Some Kind of Magic

Chapter 1

The dimly lit room deep in the bowels of the Li Clan\'s enormous and immaculate
household echoed faintly with grunts of exertion and slight hisses of in-drawn
and exhaled breaths. The twenty-by-twenty foot chamber was pretty much bare,
save for the ancient and slightly tattered emblems emblazoned with the markings
of the well-founded and respected Li family hanging near the front, the torches
lit in all four corners. . . .

And then the faintly sweating, muscular male body currently standing poised
in the center of the well-polished, hardwood floor. Slowly, fluidly, the body
moved in artless motion, never breaking stride. His bare feet shifted and
stepped perfectly, arms swaying with slow, gentle power . . . and then in a
swift movement the body spun with a slight grunt, fists positioned and executed
in a flawless cut-jab defense.

A few droplets of sweat flew off of him at the sudden force of the maneuver.
The same stuff beaded heavily along the tanned, bare upper torso and even
dripped a little off the spiky tips of the eighteen year old\'s unruly, faintly
messy oak brown hair. A few insolent little droplets even had the unmitigated
gall to slip down into the hardened pair of amber eyes that glared so
unmercifully at nothing in particular, which only made the owner\'s fierce
expression blacken further with annoyance.

After he\'d held that pose long enough, muscles straining with the effort, Li
Syaoran spun about once more, clenched fists jabbing up and out again in a
mirror of the one before. Studiously he went through all of the maneuvers and
the defenses of the fighting style that he himself had developed. His execution
was perfect, without fault . . . that is until a loud snore abruptly broke his
concentration.

With a slight cry, Syaoran stumbled slightly and then whirled about to this new
and unseen foe . . . only to stare at where his old butler Wong had fallen
asleep near the doorway. The old man sat propped against the doorjamb, head
tilted back as he let loose another loud snore. Syaoran loosened again with a
heavy sigh, glaring. He\'d been so jumpy lately . . . on edge. He couldn\'t
identify the reason, either, but it was beginning to interfere with everything
he did. First his studies, now his training. What WAS it that had him so
unsettled?

\'It\'s her birthday today . . . .\'

With a low growl Syaoran dismissed that stray, traitorous thought from his
mind. Like he gave a damn what day of the week it was in that stupid little
hovel of a town, Tomoeda, tucked away into the backwaters of that minuscule
little continent of Japan. He CERTAINLY gave no cares to anything concerning a
certain little brat of a sorceress who was so incompetent she probably couldn\'t
tie her own shoelaces without someone to guide her through it . . . with those
huge dew-green eyes that could melt ice and that heart-stopping, sweet little
smile that could make him forget his own name . . . .

The glower on his face would have made Death itself shrink back away in
fear. Syaoran stalked toward one of the far walls, footsteps intent. He DIDN\'T
CARE ABOUT HER! He HAD to stay focused!

With a loud snarl eacheached up and jerked the black ball attached to the
red tassel from around his throat. A faint grimace marring his features, Li
Syaoran called upon his inherent magic, the necklace in his hand beginning
writhe like a snake. It then suddenly enlarged with a brilliant flash, growing
and changing shape until it solidified once more into the form of an enormous
broad sword, the elaborate red tassel attached to it\'s golden hilt swinging
down wildly to his thighs.

The deadly blade audibly sliced through the air as the furious wielder swung
about, gutting and dismembering imaginary foes with a ferocity that would have
made a lesser man blanche. Cut, parry, thrust, down, swing wide, spin. Syaoran
lost himself in the moves, the anger, the desperation. So, fully intent, when
another loud noise startled him he didn\'t think, only reacted.

With another low growl he spun about and threw the sword in his hand with
all his might, aim deadly, sending it flipping end over end straight for Wong\'s
head. With a startled gasp Syaoran could only gape, for it was already too late
for him to try to stop it. Nor could he seem to form words past the lump of
shock lodged firmly in his throat, to warn the slumbering butler either.

And yet, right at the last second, Wong slowly slumped over from his sitting
position, still snoring. The blade of the sword thunked loudly into the beam of
wood where Wong\'s head had been instead, shearing off a few of the last white
hairs still clinging in desperation to the nearly bald man\'s scalp. Syaoran
could only stare.

After a few tense moments, the adrenaline still pumping furiously throughout
his frame, Syaoran finally allowed himself to loosen again. He reached up and
rubbed at his face with faintly trembling hands, swallowing with some
difficulty, still shaken with the after-effects of the scare he\'d just been
dealt. That was TOO close.

And then, all of a sudden, Syaoran jerked perfectly straight again as a
spark of awareness flared in the back of his mind. Eyes wide, he stared at
nothing as he puzzled through the alarming throb of danger that was now
coursing donto nto his lowest extremities . . . for . . . .

Syaoran whirled in that general direction then, brow furrowing with
confusion, anger . . . fear.

"Sakura?"

In the very next instant the 18 year old winked out of existence in a flurry
of golden light motes. And then a tiny slip of paper materialized in the vesamesame fashion, where the sword embedded into the wall, as if it had been
strategically placed to hold the piece of parchment in place. It\'s message was
simple, to the point, scrawled in Li Syaoran\'s own flawless, bold script.

---I\'ve gone on vacation, don\'t know when I\'ll be back. Signed, Li
Syaoran.---

Unawares Wong snored on through blissful dreams, completely oblivious.

~~*~~


Meanwhile, several hundred miles away, a young girl slowly and wearily dressed
herself for bed, her movements exhausted and her heart heavy with woes. It was
her eighteenth birthday today, by all rights she should have been ecstatic . .
. but she wasn\'t. Sakura Avalon was perfectly miserable, and she didn\'t even
really know why.

Her father and brother and friends had thrown an enormous party for her.
There had been hundreds of presents, nearly a hundred people in attendance. It
seemed like everyone she\'d ever known had shown up . . . save one.

Sakura sighed now, changing into her pale blue nightgown before trudging
over to the soft seat beneath the sill of her only bedroom window. She plopped
down into the soft cushion, staring out at the night sky beyond the glass
barrier with a pensive and pain-filled expression as thoughts drifted
aimlessly.

Her father, her older brother Tori, her best friend Madison, soft- spoken
Julian, insatiable Kero, all of her friends from school, Meilin, Ruby Moon and
so many more had come. And as a really big surprise Yue had taken over Julian\'s
body (in a back room, hidden from others), but only long enough to give her a
present and wish her a happy birthday. Even the ever elusive Eli and Spinel Sun
had shown up, flying in from England that very day to visit and wish her
well(and so Eli could see Madison, though he wouldn\'t actually admit it).
Everyone had come but the one person she\'d wanted to see more than anyone.
Everyone but HIM.

Sakura\'s attention was suddenly caught by movement below her window, and her
gaze drifted and then focused onto the slinking shadow darting now across the
darkened street. It appeared to be a stray dog of some sort, slightly raw-boned
with hunger and bristly fur . . . it even looked somewhat like a wolf. The
beast suddenly turned to look up at her while she watched, the light from a
near-by street-lamp glinting off the sunken depths of it\'s eyes like amber fire
. . . just like HIS eyes. Growing teary- eyed, Sakura allowed her forehead to
gently settle onto the cool surface of her window, her fingers slipping
slightly down as her lips trembled with emotion.

The day Li Syaoran left to go back to Hong Kong eight years ago he\'d
promised to come back someday. But that someday had never come. After he left
he\'d seemed to forget all about her and what had happened to them, what with
the Clow cards and the adventures they\'d shared. Syaoran had not contacted her
even once, and any attempts that Sakura had made to contact him were met by
run-arounds and excuses as to why he couldn\'t speak to her from his butler
Wong.

Even Meilin was at a loss as to what was going on. She merely shrugged
helplessly today when Sakura had asked of him, admitting that the moody Head of
the Li Clan had become little better than a recluse. He apparently was
near-obsessed with his studies and his martial arts training and had very
little to do with the world outside of the Clan those thi things.

Sakura was at a loss as to why Syaoran\'s rejection of their former
friendship hurt her so badly, why it cut so deep, seemed to go clear to the
bone and back. Perhaps it was because she\'d worked so HARD to get him to open
up to her when he\'d been here eight years ago, to make him let go of his stodgy
inhibitions and just be a normal ten year old boy. Sakura thought she\'d
succeeded. Apparently she\'d been wrong.

No one had really noticed her despondency today, for Sakura had tried very
hard to keep it from her features and outward demeanor. Outwardly she was happy
and cheerful and buoyant like usual. Inwardly she wanted to scream. The only
person that had seemed to notice anything even remotely amiss was Eli, who took
her aside and asked her what was wrong toward midday, blue eyes fierce and
intent. She\'d managed to ward him away with assurances that she was fine,
though his expression hadn\'t been at all convinced afterward.

She never noticed his crafty eyes narrowing with a sudden idea, or Spinel
Sun near-by who rolled his own blue-slit gaze with a loud sigh and faint groan.


Sakura tensed now, suddenly, as her whole being was abruptly filled to the
brim with a spark of awareness, a sense of danger. First her wide eyes flew to
Kero, who slept peacefully and undisturbed in his little drawer bed, then back
to the window. She tried desperately to puzzle through the alarming throb of
eminent peril that was now coursing down into her lowest extremities . . . for
. . . .

Sakura\'s eyes lifted again and locked onto the dog that still stared at her
from across the street. "Syaoran?" she whispered, voice trembling and
uncertain.

In the very next instant the 18 year old winked out of existence in a flurry
of golden light motes. And then a tiny slip of paper materialized in the very same
fashion, slowly drifting down from the air to gently settle onto her pillow.
It\'s message was simple, to the point, scrawled in Sakura Avalon\'s own loopy,
delicate handwriting.

---I\'ve gone away for a little while, and I\'m not sure when I\'ll be back.
But don\'t worry about me, I\'ll be fine. Love Sakura---

Unawares the Sun Guardian near-by grunted slightly and rolled over in his
nest of blankets, snoring on through blissful dreams.