When Dreams Failed
By: Sakura aka Michelle
Chapter 4

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Syaoran remained standing outside the corridor as the elder brother slammed the door right in front of him after he had pulled his grinning sister into the house. Syaoran almost laughed out loud when the sister dared to spare another of her mischievous wink at him, despite her brother’s warning. Luckily, he managed to cover his laughter with a stifled choke.

Somehow, Syaoran felt that he was much closer to Sakura now that she had opened up to him. In fact, he was surprised when she blurted out her family’s history to him at the park. He was not expecting it and for a moment, he did not know how to respond to it, fearing that he might somehow say the wrong thing.

“Syaoran-sama?” His elderly butler called, interrupting his thoughts for which he was glad of.

He stepped into his rented apartment and Wei stood by the side to let him pass before closing the door behind him. Syaoran took a look at his butler and knew something was wrong from the worried expression on his face. Wei had been attending to him since he was young and he was like a father to him. They were very close and Syaoran knew everything about Wei as did Wei knew everything about him, though he kept a respectful distance towards his young charge. After all, his young charge was the future leader of the renowned Li Clan.

“Is something wrong?” He asked as he sat down on the sofa in the living room with a tired sigh. It was a stressful thing to be having dinner under the direct scrutiny of somebody who disliked you tremendously. “I presumed Mother called?”

Wei nodded, his expression solemn. “I am afraid that there is more bad news for you, Syaoran-sama.”

Syaoran leaned his head against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes, as if he was mentally preparing himself for something bad that was going to happen. “They are not going to strip me of my position in Li Clan, aren’t they?”

“Li-sama merely stated that the Elders are getting impatient. In addition, there are many cases of weird sightings in Tomoeda this few days. You are to investigate about this and report back to them about your findings within a week,” Wei replied dutifully.

“That’s all?” Syaoran asked, opening his left eye to peer at his butler expecting more bad news coming out.

Wei pulled the collar of his starched uniform and shifted uncomfortably. Evidently, he was in distress about something. “The Elders also gave you one week to fulfill the objective of your mission. Should you fail to do so…” he paused for a significant moment. “Failing to do so will result in a re-election of the next suitable candidate for the leader of the Li Clan.”

Syaoran cursed aloud and Wei winced, not used to his young charge using vulgarities. I should have expected this to happen. Two months is already far too long for their expectations. I don’t have much time to lose! Syaoran had treasured his position as the future leader of the Li Clan. That was the only thing that related him to his father. He had felt that it was the best thing that his father had left for him before going to the other world.

One problem existed that prevented him from continuing his mission; he had somehow misplaced the photograph of the lady that he was supposed to locate and he had no memory of how she looked like though he was absolutely sure he had taken a good long look at the photograph before. Reluctantly, Syaoran pushed himself out of the sofa and went to the phone, intending to call the Li Clan to send the photograph to him again.

The phone on the other side was picked up almost immediately, much to Syaoran’s surprise.

“Hello, Li residence,” a girly voice sounded and Syaoran almost groaned aloud upon recognizing the owner of that sound that he most wanted to avoid.

Meiling!? Of all the people who can pick up the phone, why her?

“Meiling, this is Syaoran,” he started, bracing himself for some girlish chatter he knew was bound to come his way if he gave her some chance to talk. He hurried on to continue his sentence before his cousin could cut him off. “I need to speak to my mother. It is urgent.”

“Yes sure! Of course!” Meiling exclaimed. “One question though before I send someone for Aunt; why did you take so long to call me? You are my future husband and I have the right to know where you are and what you are doing. The Clan only mentioned that you are away for some mission. You know that I will be worried!”

“Let me clarify some facts with you,” Syaoran started, trying to control his mounting anger. “Firstly, I am not your future husband for goodness sake. That is something that you have made up yourself; I play no part in your future except for the fact that I am your cousin. Nothing more than that. Secondly, my mission is not your concern. There is a reason for not telling the whole world that I am on a mission!”

Meiling gasped at his sharp words and lapsed into a long silence before she could talk again. Syaoran heard her sniff before she left to send a servant to get his mother on the line.

“Is there something wrong?” his mother voice reached him a minute later. Syaoran was immensely relieved though it did not show in his voice.

“I need the photograph of the lady I am supposed to find; I lost it somehow and have no memory of the lady,” he explained. “I even forgot the name of the lady.”

There was a long pause on the other side and Syaoran thought that his mother had hung up on him. “That means you have already found that lady in question!” his mother told him. “She has somehow erased that memory from you. This news is going to pique the interest of the Elders!”

Annoyed that he was unable to see what will interest the Elders, Syaoran asked, “I doubt the Elders will be interested in anything except that the future leader of the Li Clan had to excel in everything.”

Yelan chuckled, understanding her son’s dislike of the Elders who were constantly issuing difficult challenges and tasks for her son. “Son, this means that this lady whom we are looking for is as talented as the rest of the Li Clan. If not, how can she erase part of your memory without you knowing. Not to mention the fact that you are magically trained to resist all sorts of magic forces.”

It was Syaoran’s turn to lapse into silence. Somehow, his mother’s words made sense to him. I remembered clearly that I have seen the photograph so there was no reason for me to forget how the lady looks like at all! Unless somebody has done something to me! I am so definitely going to find the culprit.

“Nevertheless,” Syaoran continued. “I need the name and the photograph of the lady.”

“Of course, though you have to keep up your guard if you wish to complete the mission within the time limit given by the Elders; they are not going to wait forever.”

“The name please,” Syaoran insisted.

Syaoran could hear his mother sigh. “The lady’s name is Kinomoto Sakura.”

Kinomoto Sakura? Sounds very familiar to me… Syaoran thought. “Is there anything more that I should know?”

Another sigh. “There are several sightings of evil monsters in Tomoeda though they were settled pretty quickly by someone whom we did not have any information on. These evil monsters are only active at night. They are not as many as those over here in Hong Kong but the numbers here are still manageable by our forces. You have to find this person and I am pretty sure that this person is the same as the lady you are looking for.”

“That is a lot of new information,” Syaoran commented dryly. “And to think that the Elders are trying to keep certain information away from me.”

Suddenly, Syaoran heard a loud crash and it sounded like the breaking of the window’s glass panes as the broken glasses fell to the ground noisily. Syaoran hurriedly put down the phone and ran out to the corridor to check out what happened. All he could heard was the shuffling of the feet as more items fell to the ground with a loud resounding crash.

Syaoran banged on the door, shouting out to be heard above all the noise. That was when he felt a light stir of magic and then all traces of noise were miraculously gone. It was as if nothing had happened at all. He stood blinking outside the door of the Hiiragizawa’s rented apartment, unsure of what was happening. That was definitely magic that I felt! He reached for the door handle, thinking to open the door, but he was repelled by an invisible barrier. Something bad is going on inside!

He hurriedly reached inside his back pocket of his pants and pulled out a piece of yellow rectangular talisman and pushed it to the lock on his neighbour’s door. He was glad that there was nobody to witness what would be happening next. With his talisman on the lock and his pointing finger remaining on it, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his magical aura and poured some of it into the talisman which glowed under his influence. Three seconds later, he heard the clicking of the lock as it came undone. The talisman disintegrated immediately and Syaoran rushed in and was shocked by the scene that unveiled before him.

Indeed… Something terrible had happened.

The house was in a terrible mess; the sofa was overturned and deep scratches had made it almost unrecognizable, the television set was seen spewing smoke on the floor in bits and piece. It was as if a tornado had just passed this very house. There were deep claw marks everywhere on the walls and Syaoran shuddered at the ominous marks. What on earth happened here? A monster attack?

“Sakura?” Syaoran called out as he stepped into the house and looked about, searching for the occupants of the house. “Hiiragizawa?”

“Get out of the house!” Sakura shouted, and although her voice sounded strained, the panic in her voice was unmistakable. “Don’t come any nearer!”

It was too late for any advice to sink into Syaoran’s mind. Trained for combat, Syaoran had reacted instantly, running to the room where he guessed the voice had came from. He took in the scene before him with a shock.

The room was dimly lit, with the lamp flickering on and off. Eriol and Kaho’s crumpled forms were visible to him from the entrance of the room. Sakura was pinned to the wall by a hand, and was lifted off her feet. She was struggling to get away from her captor and also for breath. A long sword lay harmlessly on the ground beside her and it was tainted with blood and it seemed to come from Sakura’s bleeding right arm. He recognized the sword immediately but he had no time to think about such matters as a life was at stake. If he were to stand there and stare at Sakura like an idiot, she would soon be dying of suffocation. He closed his right tightly into a fist and instantly, a long sword materialized in his hand. It was similar in design as the one on the floor.

The captor, sensing Syaoran’s presence in the room, turned his head around to meet him, though his hand remained where it was on Sakura’s throat in a vice-like grip. The stranger took a quick look at the intruder and his gaze locked onto the sword Syaoran held firmly in his hand. Then recognition dawned and the stranger smiled at him and released Sakura, who lapsed into choking fits while gasping for breath.

“Well… Well,” the stranger took a step towards Syaoran, his arms outstretched. “Isn’t this Syaoran?”

Syaoran held his sword in front of him and his eyes narrowed, “How did you know my name?”

The stranger took a few steps forward and stood in the light with a smile plastered to his face. Syaoran froze and almost dropped his sword; he recognized this man who towered over him. It is impossible!

“Have you forgotten me, son?”

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To be continued…