Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ The China Doll ❯ The Unearthing Of the China Doll ( Chapter 7 )

The China Doll

Chapter 7 - The Unearthing Of The China Doll

'I love him, but I hate what he's done to me. Can I forgive him?' Sakura asked herself as she stared out of the convertible's tinted windows. They had returned to the school to pick up Syaoran's car and they drove off to his house.

When they pulled up to the gate, Sakura noticed all of the security guards standing around with anxious looks of worry on their faces. One of them walked up to the car on the driver's side and Syaoran rolled down the window.

"Master Li, do you really think you should be bringing guests into the mansion while everyone is sick." He questioned, eyeing Sakura. Xiao Lang glared viciously at the guard and snorted.

"Yes, I do. Now, let us in." he replied shortly. The guard nodded solemnly and stepped back, motioning the other guard to open the gate. Xiao Lang sped past many gardens until he finally skidded to a halt in front of a large white building. Sakura stared at it in awe. It had to have at least five floors and each window seemed to be lined with gold, glinting in the floodlights. Only one light was on in the whole house, on the second floor. When it flickered, Sakura assumed it was only a candle. Xiao Lang climbed out and tossed the keys to a valet standing beside the car. He opened Sakura's door and motioned her to follow him inside. They halted in the front hall and he turned to face her.

"Everyone is in their chambers asleep. No one is using any magic. Can you feel anything?" he asked. Sakura looked up at him and noticed that in the shadows his face had become weary as if the spell on his family was affecting him slightly, too.

Sakura closed her eyes and bowed her head, concentrating on anything she could possibly catch. Since her powers had greatly increased over the years she easily located the source of the magic. It seemed to be coming from far below them.

"Hai…but faintly, like it's far away." She answered. "If the floors aren't very thick then the through card can get us to it quickly. It doesn't seem to be very powerful though. It's old." She opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at Xiao Lang. He was deep in thought, but it seemed as though he had heard what she said.

"Well, it doesn't matter how strong it is. Is it ok if I change out of my uniform before we go?" he asked sheepishly. "I need my sword, too." He added.

"Sure." She whispered, feeling the need to be secretive and quiet. He turned around and put his hand to the wall and felt around until his hand hit what he was looking for. He moved his hand up a bit and the lights came on.

"Ok, let's go." He whispered back and led her up a flight of stairs, towards one of his rooms.

~~

A few minutes later he was dressed in his ceremonial robes and had a long sharp sword in it's casing strapped to his back. It was the same robes he had worn to the dance, and perfect for sneaking around, unseen, in the dark. He drew his sword from its sheath and held it in front of him.

"Lead the way." He said, lowering his brows menacingly, prepared to attack whenever he needed to. Sakura smiled a little, thinking he looked a little ridiculous. He looked extremely serious and was glaring at a spot in front of him. She shook her head to get rid of any distracting thoughts and pulled out the through card.

"Through card, allow me and Xiao Lang to pass through the walls and floors at will!" she cried and touched her staff to the card, which was barely visible in the darkness. Suddenly the card exploded into light and the card spirit surrounded the two.

"Ah!" Xiao Lang screamed as he found himself falling through the floor. It was all Sakura could do not to burst into tears and fall on the floor laughing. She ran over to him and lifted him up by the hand, making them both blush at the contact.

"If you concentrate then you wont fall through anything." She scolded.

"Gomen." He exclaimed ashamedly and lowered his head.

"This way." She changed topics and began to run down a short flight of stairs. She turned a few corners and went down another flight of stairs. When she turned around Xiao Lang was nowhere in sight. She sighed and searched for his aura. He was directly above her. She lifted her staff above her and closed her eyes.

"Bring Xiao Lang down here." She whispered and suddenly Xiao Lang appeared on the ground before her.

"Where were you?" he asked, rubbing his but a little from the fall.

"I could ask you the same thing." She countered. "You were supposed to be following me."

"It's not my fault I'm sick." He muttered to himself, unheard by Sakura.

"Stay with me this time." She said and closed her eyes. When she finally caught the magical presence she grabbed his hand and let her senses guide her through the house, closer and closer to the magic that was poisoning the Li-clan.

It took a few tries but finally Sakura and Xiao Lang were on the same floor as the source and with every step she took the feeling got stronger. She ran for a few minutes, Xiao Lang's hand still in hers and when she finally stopped she opened her eyes.

In front of them stood a set of solid oak doors they looked as if they had hadn't been opened for a few centuries. The bolts and handle were gold in colour but their shine had faded away with the years. The intricate carvings seemed to come alive. There were two angels both with different wings on one side and on the other there were two carved beasts. Sakura gasped, looking at the designs.

"Look, it's Yue and Ruby Moon on one side and Keroberus and Spinal Sun on the other." She realized. In the center of the two doors was the Clow symbol. The room must have belonged to Clow Reed himself.

"Where are we?" Sakura asked when she looked at the rest of the hall. It was damp and musty and there were cobwebs everywhere.

"I'm not quite sure, exactly. I didn't even know this place existed. It looks like it hasn't been used in a few centuries. This is the oldest and least known part of the mansion." Xiao Lang answered. "But I've heard about these doors. They were sealed shut after the death of Clow Reed…demo…no one really knew why." He thought back to his teachings.

"Let's just do this and get it over with." Sakura mumbled to herself and pulled Xiao Lang through the door, not knowing exactly what to expect.

~~

When they were through the door they cautiously looked around but found the place deserted.

"But it's in this room! I can feel it!" Sakura protested to no one. All that was before them were old books and stacks of boxes. Xiao Lang put a hand up to her shoulder but lowered it when she flinched. He furrowed his eyebrows in self-pity.

"I'm sure it's here. It's just an item rather than a person." He suggested and walked over to a stack of boxes and heaved one down, searching through its contents. The dust from the box leapt into the air and triggered a coughing fit in Xiao Lang. It wouldn't have worried Sakura much except for the fact that when the dust settled down he was still choking and blood was coming to his hands. Sakura rushed over to him immediately.

"Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

When he finally caught his breath he looked up at her and smiled weakly, trying his best to reassure her.

"F-fine. I'm fine." He managed. Obviously the spell placed upon his house was beginning to work it's magic on him as well. Though he didn't convince Sakura of his safety, he went back to his search.

He flipped through the pages of the first books he pulled out of his box, while Sakura rummaged through a few open boxes. They turned up nothing.

Hundreds of boxes and books later they still didn't seem to be any closer. Syaoran had had another coughing fit and was forced by Sakura to lie down, while she kept looking. As she reached for another book she felt a wave of nausea come over her and realized that the spell must be working on her too. She fought the nausea and returned to her search. Suddenly an idea came to her. She stood up quickly, but much too quickly and her knees buckled.

"Oh…that wasn't good." She mumbled and once more got to her feet, only this time she went much slower. Once she was steady on her feet she closed her eyes and concentrated on the magic. As she walked around the room she felt the magic increase and decrease. She followed the magic until she could go no further and found herself facing an old bookcase hidden in the shadows.

"It's here somewhere." She whispered to herself and began to feverously tear books from the shelf. In a matter of minutes she had demolished the bottom five rows and was moving to the next one when a small box, roughly the size of the Clow book, caught her eye. She pulled the box off the shelf and walked over to where Xiao Lang was sitting.

"You found it?" he asked, his voice getting weaker and weaker. She nodded and turned to the box. It was delicately carved and had a small lock sealing the lid closed. Though the lock might've been very powerful and strong in the past, it was worn away and brittle and whatever magic was holding it shut was clearly gone by now. With a quick effortless swipe, Xiao Lang aimed his sword at the lock but it didn't budge. It still had one last defense.

Sakura picked up the box and drew it close to her face, studying the lock. She held up her key and compared the two. Slowly, she began to put her key into the lock. When she met no resistance she turned the key and the lock popped open and crumbled to the floor.

She lifted the lid and found herself gazing at a small doll made out of delicate china.

Its slim figure was wrapped in a form hugging Chinese red dress. Her hands were cupped together holding the tiniest cherry blossom and her face was half hidden by flowing black hair. Though the woman looked Chinese at first glance, her eyes and her smile were Japanese. Sakura lifted the china doll out of the box carefully and a note fell to the floor.

"I've seen that look somewhere." She said aloud as Xiao Lang bent over to pick up the letter. While Sakura tried to remember who the doll reminded her of, Xiao Lang read the note to himself.

"Listen to this." He tapped Sakura on the shoulder when he had finished reading the note. He began to read the note to her aloud.

To my beloved Clow Reed.

Though we are happy together we will never forgive the pains you and your mistress put us through. Over the many years you and Nadeshiko have been a constant source of pain to us. It is now our turn to repay you for all the hurt you caused us. Nadeshiko will regret the day she said no to Jing and I. It will all work out in the end. Your descendants will suffer from the plague inside this doll when our spirits are reincarnated. You aren't the only one with magic. It will be the downfall of the Clow Reed magicians. That will be the last time you mess with me. Too bad you wont be around long enough to read this.

Lei Chan and Jing Mi

"Lei?" Sakura asked, confused. "As in Lei Miorai? And Jing Chan?"

"I guess that's who the reincarnations are… though they came a generation late to affect Clow reed's other reincarnation. I'm surprised they never went after Eriol." Xiao Lang answered. "Your mother must have been Nadeshiko's reincarnation." He added.

"It doesn't really matter now though. At least now I recognize the doll it looks remarkably like lei. She's so beautiful." Sakura exclaimed honestly. She never really hated Lei, it's just that the girl often annoyed her. "They are the reincarnations, right?" she looked over her shoulder at Xiao Lang.

"Maybe. But when I met them I thought they kind of looked like they hated each other. But a lot of strange things happened when they were mad. Like those earthquakes." He answered as best as he could.

"I saw them together a lot a few weeks before you left." Sakura mentioned helpfully.

"That's when my family began to get sick. They didn't notice it that much until a week or two later then they called me." He began to cough but it wasn't as bad as his other coughing fits. This time there was no blood but he sounded like he was in a tremendous amount of pain.

"How do we stop it?" Sakura asked over the coughing. When he finally regained his breath he answered.

"Break the doll?" he offered with a casual shrug. Sakura picked up the doll and threw it as hard as she could against the wall but it only bounced back unharmed. Surprised, Sakura walked over to the statue and began smashing her wand violently against the doll. Nothing happened.

"Break!" she screamed. She didn't like knowing there were people suffering while she could do something. Especially when it was Syaoran and his family. Nothing he ever did deserved this. "You stupid doll! Break!!" nothing she did harmed the china figurine. She began to cry but she didn't give up.

"Shush." Syaoran hushed her and put his arms around hers, stopping her from hurting herself. He knew why she was crying. "It's ok. We'll find another way. It won't end this way, I promise." She dropped her wand and collapsed in his embrace. He held her tightly and let her cry into his shoulder. When her sobs had died down a bit she lifted her head.

"You've made promises before…" she trailed off. He winced but didn't withdraw his arms.

"I won't go down without a fight." He whispered. Even though it was a serious moment, he couldn't help feeling like having her in his arms was right, however he still wasn't sure if she forgave him.

"Maybe there's something else in the box that we missed." She sniffed one last time and moved out of his arms. Instantly she felt cold and alone, but ignored the feeling, turning her attention to the box that was lying, discarded, on the floor. She lifted it and noticed that there was a small rectangle unoccupied by dust on which she assumed there was something else. She walked quickly over to the bookcase and found a small envelope on the floor that matched the size of the rectangle on the box. She went back to Syaoran and opened it.

Dear Sakura,

I anticipated that you'd find the key to open the box and discover the curse. I couldn't open the box but I eventually developed a card to eliminate the magic against me. I couldn't, however, use it because of the magic blocking me from opening the box. If you were able to open the box then you need to find the card. It's the only thing that may be able to destroy the black magic.

She read the letter aloud and sighed.

"We have to find something else?" Syaoran whined.

"I guess so" Sakura shrugged in response. She didn't know how Syaoran was going to survive until the uncovered the second magic item and she didn't know if she could do this without him by her side. She also couldn't have him dying before she found it in her heart to forgive him. She knew that she wouldn't be able to live with herself to know he had died with out her forgiveness. She had to find that card…everything depended on that one card…

To Be Continued...