Fanfics
Cherry Blossoms and Magic
Chapter 1~ Quest
¡°Wake up Sakuraaaaaaa! I found it!¡±
Sakura sighed in deep annoyance. ¡°Leave me alone Kero-chan, I wanna sleep.¡±
mumbled the half sleeping girl as she rolled to her side. Kinomotto Sakura
didn¡¯t really hear what Kero said, and she really didn¡¯t care. Right now it
was still time to sleep.
¡°I SAID GET UP!¡±
That brought Sakura to sit strait up in her futon, sleepy eyes met glaring.
Kero¡¯s face was less than an inch from hers. ¡°Hooeeeeee! You can be so
annoying at times.¡± The threw her pillow at him, which he easily ducked. ¡®He
must want food.¡¯
¡°You call yourself the chosen Card Mistress?! Here you are wanting to sleep
when its time for you to recover your book of Clow, which hold the Clow
Cards!¡± He landed on her knee, staring at her, expecting an answer.
¡°I don¡¯t call myself the chosen Card Mistress, you did.¡± Kero just
responded to this with a hurt look, causing Sakura to automatically regret her
words. ¡°Oh come on Kero. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Sakura lifted the yellow lion cub
with wings, and gave him a kiss in apology. All hopes for future sleep where now
diminished. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear you the first time. So you say you found the
book?¡±
¡°Huh, what¡¯s happening.¡± Asked the sleepy voice of Tomoyo Daidouji from a
futon across the room.
¡°Kero said he found the Clow book!¡± Sakura replied in an overly happy voice
as a further attempt to cheer up the yellow creature. Her comment about him
possibly picking the wrong person as the Clow Master still seemed to hurt him.
¡°So where and when do we go?¡±
Kero beamed up at her when she said this. ¡°Midnight. Tonight. Some house
slightly out of town.¡± Kero¡¯s smile diminished when he came to the later,
and he avoided looking into her eyes. Sakura noticed this at once. He was hiding
something.
¡°What house is the book in?¡±
¡°Just... a house.¡±
¡°Kero.¡± Threatened the green eyed teen who now folded her arms across her
chest.
Kero answered in an almost whisper. ¡°Ahh. Well um. It¡¯s the... um...
Emperor¡¯s palace.¡±
¡°THE EMPEROR'S PALACE!?¡± Tomoyo and Sakura yelled shocked with wide eyes.
Tomoyo had just returned with food, and it was a miracle she didn¡¯t drop the
tray.
Everyone was silent for a while. Kero looked hopefully at his mistress. The
perfect person he waited for over a hundred years to meet. The destined master
of the Clow.
Sakura¡¯s gaze fell to Kero and instantly any negative emotion was lost to her.
He was giving her the biggest, wettest, most innocent puppy dog eyes she ever
saw in her life. After a minute, with a giant annoyed ¡°Hoeeeeeeeee.¡± Kero
had his answer.
¡°All right Kero. We¡¯ll try. But...¡± Sakura¡¯s face became serious. ¡°HOW
IN THE WORLD ARE WE GETTING IN THERE?!¡±
¡°I thought of that.¡± Scheming smile. ¡°We¡¯ll climb to the roof, walk till
we come to the garden, go through the door nearby, and sneak to the library!¡±
Sakura stared in unbelief. Tomoyo surpassed a giggle, and placed the tray on the
small table, which Sakura and Kero began to move towards.
¡°That's your plan?!¡±
¡°Well, do you have anything better?¡±
¡°No, bu-¡±
¡°It¡¯s settled then. Now lets eat breakfast!¡± Kero landed on the knee high
table with a ¡°plop¡± in front of the plate of rice balls.
¡°Kero, if I¡¯m seen they¡¯ll kill me thinking I¡¯m a ninja!¡± From the
corner of her eye, Sakura saw her best friend¡¯s face light up, which she
instantly turned to meet. ¡°No, Tomoyo-chan! We can¡¯t afford to make a ninja
outfit. There is no way I¡¯m going to do what Kero suggest. I¡¯ll be caught
and killed! In fact, when they spot me, they¡¯ll probably think I¡¯m some sort
of an assassin. Then what will you do?¡± she now turned back to Kero.
¡°You¡¯ll be short a card mistress.¡±
Tomoyo didn¡¯t look a bit discouraged, and Kero just looked at Sakura with a
sweet smile of rice sprinkled around it. ¡°Trust me Sakura-chan!¡± He took
another bite of the rice ball in his paws. ¡°I¡¯m your guardian. And besides,
the book won¡¯t even be protected because they don¡¯t even know what it is.
Its on the opposite side of the palace from the Emperor¡¯s quarters, in the
library. So it will be a piece of sushi!¡±
Sakura¡¯s eyes slanted at this, and glared at Kero. ¡°Sushi is not easy to
make.¡±
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
¡°The guest are here!¡± the head servant, Toranaga, cried out. At the gate
they could see the carriage (I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re called) carrying the
future ruler of the Li clan of China.
The carriage was careied up by strong, buffed servants, isued by the emporer
himself. They came to a halt when they came to the recieving area of the palace
where the Toranaga stood. He and the 15 servants below him moved to their hands
and knees, faces to the dirt, in respect for the nobles.
Shaoran stepped out of the carriage, and looked down with pure annoyance at the
servants. He walked up to the servant who had different, more expensive clothes
then the others. A man who looked about 70.
¡°You can get up now.¡± He said, to which the old man quickly complied with a
bit of a startled look.
Behind him, Shaoran could hear his cousin come out of the carriage, and he
turned around to face him. The young man with midnight blue hair walked up to
him, adjusted his European glasses, and gave Shaoran his infamous smile.
¡°Well, where here, Cousin.¡± Eriol looked around, disappointment on his face.
¡°I guess our early arrival didn¡¯t give the Emperor enough time to prepare a
proper welcome.¡±
Eriol¡¯s attention was then brought to the servants who dared not look them in
the face. ¡®This is so despicable. Sure a polite bow to show respect, but
this?¡¯ Eriol shook his head, and saw his friend had the same thoughts. None of
their servants at home where permitted to act like this. He felt truly sorry for
these people.
¡°This way, if you please.¡± The elderly servant said in a deep bow. ¡°News
of your arrival has been sent to the Emperor, so for now I will show you to your
room.¡±
The two followed the man in. After about 5 minutes, they took so many turns that
Eriol had doubts about ever being able to find his own way out. The man showed
Eriol and Shaoran two rooms right next to each other. Each had a giant bed in
the center. Many assorted plants, and silk fabrics decorated the walls, along
with a mural of tigers among bamboo. There was a rice paper door connecting the
two rooms, and another door went our to a garden, which was the center of the
whole premises, which you could get to any place from.
Eriol and Shaoran turned and bowed a thank you, to the servant, who was caught
quite off guard by this, but continued to help the other¡¯s bring in the
belongings.
¡°If I may ask,¡± piped Shaoran with a distinguished politeness, ¡°could you
tell me how to get to the library from here. I may wish to go there latter.¡±
¡°Of course, sir.¡± As he spoke another servant came, bowed to him and Eriol
on his hands and knees, then got up and gave a short bow to the servant, then
whispered something into his ear. After the servant gave his message, the
turned, gave the proper bows, and left.
¡°The Emperor greets you welcome, and that their will be a giant feast held
tonight in your honor. He looks forward to talking with you about the future of
trading with China.¡± After he said this, the elderly man then started to the
door that led into the garden. He pointed to a large corridor in a corner. ¡°If
you go down that hallway, and take a right at the next major hallway you see,
you¡¯ll come to the Library. You can¡¯t miss it.¡±
¡°Domo.¡± Shaoran thanked the old man, giving a short bow causing his bangs to
cover his eyes, which he moved back in place again when he stood up again. He
was a bit amused with the expression of shock on the old man¡¯s face.
¡®Elderly deserve respect¡¯.
The strange, but important visitors from China where continuously catching
Toranaga off guard. He expected them to be as high in the clouds as the nobles
of the Japanese court.
Toranaga then moved to the doorway, turned and bowed once more, and then shut
the door, and left.
¡°So, are we going to attempt to retrieve the book tonight?¡± Eriol asked in
mandarin once he was sure the servant was gone. A precaution against spies.
¡°Yes, after dinner though. I want to enjoy myself and relax a bit after that
long trip.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t disagree with you there.¡±
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura Kinomotto approached the palace¡¯s front gate. She felt sore all over,
especially in the feet. ¡®Curse the Emperor for having his palace on the other
side of Kyoto!¡¯
The guards looked her over up and down, suspicious of the girl in green kimono
with cherry blossoms stitched in detail. She wore cherry blossom ornaments in
her aurban hair, which was up in a bun.
¡°State your business. Are you a courtesan for tonight?¡± one questioned.
¡®Hoeeee. They sound so mean. Why¡¯d I have to get the mean ones. The big lug
better let me in, because there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going by Kero¡¯s original
plan. Even if Tomoyo DID make a ninja costume! Hey, wait did he just call me a
courtesan. No matter how many koku they are paid. I¡¯d never do that.¡¯
After she stood up strait from her bow, she looked the guard strait in the eye,
and gave a huge smile. ¡°Good evening. My name is Amaiko Sokotoki. I¡¯m a
traveling magician, and I came to perform before the Emperor and Shogun
tonight.¡±
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a dinner hall, and rather nice one in fact. There was a giant knee high
table that wrapped around the room, with cushions for sitting. However he knew
he shouldn¡®t of expected less from the Emperor of Japan, who sat in the
center, the Shogun to his right, and other advisers to his left. All had the
familiar air of arrogent nobles. Shaoran and Eriol where at the side, for they
where his ¡°special guest¡± where to be seated. The noble men sat at the left
table, while the noble women who where all stealing glances at the young guest
from China, sat at the right table.
Shaoran was tired of talking about the possibility of open trade between their
two countries to start again. Everyone was sucking up to them, when he knew some
of them would rather stab him in the back.
Food was brought out, with lots of tempura (A/N: Tempura. I love tempura. I
don¡¯t know if they had it in whatever period this story takes place, but that
stuff is delicious!), sushi, a variety of soups, and many raw and steamed
vegetables. A girl was currently singing a song about a nightingale and her
lover, which was rather depressing. She then finished her song, went all the way
to her hands and knees in honor of the Emperor, and left.
Shaoran was bored, and he could tell Eriol had similar feeling. At least he was
¡°relaxing.¡± And within an hour they¡¯d have the book, and soon be on their
way back home. Japan was an interesting country. One of the reasons his Clan
sent him was for him to collect knowledge. A sort of future clan leader
requirement. But this was not new to him. This was the usual court scene. Two
guards appeared and where dragging a girl into the room. But that only accounted
for a bit of what caught his attention. Her aura was unusually strong, a
suggestion that she used magic. It was almost as strong as his. This perked his
interest. The girl was obviously in trouble, and he listened as the room quieted
down to find out what the situation was.
Shaoran looked to Eriol, who nodded showing that he too sensed the aura too.
The guards immediately kneeled before the Emperor, dragging the girl down with
them.
¡°You Majesty. This girl came to the gates, claiming she was a magician, and
had come to perform before you. Her being a woman, we don¡¯t know what to
think. At first we thought her to be a fraud, but she demonstrated her powers.
She wishes to perform before you.¡±
The Emperor looked curiously to the girl before him. ¡°You know magic?¡±
¡°Yes, your Majesty, she said, lifting her head to him, which automatically
brought shocked murmurs to the court. The girl quickly dropped her head,
realizing her fatal mistake.
The Emperor talked quietly with the Shogun. When they where done, they where
both smiling evilly. Shaoran frowned, knowing they had bad intentions for the
girl.
¡°Well then. A female who knows magic. This should be quite interesting. If you
should entertain I and my guest well, you won¡¯t be executed.¡±
Shaoran heard a ¡°eep¡± come from the girl. He heard that execution with out
any dignity was the punishment of peasants looking at the Emperor¡¯s face.
Another stupid law.
¡°So, young lady, tell us your name, and please... begin the show.¡± He
smiled.