Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Rite of Passage ❯ Prologue

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Card Captor Sakura Fanfiction

September 5, 2000
Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura and all its characters are owned by CLAMP, Kodansha, Mixx. No money made, all for fun.

Rite of Passage
Prologue
By Ina-chan

She sat there for many hours. Silently hoping that it was all a mistake. Silently praying that her ancestors would give her an answer that would cease her fears. But all the dim walls and heavily incensed air of her family shrine gave her a simple reply.

Silence.

She clenched her fists, not feeling the wet trickle of crimson oozing from where her fingernails dug through her flesh. In a not so faraway land, the promised day of destiny is fast approaching. A powerful magic, sealed and asleep for 30 years, was slowly awakening. There's not much time to waste, before the disaster occurs. There is no mistake, the time has come. A boy's rite of passage...

... and his mother's greatest fear.

The irony of life. She, herself, remembered her mother's pain. They thought she was still too young, but she remembered clearly. The air was electrified... saturated with fear for the red-banded soldiers, who looked no more than children themselves. Her mother was calm and brave, as she entrusted her young daughter to the waiting arms of a servant. Her mother was calm and brave... but her mother's eyes reflected that of a mother's pain. The pain of knowing that her child will be forever lost to her as she grows up in the care of relatives in foreign soil.

She still remembered everything, as clearly as day. The faint scent of gunpowder and smoke in the air. The frantic scurrying of people in the mansion and on the streets. Her sad eyes. The determined tone of her voice...

|"Ie-lang, I want you to listen to me very carefully," She said, "Ie-lang has to go with Yuen to live with Uncle Fah and Cousin Wei for a while."

"Ride a boat to Hong Kong?" The little girl inquired, excitement lighting her eyes

"I want you to be a good girl."

"Ie-lang is ALWAYS a good girl," The little girl frowned, "Mama looks sad. Did Mama and Uncle Fah fight again?"

The woman couldn't help but break into a smile, "No. Mama and Uncle Fah didn't fight. But Ie-lang has to go to Hong Kong and live with Uncle Fah without Mama. And that makes Mama very sad."

Fear etched itself onto the little girl's china doll face. The woman clutched her child tightly in her arms and rocked her gently, "Ie-lang, Do you remember what Mama told you about our family? What our family has been doing for a long, long, long time?"

"Protect our Emperor."

"Good girl. There is something very bad happening all over China right now. Mama and Baba has to stay to protect our Emperor."

"Ie-lang wants to stay too!" The little girl insisted as tears started to roll down her amber-brown eyes

"No, Ie-lang." The woman replied firmly as she held the little at arms length and wiped her tears, "Ie-lang has something much more important to do now. You don't know it yet, but Ie-lang has strong magic. Stronger than Mama's and Baba's. And maybe someday, even stronger than Old Grandmother. Uncle Fah will teach you how to use magic. And Ie-lang has to use her magic to protect our family.

Someday, Ie-lang will be the Li Clan's head mother. Just like old grandmother. And when Ie-lang grows up... many many years from now, Ie-lang will get married and have babies. And one of Ie-lang's babies will have strong magic as well. He, too, will be head of the Li clan someday. And when he grows up... he will protect someone important."

"More important than our Emperor?" The little girl asked between sniffles

The woman gently stroked her daughter's hair, and smiled, "He will be the one who shall redeem our family.

Be brave, my little one. Everything will turn out all right."|

She opened her eyes and lifted her head, sensing a presence behind her, "Wei."

"I'm sorry to disturb you," The older man's concerned voice resonated within the shrine's walls, "But you've been in here for three days without rest and haven't touched any food. The children and I are getting worried."

She gave her elder cousin a forced smile, "I'm sorry to have worried you."

Wei studied his cousin's face before an uncharacteristic frown made its way on his forehead, "It's started, hasn't it?"

"Call Xiao-lang."

"You can't be serious."

She simply gave him a silent solemn look.

"He's only ten years old."

"I know," She simply replied in a tone that indicated unquestionable finality

"I promised my youngest brother on his deathbed that I will always watch over his wife and his children..."

"Wei, please... I would stop all this myself, if only I could. With all my strength, I would. But I can't." A sardonic grin made its way on her lips, "One cannot stop a river from flowing down a mountain top. You can divert its course, but eventually, the waters will reach the mountain's base." Her amber-brown eyes turned inward as a determined expression hardened her elegant features, "I don't want my son to be swept away and drown in its strong currents."

"Very well," The older man let out a sigh of defeat and bowed down to the wisdom of the clan's matriarch

"*Xie xie," The woman whispered gratefully as she watched her cousin go to fetch her only son. Only then, when alone once again, did she instinctively clutch her chest in pain as her stoic mask broke and her emotions flooded her entire being.

"Be brave. Be brave Ie-lang," Li Yelan's whisper echoed almost deafeningly in the shrine, "Everything will turn out all right."

End of Prologue
Continued on Part 1: Plums and a Little Wolf

Ina-chan's Squawk:

Hmmm... is Ina-chan's obsession with Li Syaoran that obvious? ^_^. Now that the manga is done... I'm simply speculating on the Li family's point of view in this whole matter. 'Sides, Clow Read's mother was a Li, ne? And there is still a couple of interesting stuff not touched regarding that particular family history...

Oh... I also got a Chinese friend to help me out on some common names and stuff. She's from the mainland, though... not from Hong Kong. So some regional variations... Anywayz... ther'es just two on this chapter.

Baba = Father/Dad/Papa (you get the idea)

Xie xie = Thank you

I borrowed elements from both the anime and the manga. As you can see... Wei exists. ^_^. But, in the later chaps. I'll stay true to the manga storyline and have Syaoran living alone in Japan.

The CCS movie named the Li Clan women (they were only mentioned in passing in the manga). According to the CCS movie, Syaoran's mother's name is Li Yelan. Ie-lang is a possible Chinese romanization, or so I was told. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm a little suspicious about it... The Chinese romanization of Syaoran's name is Xiao-lang.

Ja!
Ina-chan

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