AN:- Just a little something that has been nagging at me for a while. I tried to send it to its room, but the darned thing escaped. Woe is me. I dedicate this story to my sister, for being such a horrible git to her.
Feedback would be appreciated, and I would like readers/reviewers to send in sin-to-people suggestions. You'll know what I mean by the time this prologue is complete. Also, my Latin is still a bit dodgy. I did the nearest translation I could remember. Corrections would be appreciated, and from a wiser source.
Tally ho, my friends!
Disclaimer:- If I owned CCS, Eriol and Tomoyo would be off sucking face now. But, judging from the current state of affairs, you can tell that I don't. Plot's mine. Don't steal. I bark. I bite. Beware.
The Seven Deadly Sins of Tomoeda
.:Prologus:.
Prologus (Latin) -- n. -- 1. An introductory or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play 2. An introduction or introductory chapter, as to a novel 3. An introductory act, event or period
Hiiragizawa Eriol hummed a catchy tune as he dusted his colossal bookshelf, located in his library. Normally Ruby Moon would have done so, but after she discovered Spinel Sun's stash of romance novels (therefore being blasted repeatedly by an angry guardian; resulting in the singeing of Eriol's favourite chair), he found it was infinitely safer to clean the library himself. The high noon sun drifted in through the opening in the heavy curtains, catching dust particles floating around in the room. It was, after all, unseasonably hot in Japan for the beginning of June, and before it became too hot to do anything useful, it was decided that the mansion would have a late spring-cleaning, beginning this Sunday afternoon.
"Errrriiiiooool-sama," trilled Ruby Moon, waltzing into the room, with a dizzy Spinel Sun in her grasp. "Suppi doesn't want to test the soufflé that I made just for him!"
Spinel Sun had recovered just enough to say "That thing wants to stuff me full of sugar. It's bad enough that I was held over the mixture for thirty seconds!"
Not bothering to look at his companions, Eriol reached for a particularly thick and malodorous book, and wiped the covers clean. "Behave, Ruby Moon, Spinel. I still have to clean-" he did a quick mental count in his head. "-About two hundred books."
Nakuru sighed dramatically, flopping heavily onto a velvety plush chair. The library itself was impressive (even more so for a private one), with a rich oak panelling, and several soft cushions littered around, in case one found a particularly captivating piece of literature, and just had to cease all work in order to mentally digest it.
"Eriol-sama," questioned Nakuru, slightly more subdued. "Wouldn't it be easier to use magic to clean that?" She waved her hand vaguely at the bookshelf; Spinel Sun still in her clutches.
Replacing the literature, Eriol shook his head, this time wandering over to an ancient globe, idly spinning it. "Iie, that wouldn't work. Over half of the components in this library are magical; most of which contain a spell of some sort. Enchantments, bindings, charms, curses and hexes – they're just waiting for a magical trigger to set them off. Very interesting really, I should get round to investigating them all…" Instead of doing so, he wiped three weeks worth of grime off of Africa and part of North America.
Nakuru looked positively thrilled. "And you trusted me with all of this?" The hold on the small creature must have slackened, for in that instant Spinel Sun shot up onto the ceiling fan, silently gloating his escape to the hyper guardian below. Nakuru was oblivious to this; something that Spinel Sun felt should be changed.
"He trusted you with this, baka, because he was perfectly aware that you don't stick around long enough to finish the job. You usually end up chasing after me before you even get to the magical objects." It was true, admitted Eriol to himself, as he watched Nakuru shout obscenities at his other creation currently wedged between the (motionless) blades of the fan. Nakuru inevitably found more pleasure in torturing Spinel Sun than manual labour.
"Are you sure you want to stay up there Suppi? You can come down and we can eat lovely sweets!"
Absorbed in reading an old spell for hair removal, Eriol distinctly heard Spinel Sun say something like he would rather face one of the spells in those books than come anywhere near her. Nakuru was more than happy to come up there and get him herself.
"Ready or not, here I come!" With an almighty roar, she leapt from the chair she was previously sat in, and grabbed for Spinel Sun-
-Missing completely and crashing face-first into an untidy stack of leather-backed books, scattering them in all directions. Growling, she was on her feet in a flash, ready for round two. Transforming, she was enveloped in a flash of light and became Ruby Moon.
"Suuupppppiii," she trilled again, spreading her wings amidst the literature. "Here I come!" Floating up so she was eye level with Spinel Sun, she reached out a hand for him-
-And recoiled immediately when a bean of pink energy narrowly missed her thumb; instead smashing into a large tapestry hung on the wall. Ruby Moon looked shocked, then grinned. "Two can play at that game." She conjured up her bow and an arrow, nocking it and aiming at Spinel Sun. Letting loose, Spinel Sun ducked, feeling the slight graze of the arrow as it whizzed past his scalp, colliding with the wall and ricocheting off it.
Eriol was slightly concerned when Ruby Moon's arrow shot through his reading material, effectively skewering it to a mahogany table in front of him. Raising a perfectly shaped dark eyebrow, he turned to face his friends, ready to scold them.
"Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun, stop that at once. I don't want centuries worth of magic destroyed in a single afternoon."
The warning fell upon deaf ears, as Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun continued to shoot arrows and energy at one another. Eriol was even more bothered when Spinel Sun decided to also transform, placing him at equals to Ruby Moon.
The large, panther-like creature looked incredibly annoyed, and opened his mouth wide. Ruby Moon was too busy having a mental celebration (she had succeeded in pulling his tail hard enough to make him yelp) to notice the impressive power being summoned by Spinel Sun.
However, Eriol did notice. "Spinel, calm down at once," he commanded. Too late. The beam of pink energy exited Spinel Sun's mouth, straight for Ruby Moon.
"Ruby Moon," Eriol called. With her back still to Spinel Sun, she shot down in front of Eriol, the beam missing her completely, instead hitting a tiny wooden casket.
Eriol had a look of shock upon his face, as he slowly walked over to the chest.
Transforming back to his smaller form, Spinel Sun flew over in the path of where his master was going. "Eriol-sama, I didn't mean to…"
He was silenced by a wave of his master's hand. Eriol was too busy making his way to the (now glowing) box; seemingly transfixed by it. "Spinel …" he said, hypnotized. "What have you done…"
--
In the middle of Tomoeda, a lone trio of teenagers were located on the swings at Penguin Park, eating ice cream. Well, not quite. To be precise, a lone trio of teenagers and something that closely resembled a yellow stuffed toy were eating ice cream.
"Sakura-chan," said one of the teenagers. "I think Kero-chan wants some of your ice cream." A small giggle, and the unmistakable sight of an angry Li Syaoran followed this statement.
"Hands off, stuffed toy. I bought those ice creams for Daidouji-san and Sakura-chan. Not you."
Tomoyo refrained herself from pointing out that he also bought ice cream for said stuffed toy, thanks to Sakura (albeit it was inhaled whole in approximately three seconds). Instead, she contented herself with licking the sides of her own vanilla cone, and staring at the greedy Kero-chan, the red Li-kun and the frustrated Sakura-chan. Allowing a small smile to grace her lips, she tilted backwards and stared at the cloudless blue sky about her. The day was perfect, if not a little hot. No serious magical activities had taken place recently (Kero-chan had set a combination of the sweet card and the big card on a rampage though Tomoeda three weeks ago); Li-kun had come back from China (to be greeted by the world's largest chocolate parfait), along with Hiiragizawa-kun plus guardians (Akizuki-san had promptly flung Spinel-san head-first into the sweet treat). Everybody was ecstatic about the surprise visit ("Touya-kun! Did you miss me? I missed you! Did you get my letters? And the cards? And the chocolate?"), and hoped that they would stay ("Get away from me Akizuki!"). However, that question remained to be answered yet.
"I got sick of them fighting over my ice cream, so I let them have it." Sakura sat in the seat of the swing next to Tomoyo and began to rock back and forth.
Tomoyo smiled; her best friend's happiness was her happiness, after all. And Sakura-chan was happiest with Li-kun. Tomoyo was happy for her, really, she was.
But where did she stand with Sakura now? It was strange, after Li-kun came back to Tomoeda Tomoyo didn't know what to do about her feelingsfor Sakura, or how to act upon them. Right now, she was somewhere in the middle ground; just waiting for the deciding factor that would tell her where she stood. And she didn't like it.
Tomoyo would be left to ponder these slightly depressing thoughts if Sakura didn't bolt up from the swing, as if she had been electrocuted. Pausing just long enough to yell to Tomoyo "There's magical trouble, come on!" the Card Mistress raced to Syaoran and Kero, broke them apart with a smack to their heads, and whipped out her Star Key. Holding it in before of her, she chanted her incantation:-
"Hoshi no chikara o himeshi kagi yo!
Shin no sugata o ware no mae ni shimese.
Keiyaku no moto Sakura ga meijiru.
Release!"
Transforming it from the Star Key to the Star Wand, Sakura pulled a Sakura card out from her pocket, thrust the Star Wand in front of it and shouted out "Fly!" Immediately taking effect, wings sprouted from the top of the staff and Sakura hopped on.
"Come on, Tomoyo-chan, Syaoran-kun!"
Clambering somewhat awkwardly onto the larger form of Kero, Tomoyo watched as Syaoran sat on the staff besides Sakura. "Do you know what's wrong, Kero-chan?"
Spreading his mighty wings, he nodded his head. "Hai, Tomoyo-chan. There's been a strong magical seal broken, and it seems to be coming from Eriol's house."
Tomoyo was bewildered. Hiiragizawa-kun? What's he up to now…
"Sakura-chan," called Syaoran. "You might want to use the Illusion card. People will get suspicious if they see us flying in broad daylight."
Pausing in mid-hover, a large drop of sweat softly rolled down Sakura's head. "Hoe…" she said sheepishly. "I guess I forgot."
"Yuki," said Kinomoto Touya, stretched out on the couch, his head rested comfortably on a cushion. Despite his loss of power, the twenty-three year old still had an uncanny talent for figuring out when something wasn't right with the world. Right now, Touya and his best friend Tsukishiro Yukito were in the Kinomoto household, hanging out. Touya was currently located on the couch, channel surfing, whilst Yukito was preparing a large sandwich ('Sandwich' might have been the wrong term to use; the snack he was making was roughly the size of an eighteen-inch car tyre).
"Yuki," said Touya again. "I think something's wrong." Again Yukito didn't answer. "Yuki?" He twisted up and peered over the couch, looking for his friend, supposedly standing in the kitchen. Except standing in the kitchen was Yue, newly transformed and staring at the ceiling with an intensity to burn through it.
"There is a leak of power. My mistress could be in danger. It is coming from the Hiiragizawa Mansion." And with that eloquent speech, he spread his massive wings and soared out of the front door, flying too fast for the human eye to see.
Touya blinked twice at this sudden turn of events. Making a quick decision he grabbed his motorcycle keys and headed out the front door to follow Yue.
"That stupid Hiiragizawa better not have hurt my little sister," he growled threateningly, slamming the door on the way out.
--
Five minutes later, Kinomoto Fujitaka would arrive home from the supermarket, wondering how an explosion of bread, cheese and assorted deli meats ended up on his kitchen floor.
--
Eriol was just sure that the box was calling out to him. Open me… you know you want to… The strange radiance discharging from the box had a certain … allure that made him want to examine the box. A tiny little voice in his mind told him that it would be a very stupid thing to do, opening a magical box that could very well turn the whole of Tomoeda into slugs, snails or puppy dog tails (Clow Reed had once unknowingly activated a magical hex, sent to him by Madoushi, no less. He later found out that transformed himself into a variety of farm animals anytime his name was said. After the ordeal, Clow became a strict vegetarian). But the tiny voice was overshadowed by the pull of the magical spell appealing to him.
"Eriol don't!" shouted Spinel Sun, aided with Nakuru's "Eriol get away from that box at once!" Lunging for their master, the two magical beings tackled him to the ground.
"What the…" Shaken out of his stupor, the magician tried to get to his feet, about to question Nakuru and Spinel Sun motives (they were currently pinning him down in the most effective way that a small animal and a hyperactive female could) when the doorbell rang.
"Suppi, get that would you?"
"I am not Suppi!" Spinel Sun went to answer the door anyway, leaving Nakuru to hold down Eriol.
"Nakuru, if you would be so kind as to release me. I rather enjoy the feeling in my legs, and unless you want your poor master to become a cripple, I suggest you remove yourself."
Nakuru shook her head firmly. "No can do Master. You tried to open that glowing box, after Suppi hit it with a beam. Who knows what it would do?"
Eriol's eyes held a strange gleam to them, one that Nakuru didn't like. "Ah yes, that chest. I wonder…"
"Master don't!" Eriol had tried to throw Nakuru off him, in vain. She clung to him like a limpet to a rock, desperate to stop him in doing something incredibly unintelligent.
"What's going on here?" asked a voice. Nakuru's eyes lit up, and in that minuscule wavering of concentration, Eriol managed to slip out from under her, and in two strides pick up the box. The newly arrived individuals wore different expressions - shock, confusion, and perhaps a hint of fear.
"Hiiragizawa, w-what are you doing?" enquired Syaoran nervously, unable to stop his voice shaking. The strange aura in the room was making him queasy, and Hiiragizawa seemed to be involved in this. Not a good combination.
Hiiragizawa ignored him (a first, declared Syaoran), and stared at the chest.
"Eriol-san," chattered Sakura, her voice unusually high. "I think you should put that box down. I don't think it's a good idea to open it. It could be dangerous."
This time, Eriol spared a glance at Sakura, and shook the wooden casket experimentally, just to show how much her words affected him.
"Hiiragizawa-kun," said Tomoyo sternly, in the 'I'm-not-going-to-take-no-for-an-answer-so-listen-to-me-before-you-lose-vital-parts-of-your-reproduction-system' voice. "Put the box down."
A whole thirty seconds were spared as Eriol shot a sceptical stare at the Daidouji heir, and said disdainfully "If you think, Daidouji-san, that for one second I am even going to consider putting down this treasure, then you are very much mistaken." He held true to his word. He opened the box.
"Hiiragizawa, you son of a-" Touya's angry protests were cut off, as a flash of bright, white light enveloped five humans, a moon guardian, an agitated creation and two small 'stuffed toys'.
--
Tomoyo's cranium felt as if someone imbecile had just been pounding it with a sledgehammer relentlessly, then turned a radio on full blast (the radio being strapped to her ears, of course), straight after her running headfirst into a solid steel door, smashing through it into a rock concert. Needless to say, she chose to keep her eyes tightly shut, regardless of the merciless poking she was receiving in the side. Growling deeply in her throat, Tomoyo shoved her fist in the direction of the poking. It ceased.
"See, Eriol-san? I told you Tomoyo-chan wouldn't appreciate being woken up."
Tomoyo perked up. That was Sakura-chan! And unless she was very much mistaken, she had just punched Hiiragizawa-kun. Opening her purple eyes very slowly, she was greeted with the sight of Sakura-chan peering inquisitively at her. Fingering her throbbing skull, Tomoyo groaned and sat up. She seemed to be seated on a couch, with several figures surrounding her. "What on earth happened here?" she mumbled, half to herself.
"It seems, Daidouji-san," commented Eriol, somewhat absorbed in looking at his arm. "That you passed out. My goodness, I'm going to have a lovely bruise."
"Thank you for stating the obvious, Hiiragizawa-kun," said Tomoyo dryly. "I meant, why did you go psychotic and open that box? I presume that's the reason I have a splitting headache right now, am I correct?"
"That bastard right there," said Touya furiously. "That freak, that retard, that … menace, he did this. The idiot went and activated a magical spell that Kami-knows-what does to you."
"Is this true, Hiiragizawa-kun?" demanded Tomoyo, staring directly at the accused. He avoided her gaze, instead choosing to examine his arm further.
"Technically speaking." He said no more on the matter.
"Technically speaking!" Touya looked ready to burst a blood vessel. "You knock out Tomoyo-san, do some crazy spell that affects us all, and that's 'technical'?"
"What I mean by 'technically speaking' is that I know exactly what the spell is."
"Tell us," ordered Syaoran, a muscle twitching in his jaw.
"That spell was an ancient one," explained Eriol. "It is Latin in origin, and very powerful. Of course, such a powerful spell will wear away eventually, so you really don't have anything to worry about…"
"Tell us," said Syaoran again, unconsciously cracking his knuckles. Eriol felt that for his personal safety, he should explain. But he could have a bit of fun first. Stalling was always fun.
"Daidouji-san," he began, enjoying the looks of frustration on both Touya and Syaoran. "How are you feeling?"
"Why did I faint?" she asked straight away, aware of Eriol's game.
Eriol pouted, seemingly heartbroken that his game was ruined, but explained all the same. "It's because you have no magic, and your system was overridden by the sudden burst of magic."
Sakura frowned. "But Onii-chan has no magic, and he stayed conscious."
Eriol nodded. "That may be so, but your brother did have magic, once upon a time. That was enough to keep him awake."
Said sibling was giving off an extraordinarily hostile aura. "If you don't explain right now, no amount of magic is going to keep you awake."
Rather disturbingly, the pestiferous sorcerer could see a comparable resemblance to how two people in the room reacted to provocation. Much as he didn't like to admit it, Eriol realised just how damaging to one's health those two people might become, even more so if they worked together.
Holding his hands out in mock surrender, Eriol rolled his eyes. "All right you win. I'll explain." Sitting down comfortably on the edge of the sofa, and clearing his throat loudly (thus increasing the vexation of two inhabitants), he started again.
"The spell is old, Latin in origin, you know that. Clow did not create it; you do not know that."
Yue rolled his eyes. "Get to the point."
Oddly enough, he did. "It's the curse of the Seven Deadly Sins. Since there was seven of us, each of us receives a sin."
"What about us, Eriol?" questioned Spinel Sun. "Do Kero and I not count?"
"Hardly. I highly doubt that a spell designed to bring out the worst in humans, is going to affect you in any way whatsoever."
Nakuru had been very quiet in all of this; she was busy sizing up Touya, contemplating on the best path to glomping him. But the last sentence had caught her attention.
"'Humans'? Erm, Eriol, Yue-san and me, well we aren't exactly human."
Noticing the extreme proximity in which Nakuru was located to him, Touya rapidly moved across the room.
Eriol was, as always, the fountain of knowledge. "Compared to Kero-chan and Spinel, which pair is more human-like?"
Nakuru pondered on this for a while. "Good point." And with that, she resumed stalking Touya.
Tomoyo thought she had the gist of it. "Ok then. You released a strong magic spell that doesn't last very long. It just so happens to be the curse of the Seven Deadly Sins. The seven of us humans each get a sin for whatever period of time. Correct?"
"Hai, Daidouji-san. I think the spell will activate the instant we're all unconscious, that is, when we go to sleep. Clearly nothing in particular is going to happen then, so we can say that when we next wake up, we'll have a 'gift' (and I use that in the loosest sense of the word) of a sin."
Sakura was unsure about one thing. "Eriol-san, why did you open the box in the first place?"
"Blame Spinel, he activated it. Once awakened, it will lure the strongest and closest magic user it can find into emancipating the spell."
Keeping one eye on Nakuru, and the other on Eriol, Touya had just one thing to say. "If each of us gets a sin, I just hope I'm not the one who gets Lust."
AN:- So, who will be the lucky one who will get lust (cackle)? Or, for that matter, the other six (pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony)? You tell me! Plot twists would also be nice (:.
Yours until vampires turn vegetarian,
.:VampirePeaches:.