Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Rite of Passage ❯ Insanity, a Red Plum, and a Snow Bunny ( Chapter 4 )

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Card Captor Sakura Fanfiction
February 15, 2001
Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura and all its characters are owned by CLAMP, Kodansha, Mixx. No money made, all for fun. Reminder: though this fic borrows aspects from both the anime and manga versions, it will primarily follow the manga plotline. The Li Family characterizations and non-canonical characters are figments of my imagination.

Rite of Passage
Chapter Four: Insanity, a Red Plum and a Snow Bunny
By Ina-chan

The weather was undeniably good. No classes for several more weeks to come. The cool breeze blew away the heavy weight in the air. Everyone was in good spirits preparing for the summer festival coming just around the corner. Wei even decided to grant a well deserved holiday from training. It was a perfect summer day.

"So why in the world am I wasting it for this?" I muttered under my breath.

Only the chimes of a nearby shop gave an answer to my metaphorical question. The hairs at the back of my neck prickled as I felt my fourth sister's burning gaze increase in intensity. I will never understand how the female mind works.

I made sure I threw her an equally fierce glare before I took a deep breath and stepped beside a bespectacled man, obliviously reading a book beside the bus stop. I ground my teeth and unsuccessfully willed the tears to pool in my eyes. Geez. How in the world did Si-jie make this look so easy?

'What are you doing?!?!' My sister signed silently from her hiding place, 'That's not what I taught you!'

I abandoned all my efforts and simply gave her another glare.

'DO IT!' She mouthed as she angrily shook her fist

Squishing my last shred of dignity, I took another deep breath... and let out an Earth-shattering wail. The man beside me fumbled with his books and briefcase in surprise.

"Wh-what's wrong little boy?" He knelt down stammering as he nervously glanced at the curious whispering passer-bys

I felt a peal of laughter quickly making its way to my lips, so I simply rubbed my knuckles to my eyes and let out several hysterical sobs.

"W-w-wait! Don't cry!" The man said desperately, "Tell me what's wrong. Are you hurt anywhere? Are you lost? Is that it? Did you loose your Mommy while shopping."

Is this guy for real? I fought the urge to roll my eyes and turn away in disgust as I nodded my head, not trusting myself to speak.

"Okay, okay then," The man rubbed his forehead as if to ward off an impending headache, "Don't worry little boy, everything is going to be okay. I'll help you find your Mommy. Okay? Stop crying."

"XIAO-LANG!" Fei-mei cried out on cue as she appeared out of nowhere and clutched me tightly, "My poor little baby brother! Where have you been? I've been worried sick!"

"Worried sick my aaa--" I started to mumble before I felt a very sharp pinch on my inner arm, "--aaah w-was so scared!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much for finding my brother," My sister rambled gratefully before the man, before letting out a very fake gasp of surprise, "Teacher! I didn't expect to see you here!"

The man adjusted his glasses, still trying to wipe the look of confused bewilderment on his face, before recognition registered on his face, "You're one of my students, aren't you?"

"Yes! English Literature class! Fei Mei! Li Fei Mei!" My sister replied enthusiastically, "I'm on the front seat of the middle aisle."

"Ah, yes," The teacher smiled nervously, "You're the one who wrote that excellent piece on Romeo and Juliet. Keep up the good work."

"It wasn't that good," My sister beamed modestly as her face became the shade of a ripe tomato.

At this point, I HAD to give myself another hard pinch to keep myself from gagging.

"Thank you for rescuing my little brother. You just turn your back for one minute and they suddenly disappear!" Fei-mei continued, "I don't know how I can repay you."

"I really didn't do..."

"I know, why don't I treat you for a cup of coffee or something. Please accept!"

From the look of the poor teacher's face, it would seem that being stuck with a wailing brat seemed paradise compared to the hot pan he was in with my sister. I couldn't help by feel a bit sorry for him. Just then, the bus parked in front of the stop and the teacher immediately scrambled to gather his belongings and headed for the bus entrance before my sister can even think of moving, "Ah! Miss Li, I'm afraid I have an important appointment to catch right now. I'll see you in class after vacation. Take care of your little brother..."

She really did look pathetic as she watched the bus move and disappear from sight before letting out a long defeated sigh. For a moment, I actually felt sorry for my big sister. Without warning she whacked me at the back of the head.

"OW! I didn't say anything!" I quipped in annoyance as that moment of sympathy quickly faded from memory

"You were about to," Fei-mei snapped defensively, "I was so sure that was going to work. There is no justice in this world! Instead of a hot date, I'm stuck babysitting my baby brother. ARGH! This is soooo UNFAIR!"

"Oi!" I retorted indignantly, "Don't blame this one me. YOU'RE the one who dragged me into this."

"Don't you dare act all innocent, Xiao-lang. We had a mutual agreement," Fei-mei replied, "No one twisted your arm into selling out for a scoop of double Dutch chocolate fudge cone."

"Might as well get something out of it since you're going to wail my ears to submission anyway," I muttered in a low tone

"What did you say?" Fei-mei intoned as she suspiciously bent down to me

"You promised a DOUBLE scoop with a hot fudge dip," I said more clearly in a louder voice

"Hai, hai!" Fei-mei sighed in resignation as we started our trek toward the ice cream shop in the shopping plaza down the street. She was unusually quiet while we walked. It was strange.

Of all my sisters, Si-jie was the biggest pain on the butt. Overly emotional, self-indulgent, impulsive, shallow, impatient, no interest or discipline on any aspect of our family's traditional arts... I could go on forever with a list of her faults. Its no secret that we do have an unspoken rivalry. She always made it clear that she was not pleased my dethroning her as the family baby. I lost count the number of times I prayed to Shangdi for moments of peace like this.

Somehow... it still didn't seem right when my prayers were answered. While irritability, hyper-talkativity, childish excitement, and melodrama are the four seasons that constantly visit my sister's expressive face... Depressed defeat was one phenomenon that never suited her.

"I'll never understand your taste in men," I suddenly commented, "He's ten years older than you and you don't need a sixth sense to see the reason why he never even had a girlfriend."

"Well, for your information, Mr. Tsu is the hottest teacher in my school. And how do you know that he never had a girlfriend?"

"Well, considering your school's choice is between him and a bald arithmetic teacher... and I heard Shan-jie said so."

"Well, you shouldn't be listening in on your sisters' private conversations... and you're way too young to understand these things anyway."

"Oh, and I suppose you're an expert even though you're only five years older than me."

"That's still five years more of life experience!" Fei-mei grinned evilly, "Someday, when you're older you'll find out what being in love is really like. You'll meet that person who has a smile as bright as the sun that just illuminates everything. This person will make you feel immortal and invincible and like you can do anything in the world just for her. She will cause an unbearable pain in your heart when she's not around but make your heart beat faster and your blood boil with such a passion you never thought you could ever feel when she is!"

She lost me after the sunset or whatever it is, but I'm pretty sure I heard all this from a drama special that my sisters were sobbing about a couple a months ago, "So basically you're saying that love will make you hallucinate, feel delusions of grandeur, and eventually collapse on the ground clutching your chest like Uncle Chung last summer."

With that, my sister suddenly stopped on her tracks and stared at me with an unreadable expression on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and blinked as if she changed her mind in mid-thought. She looked ahead and started to walk more briskly, "I don't want to talk to you anymore."

I live for these moments. "Oi! Wait for me."

I don't really know how to explain what happened next. It happened so fast that I didn't even figure out what was happening until we were surrounded. One moment, I felt my sister suddenly grab my hand and drag me along as she broke into a sprint, then the next moment we were in the middle of a secluded parking lot surrounded by five very angry-looking highschool girls. It was just like one of those scenes from the TV. dramas my sisters like to watch so much. Apparently, love can make you stupid as well.

"How many times do we have to remind you to stay away from him," The leader of the pack said, "I think we need to teach her a lesson so she doesn't forget, don't you think so girls?"

My sister held on to me closer as the pack moved to tighten their circle, "You don't have the right to do this. Mr. Tsu doesn't belong to anyone."

"Look, we already gave you a freebie warning and you already know what will happen if you ignore us."

"Well," My sister continued, trying to stop the shaking in her voice, "I'm warning you too."

The girls laughed," What are you going to do? Cry us to death? Huh? Crybaby?"

"You don't know who you're going up against with."

"What? You think we're afraid of your family?" The leader snorted insolently, "As far as I'm concerned, you and your entire family are just a bunch of over-rated circus freaks."

Now that did it. Normally, I walk away from situations like these. Normally, I wouldn't even waste a second of my time on bullies like them who have no chance against my skill level. Since I was little, Wei always emphasized the importance of simply walking away from people who fear and don't understand our gifts. People always react negatively to people or things that threaten them.

I didn't know what made me do it. I still don't. But sensing my sister's distress and the look on her face just made something inside me snap. I broke away from her grasp and walked up to the intimidating girl. I clenched my fists to prevent them from instinctively lifting a summoning ward between my fingers, "Take that back."

"Xiao-lang!"

The girls stopped with a start, obviously taken by surprise by my move. While the others looked at each other uncertainly, the leader simply gave my sister a sardonic sneer, "Is this the best you can do to defend yourself, Li? Your bratty little brother?"

"Take. That. Back."

"Look kid, this doesn't have anything to do with you. Why don't you just stay back before you get hurt," The leader glowered at me in annoyance as she grabbed me on the shoulder and shoved me aside

I braced myself to maintain my balance and turned to retaliate when the air was suddenly pierced by shocked shrieks as my tormentor's sleeve suddenly combusted.

"Touch my brother one more time and I swear, the next thing that will burn will be your face," My sister said slowly in an unnaturally low and dangerous tone as she prepared several summoning wards in her fingers like a deck of cards. With that, the other girls backed away and started to pull their leader away from the confrontation.

"Freak," The leader spat angrily one final time before running away.

This was the first time I saw Si-jie like this. It was hard to believe that the determined, calm, collected fighter in front of me was the same crybaby of a timid weakling I knew.

When our bullies were finally out of sight, my sister finally sank down into her knees and bursted into tears, "Waaaah! That was so scary!"

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly

"I'm fine," Fei-mei sniffled, "How about you?"

I crossed my arms and glared at her, "You know I could have handled that in a less extreme manner. Wei's going to be really mad if he finds out about this."

"Look, Didi," Fei-mei started irritably as she wiped her tears

/The sound of metal clanging against metal/

"I may not be at par with your magic skills..."

/The sound of cloth swishing in the silent air/

"...or not have Da-jie's negotiating skills..."

/"That boy is Ri Shaoran-kun!"/

"...or not have Shan-jie's cleverness to creatively get out of a situation..."

/"...weakling."/

"...and most especially not have even the slightest bit of Ra-jie's brute fighting strength..."

/"NO! STOP!"/

"... I'm still your big sister..."

/"What the...!"/

"...and you're still my little brother..."

/"SAKURA!"/

"...and I'm responsible for you..."

/"What's the big idea putting me up here!"/

"...its my duty to protect you with all of my abilities."

/"I won't let you hurt Rika-chan!"/

There were very few times in my life that I've been taken by surprise. I have to admit that seeing you fight for the first time was one of them. Armed with nothing but the determination to protect your friend, you managed to defeat a strong and aggressive attack card. Yes, I admit that was an admirable trait. But that's still not enough. You can't expect to beat all the Clow Cards by pure luck alone. It was only a matter of time before your lack of skill brings about your downfall. No. I can't. I won't. I still won't accept you, "Apparently, you don't need a lot of skill to be able to catch Clow Cards."

It hurts, doesn't it? That look in your eyes screamed what your mouth kept silent. Why don't you just give up before you really get hurt. You have no connection to this matter. There was no need to involve you in this.

It was then it... this thing... fluttered protectively in front of you as if to shield you, "What is that?"

"Kero-chan."

"This..." I couldn't believe my eyes, "is the Beast of the Seal, Cerberus!? The golden-eyed strongest guardian beast..."

It glared at me with its indignant beady little eyes. Now this was more than I can take. Surely, there has got to be a mistake here! The great guardian of the powerful Clow Cards...

"... is a stuffed animal..."

With those words, the mystical Beast of the Seal launched an all out attack and latched its teeth on my index finger.

"Kero-chan!" Your voice cried out in alarm. Then you suddenly turn toward a noise from behind us, "Someone's coming! Kero-chan, hide in the room!"

As that infernal stuffed animal flew away (not without giving my finger another final chew) he came. The one from before...

"Konbanwa. Is Touya home?" His face had that smile. For some strange reason, the darkness of the evening seemed to have been overpowered by the illuminating brightness of his kind smile. Then he stopped, noticing the awkward situation before him. A shadow of worry etching over his face as he bent down at you and your friend, "What happened here?" Then he turned to me. Without another word, he took my injured finger in his hands. My heart suddenly started to beat faster and I felt an unbearable heat rush all over me as his concerned eyes looked into mine, "Are you alright?"

So I ran away. I couldn't bear being close to that person... yet... I needed to be close to him. Not being near him caused a piercing pain deep within my heart. There was something about him that made me feel so unsure about myself... but there was one thing that I am sure of. Nothing can stop me. Not you and that stuffed animal... or even your brother.

I won't loose to you.

I won't loose the Clow Cards or that person to you.

I won't loose.

End of Part 4
Continued on Part 5: Reclaiming a Cherry Blossom
Return to Part 3: By the Root of the Tree

Ina-chan's Squawk:

Before I continue on, just going back on my earlier chapter... I made up one of Syaoran's summon chants. I just happened to review an episode from season 2 and I saw Syaoran use a fire attack spell upon trying to capture "The Cloud". His chant was "Ka shin sho rai". Unfortunately, I dunno the kanji of the "shin" in his sentence, so I dunno the exact meaning. Nevertheless, the chant still means something like "Fire come forth, obey my summon" or something. Like I said, Syaoran never used Fire or Earth as attack spells in the manga, so its not as dramatic as his chant for Lightning and Wind (which he used a great deal. They actually had extended versions in the manga. ^_^.).

The manga segment is also greatly edited. If you want the full version of the manga segment, check out the 2nd Graphic novel released by Mixx (for ya English speakers). Of check out the Kodansha tankubon #2 for the original version (translations are available all over the net).

The Li sister focused on this story is named "Fueimei" in the Japanese version. The Kanji used for her name means "red plum". <GRIN> Makes the translation of her name pretty silly... "Li Fueimei = Red Plum of Plums". ^_^. I have no idea how it is pronounced or romanized in Chinese... If anyone out there knows, lemme know.

Before I forget, yes... there is no mistake about the dates in the chapters. I wrote chapter 5 before chapter 4. ^_^. I didn't mean to. Its just that I started that storyline first and realized that it fit the manga part I alloted for Chapter 5. Heh-heh... its the "Shattered Mirror" storytelling style influence. Its rather difficult to "un-train" myself.

Anwayz... reviews, comments and criticisms will be very much appreciated. If you have a Fanfiction.net account, please don't hesitate to review my fics on http://www.fanfiction.net. The genre is under Anime-CCS-Drama. I would love some constructive criticisms for the improvement of this series. ^_^. I'm also open for private mail CCS discussion. You can reach me via ina_chan@yahoo.com!

Ja!
Ina-chan

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