of the truth on the day I find out that he lied to my face for several years" Ayame kept her face hidden, however the tone of her voice gave away how furious she was.
'Why!? Why would he do something like that?'
"Do you trust your father?" Yuuko asked quietly.
Ayame slowly lifted her head to meet the Dimensional Witch's questioning gaze. Did she trust her father? Up until now, she had. Now… it was a little difficult to. After all, he had made her live a lie for almost half her life.
But then again, he had made Ayame read every single magical text in the kingdom, even after she had, supposedly, lost her magic. He even used to send her with Fujitaka and Syaoran many times when they travelled to foreign lands, to learn more about the magic there. Back then, Ayame never understood why he made her do all that, but it started to make sense now. He knew that she would need her magic one day, and in his own way had prepared her for it.
He had a plan. Clow Reed always had a plan.
And Ayame decided to trust it. He had been very economical with the truth, yes, but that did not change the fact that he was her father and that he cared about her.
"I trust him" she replied, her anger finally simmering down.
"Good" Yuuko smiled, "With this, the request has been completed. I shall take my leave now. I'm sure you still have a lot to think about"
"Good Night" Ayame said Yuuko's image faded and the circle of light flickered and died.
She had decided to believe in her father's plan. Ayame hoped and prayed that it was the right decision.
XXX
"Well, things are progressing faster than I thought" Yuuko sighed, as the image of the Princess blinked and vanished.
"Faster?" the other Mokona asked.
"Yes" Yuuko said, emptying her sake glass in one go, "I thought it would take longer for her to realise she still had her magic. She is more powerful than I anticipated"
"So is it a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Only time will tell" came the vague response.
XXX
The next morning, the gang was out on the streets of Hanshin again.
"As I thought, everyone doesn't walk around with their kudan out" Fai said, looking around.
The previous night, during dinner, they had concluded that the feather might be inside a Kudan, which did make matters difficult. They can't just ask people to show them their Kudans now, can they?
"At this rate, finding someone with a strong Kudan is going to take a while" Ayame stifled a yawn.
"Ayame-san, did you get enough sleep last night?" Syaoran asked.
"Yeah" Ayame rubbed her eyes, "I woke up a little early today morning that's all"
After the little talk with Yuuko the previous night, she decided to test how useful all her theoretical knowledge about using magic really was. Ayame had woken up way before dawn and spent most of the morning practising some basic spells. The results had been pretty satisfactory, much to her relief.
"You better quit the yawning, Princess" Kurogane said, "You will need your full attention if we end up going head to head with a strong Kudan"
"Now, now" Fai teased, "Is Kuro-sama saying that he won't jump to the rescue if the pretty Princess gets into trouble? You have no chivalry at all"
"None at all!" Mokona echoed.
"SHUT UP!" Kurogane roared.
The rest of Kurogane's protest, however, was cut short by the sudden appearance of a young boy… who stepped out of the wall!?
Ayame let out a startled yelp on seeing the boy and backed into Fai, who in turn stumbled into Kurogane. The ninja, who was equally alarmed, ended up losing his balance, sending all three of them crashing down on the pavement.
Ayame was shaking her head to make sense of the last few seconds when a cheerful voice spoke dangerously close to her ear. "This is a very interesting arrangement, isn't it?"
Ayame turned her head just a fraction to find her face inches away from Fai's. She was lying right on top of him.
"I'm so, so, so, sorry!" Ayame gasped and jumped up, an embarrassed blush slowly creeping across her face. Mentally, she thanked herself for choosing a pair of brown linen shorts and white button-down blouse over the skirt she wore the previous day.
Fai grinned back at her stupidly, blushing furiously himself, while ignoring the glares of the ninja who was pinned to the ground below him.
"And when do you plan to get off of me?" Kurogane snarled.
Instead of getting up, Fai threw his arms around the man, cooing, "But I like being here with Kuro-pin"
"I SAID GET OFF" Kurogane pushed Fai away like a sack of potatoes and picked himself up, fuming.
Ayame, Fai and Mokona burst out laughing on seeing the ninja's scowling face. Even Syaoran chuckled softly.
"I'm sorry," said a voice meekly.
Ayame saw Masayoshi bowing down in apology. "Oh no, no Masayoshi-kun, don't apologize" she said kindly.
"How were you able to find where we were?" Fai asked, dusting off the dirt from his clothes.
"My kudan lets me know where people I've met are" Masayoshi answered.
"Wow" Syaoran breathed while Mokona hopped onto Masayoshi's shoulders singing, "Amazing! Amazing!"
"No… it's not that amazing…" Masayoshi said with an embarrassed smile.
Ayame suddenly became aware of something heading their way.
"Something's coming!" she warned the others.
Soon enough, they heard a loud, high-pitched buzzing, before a huge, bird (Ayame couldn't find another word to describe it) swooped down and picked up Masayoshi. It flew away just as quickly as it had come, Mokona and Masayoshi's screams fading away with every passing second. As they stared at the bird like things' retreating form, a letter floated down. Syaoran quickly picked it up and ripped it open.
"Syaoran, what does it say?" Ayame asked peering at the letter in his hands. It all looked like random lines to her.
"It says, 'I will meet you at the Hanshin Palace'" Syaoran replied.
Ayame looked over at Fai and Kurogane, "We need to go to Hanshin Palace"
Instead of looking alert, however, both the men just stood and blinked at them.
"What are you two staring at?" Ayame raised an eyebrow, "We need to get going!"
"Nyt tämä on mielenkiintoinen kehitys" Fai grinned. |Now this is an interesting development|
"Jigoku wa koko de nani ga okotte imasu ka?" Kurogane muttered. |What the hell is going on here?|
Ayame snapped her fingers close to her ears. She heard it perfectly fine. Nothing wrong with her ears then, thank goodness. Then why the hell did Kurogane and Fai sound like they were speaking gibberish?
"Syaoran, please tell me you can understand what I'm saying"
"I can, Ayame-san" he replied, his face mirroring the relief she felt.
"Then why…? She trailed off, turning her attention back to Fai and Kurogane.
Fai kept repeatedly hitting his ears, confused "Mikään ei näytä olevan vikaa korville. Ihmettelen miksi en ymmärrä mitä puhut" |Nothing seems to be wrong with my ears. I wonder why I can't understand what you are saying|
"Kore wa totemo meiwakudesu" Kurogane scowled, wriggling his ears. |This is so annoying|
"Ayame-san, why can't we understand what they are saying?" Syaoran asked.
"I have no idea… there is nothing different from before…" The gears in Ayame's brain turned and turned till finally the answer clicked in place. By the looks of enlightenment on the faces of her companions, she guessed that they figured it out too.
"Mokona!" all four of them exclaimed together.
Since both Kurogane and Syaoran could read the sign boards, the group quickly made their way to the Hanshin Palace. And Ayame chastised herself the whole way – she should have seen this coming. They were all from different worlds, obviously they spoke different languages.
'We are going to be in big trouble if we don't find Mokona' Ayame thought as they exited an underground tunnel. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a tall, old building which was architecturally different from the rest of the city.
"I'm assuming that's the Hanshin Palace" Ayame asked.
Syaoran nodded in response while Fai pointed at the building.
"Look there, right on top"
Ayame narrowed her eyes and stared at where the mage was pointing. She could make out two figures tied up right at the top of the tower – one small and round with big ears and the other a young boy.
"Mokona! Masayoshi-kun!" Syaoran called out.
"They look happy" Kurogane crossed his hands behind his head, "Well the meat bun is thoroughly enjoying herself"
The ninja was right; Mokona was busy swinging and giggling and basically having a merry time while Masayoshi looked like he was about to burst out crying any minute.
Ayame was about to make a comment about it when it hit her – she could understand Fai and Kurogane now.
"I can understand what you guys are saying!"
"Oh yeah! Me too!" Fai beamed.
"Finally!" Kurogane huffed.
"So it was Mokona's ability after all" Syaoran said as they all began to sprint to cover the remaining distance between them and the palace.
"This does confirm it" Ayame agreed with him, "Mokona acts as a translator"
"Wait! So you are saying that if we get separated from that stupid rabbit, we won't be able to understand each other?" Kurogane asked.
"Looks like it!" Fai answered gleefully.
"THAT'S SO ANNOYING!" Kurogane raged.
They reached the bottom of the tower within minutes but they had to break. In the space between the group and the entrance to the palace building, hundreds of men were gathered, all of them sporting bandanas and small, round black glasses.
"What now?" Kurogane really looked like he was ready to punch something.
Syaoran wasted no time. He went up to the edge of the crowd and held up the letter they had received.
"Excuse me! Can anyone tell me who wrote this letter?"
Ayame let out an exasperated sigh. It was good to be direct and to the point, yes. However, there are times when one needed to hold back and assess the situation, something which Syaoran just blatantly ignored. She made a mental note to talk to him about this later.
"I did!" a chirpy, sing-song voice answered Syaoran's question.
Ayame saw a pretty, green haired girl sitting on the railing of the viewing balcony of the palace.
"PRIMERA-CHAN!" the man gathered around the palace cooed.
"Well, we were saved the trouble of asking her name" Ayame smirked.
"Who is this woman anyway?" Kurogane grunted.
His question was answered by a chorus of boos; the noise was so loud that Ayame plugged her ears and waited for the name calling to die down.
"Why is it always me?" Kurogane grumbled.
"Please let Mokona and Masayoshi-kun go!" Syaoran called out.
"Heh? Isn't the one up there Syaoran?" Primera asked, confused.
"I'm Syaoran!"
"See? This is why I keep telling you to be careful!" Ayame chided the young boy while Primera began yelling at the men who were with her in the balcony, "We have been here for less than two days and you have already built up a reputation"
She then turned to Primera and said, "Those two are not who you were looking for. So let them go!"
"Nope" Primera trilled, jumping onto the roof of the palace, "If you want them back, you have to fight me first"
Ayame slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead in irritation. What is it with everyone in this country?
"I got this!" Fai took a few steps forward.
Waves of energy began to roll off him, each wave more powerful than the previous one. Winds began to gather around him as the energy began to swirl and compress, and finally taking the form an enormous, green bird. Ayame gasped as the bird simmered and vanished, its power enveloping Fai and lifting him off the ground.
"That power, it's impressive!" Ayame's eyes followed the lithe man as he flew his way to the top of the palace, "I would say it's a special Kudan"
Kurogane simply huffed in response while Syaoran stared with awe.
"He's flying!" Primera pouted as Fai did cartwheels in mid-air, "I can't even do that"
The pout was soon replaced by a confident smile as she sang, "Come out Kudan!"
Ayame felt energy gushing out of her. Even though it was not as strong as Fai's, the power was not something to sneeze at. Her Kudan took the form of a small, handheld device. She grabbed it and fixed Fai with a challenging gaze.
"EVERYONE!" Primera sang into the device, which magnified her voice, "CHECK THIS OUT!"
Ayame felt her jaw drop slightly as the words she sang flew out of the Kudan.
'Flying words! Now I've seen everything!'
The words made a beeline for Fai and exploded.
"Fai-san!" Syaoran panicked.
"Relax, Syaoran" Ayame jerked her head towards the smoke, "Look"
Fai emerged, completely unscathed, the inane smile still intact on his face.
"That's also a Kudan! This country is really amazing!" he lilted.
This just served to annoy Primera, who kept screaming into her Kudan, "I WON'T LOSE! NO FAIR! STOP DODGING! STOP RUNNING AWAY!"
Every single word she yelled flew out of the Kudan and exploded… and every single time, Fai avoided and dodged the attack with ease. He made it look so easy.
"Why!? I keep missing!" Primera whined.
"If I let your Kudan hit me, it would hurt a lot" Fai grinned.
The reply pissed off Primera even more, who sent another wholly of attacks. Ayame tuned out the noises of the crowd and everything around her and kept her eyes trained on Fai. He was gleefully dodging all the attacks, grinning all the way, but that didn't fool her. She noted that every single twist and turn and back flip was planned and calculated, he didn't waste a single movement. She had been in enough battles to identify a trained fighter when she saw one.
Which confirmed her initial observations of the mage – he wasn't the stupid, childish man he projected himself to be. There was a lot more to him than meets the eye.
"What do you think?"
Kurogane's question brought Ayame back to her surroundings.
Ayame didn't see why she shouldn't be honest, "He's definitely had formal training. And he is used to combat"
"Yeah" Syaoran agreed.
Kurogane raised an eyebrow at that, "Aren't you surprised?"
"I can see his training in his movements" Syaoran replied, "And also… you can feel the power when you look into his eyes"
Ayame felt a small flash of pride at Syaoran's answer.
"You're not as dumb as you look" Kurogane noted.
"Of course he's not!" Ayame scoffed.
"But I still want to help him somehow!" Syaoran exclaimed, which turned the pride Ayame felt into exasperation.
"I wasn't wrong about you being a spoilt brat" Kurogane smirked.
"You know what? I might just agree with you on that one" Ayame sighed.
A sudden surge of energy pulled Ayame's attention back to the Kudan battle. Primera had somehow upgraded her hand-held Kudan into what she called a 'Stand Microphone Model'. Not that the words made much sense to her, but the increase in power was unmissable.
"EVERYONE LOVES ME SO MUCH!"
Words flew out of the 'microphone' again, but a lot faster than before. This caught Fai off guard and the attack made contact, sending the mage crashing into a tree.
"Fai-san!" Syaoran yelled, but there was no response.
At this point, Ayame panicked a little too. Even after the upgrade, she knew that Primera's Kudan was still not as powerful as Fai's, but a direct hit from an attack like that could still do considerable damage. However, something told her that the blonde was just playing them.
"Stop messing around, Fai-san!" Ayame called out.
After a couple of seconds, a hand poked out of the branches, "As you say, Aya-chan!"
Fai emerged from the branches and flew up to face Primera again.
"Looks like when she was using her Kudan to fight me, Mokona didn't feel anything. Meaning Sakura-chan's feather is not in this particular Kudan"
Ayame, who had been watching Mokona from the corner of her eye, came to the same conclusion as well.
"So, it's time to end this" Fai finished with a smile, though it had a steely edge to it this time.
"If that's what you want" Primera smiled, "YOU HAVE TO BEAT ME FIRST"
The words zoomed towards Fai, but instead of dodging them, he swiftly and lightly ran over the words and reached Primera in a heartbeat.
"I don't want to hurt such a cute girl" he said softly, "So can we please stop fighting?"
Primera first looked like she was going to throw a tantrum, but then calmed down under Fai's gaze.
"Oh… ohkay…" she mumbled sheepishly, "I'll stop"
"Fai-san, you were great!" Syaoran said, as Fai landed a little away from where Ayame, Kurogane and Syaoran were standing.
Fai's response, however, was drowned out by a sharp ringing in her ears – a very familiar ringing. Ayame's senses picked up the same presence again, the presence of the Kudan which tried to attack Syaoran the previous day. But before she could decide what to do, Ayame felt a massive orb of energy heading straight for Fai.
Ayame immediately ran towards Fai and tackled him out of harm's way.
"Aya-chan!? What are you…?" Fai began, but the rest of his words were lost in a deafening boom as the ground just inches behind them exploded, sending dust and debris flying everywhere.
"Ayame-san! Fai-san!" Syaoran's panicked voice sounded through the smoke.
"We're fine" Fai called out, albeit a little shakily.
The smoke and dust finally cleared away, unveiling a crater, around six feet wide, at the spot where Fai was standing just moments ago.
"What the hell?" Kurogane rumbled, "Who did that?"
"A Kudan" Ayame replied.
"But I don't see any around!" Kurogane snapped back, but she ignored him.
Ayame closed her eyes and tried to find the Kudan, her senses prodding and scanning. After a few painfully long seconds, she found an energy cluster just a little above the top most point of the Hanshin Palace. Her eyes snapped open as she willed her Kudan to lend her its power. In response, her right hand began to cackle with electricity and she took aim and fired a lightning bolt, which flew all the way up to the top of Hanshin Palace.
A small pocket of air above the palace fizzled as the lightning hit its mark, then melted away to reveal a gigantic falcon. Standing on top of it was a young man, who appeared to be as old as Kurogane, by Ayame's guess. He wore a pair of black trousers, with a light green t-shirt and a leather jacket. His face lit up with a mischievous smile as he repositioned his glasses, brown eyes taking in the entire group before resting on Ayame.
"That's the one who attacked just now" Ayame announced, glaring back.
"You know, you are good" the man grinned, running his hand through his light brown hair, "I'm impressed"
"Seiichiro-kun!" Primera gasped, "What are you doing here?"
XXX
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you all enjoyed chapter number 5! Even though I didn't really elaborate who our mystery challenger here is, I'm sure all you CLAMP fans have figured it out by now ;) Let me know your reactions in the reviews. I need to know what you guys think, since that's what helps me make sure that all you lovely readers enjoy the story.
Also, the language that Fai speaks when the group temporarily loses Mokona is Finnish while Kuro-tan is speaking Japanese (obviously). I used to google translate for the dialogues so if there are any Finnish and Japanese readers who think the translation is faulty, let me know ASAP. I will correct them.
Until the next time! :D