Disclaimer: I don't own Tsubasa, I wish that I did, but Clamp does...
A/N: Hey all! I've been waiting to start up a Tsubasa fic, so here it is, enjoy!
Chapter 1: Illness Starts
Sakura yawned and rubbed her eyes while beginning to sit up in bed after her night of slumber. She felt dizzy, very dizzy. A young servant girl of about fifteen came over to her and began to undo the buttons on the back of her nightgown. Soon Sakura could feel the girl's hands massaging her back, easing any tension that may have been in her body.
"So how are you feeling today Princess?" the servant asked. It was her job to daily wake the princess and see to it that everything was alright, beyond that she wasn't required to do much. But that didn't matter to her, she cared deeply about the princess and her well-being so daily she also did many other things to care for her.
Sakura looked down for a moment. Her head was spinning but she couldn't worry this servant, no not her. "I'm just fine today, thank you for inquiring. And you, you are doing alright?" She said all of this with cheer in her voice and a smile upon her face, and it wasn't completely fake, for she couldn't not be happy with her servant there.
"I'm good as well," the servant girl replied while a small smile came upon her face. "You know I have heard that a certain person will be coming here today to see you. Perhaps you ought to go and welcome him, though he knows not that you will be expecting his coming."
"Who is this visitor?" Sakura asked with hope filling her voice. More than ever she wished that it was a boy named Syaoran, a fried of hers since childhood. But now she was beginning to feel like he was more than just a friend to her, she was in love.
The servant giggled while seeing the princess' hope. "Actually I should say that we have two visitors, Prince Eriol and that friend of yours."
"You mean Syaoran when you say that don't you?" Sakura asked while silently praying that the answer be yes.
"When I say that I do mean Syaoran," the girl said while smiling. She let one of her black locks of hair fall over her should and she began to play with it, weaving it around her fingers and such. She loved the Prince Eriol, but she also knew the rules of the Kingdom. She was forbidden to love him, it could never be, a prince was to wed a princess and a princess was to wed a prince. No, it didn't allow for a mere servant girl to be allowed to marry to royalty, nor would it allow a certain princess to marry a commoner like Syaoran, though the princess was working very hard to overcome the rule of find a nonexistent loophole in it. "Come on, stand up and let me dress you for the occasion," she said while rising and beginning to slide Princess Sakura's nightgown off of her fragile body. She admired the princess' soft skin, she wished that she could have skin like that too, but sadly she wasn't royalty and couldn't use all of the special lotions and oils of which the princess used. But as she decided before, it was useless to be jealous over her friend.
Sakura stood up and felt her nightdress' soft cotton leave her body, leaving her slightly cold in the room. "May I wear my pale blue kimono today?" Sakura asked. She knew that it wasn't often that she wore kimono, especially because she had plenty of nice dresses that her father, the King, got for her. He liked to dote upon her and the few kimono that she had were treats from him for when she might find a nice occasion to wear them.
"Actually I was thinking the lilac one might look nice, but blue it will be," the servant said while walking over to a closet and taking from a shelf within it a box. She opened the box and carefully unwrapped the beautiful kimono and all of it's splendor. She took it over to Sakura and began to dress her in it. She wrapped a deep maroon obi around her and then began the hard process of tying it. "Which color of cord do you wish for me to use?" she asked.
"Umm... the gold," Princess Sakura responded. The gold would match some of the golden threads that were stitched on the obi and kimono that made it the kimono and obi look quite splendid when the light shown on the and the threads glowed brightly. Soon she was all ready to go to down for breakfast and then to meet the prince and her love, Syaoran. She fed on a glutenous white rice using chopsticks made of jade with a gold design of a dragon at the top. "So what time are his highness and Syaoran coming?" she asked after swallowing a mouthful of the rice.
"Shortly, they should be here within an hour," responded the servant girl.
"Allow me to go and lie down before they get here then," Sakura said, she still felt very dizzy and wasn't sure how much more of it she could stand. She then stood up and felt even more dizziness coming to her, the room appeared to be spinning in circles, she couldn't keep her eyes on her servant. Before she knew it Sakura had fallen to the floor unconscious.
"Princess!" shouted her servant as she ran to where she had fallen and picked her up. Another two servants who were nearby had heard her cry and rushed in to the room, one ran out to tell the King and Queen, the other ran over and began to help lift Sakura's body and carry her over to her bedchambers and then lay her gently on the soft mattress of her bed. She then left the room, leaving it for Sakura's first, and favored, servant to take care of the unconscious princess.
"Oh Sakura," the servant girl whispered quietly, for she would certainly be punished for saying Sakura's name without the princess before it if anyone heard. She then touched Sakura's cheek, it was cold. She pulled the bedcovers up to Sakura's chin and got a small basin of hot water. She then dipped a cloth into the water and laid it on the princess' forehead. She began to cry, she just couldn't stop. Her best friend was lying there unconscious for no apparent reason and her body felt so cold. She heard the king and queen enter the room and knew that she should dry her tears but she didn't care, she just let herself cry.
"And why is it that you cry young girl?" asked the queen in a gentle voice while calmly and silently walking over to the servant. She lifted the young girl's head and used a handkerchief to dry her tears. "There is no need for you to cry, everything will be fine," she said. "Retena," she addressed one of her servants, "go and make some of our finest tea for this child." Nadeshiko smiled, she may be queen, and this may have been against prodical, but she must make her daughter's favorite servant happy again. After all, her daughter and this girl were best of friends. "Here, come here and sit down on this chair."
The servant did as she was told, now trying to stop her tears, but still having trouble with it.
"Now tell me child, what is your name?" Nadeshiko asked. If this girl was her daughter's best friend it would be best if her name was known.
"Tomoyo, my name is Tomoyo," the servant muttered while looking down at her lap.
Nadeshiko smiled. As her servant walked in with the cup of tea she handed it to Tomoyo. "Here, drink this," she said, "it will make you feel better."
"Tomoyo nodded and drank from the cup, the tea was amazing, like nothing that she had ever tasted before! "Thank you," she said to the queen.
Nadeshiko didn't respond, but rather walked over to the bedside of her daughter and began to stroke her cheek. "She feels very cool. Summon the doctor immediately," she commanded. Her servant moved as if to make leave, but the King held out his hand to stop her and walked out instead.
"I will summon the doctor," the king thought to himself. It was strange, indeed it was, that he felt the urge to personally call the doctor rather than let a servant do it as usual. He walked out of the castle and began to run down and through the courtyards until he made it to the horse stable. "Prepare my horse quickly!" he commanded the servant there and within minutes he was speeding out, over the castle bridge and then though town until he made it to where the doctor currently resided. "Good sir," he said to the doctor, "my queen requests your services. Come and take care of my daughter as she wishes."
The doctor walked out of his small house with a bag in hand and up to the king. "And what has happened to your daughter that the queen requests my services to tend to her?" he inquired.
"She has fallen ill we believe. She fainted after eating her breakfast and is now in bed, she feels much cooler than usual."
The doctor walked into his house and put some supplies into his bag and then set off with the king to the castle. Upon entrance he ushered everyone out of the princess' room and then walked in alone to perform his examination of her. Shortly afterward he walked out of the room and over to the anxious king and queen. "Her illness is strange, it is, like nothing I have ever seen before. She is shaking now, and sweat is rolling down her face, indication that she feels hot even though her body is cool. There seems to be no apparent reason for the fainting that occurred, nor for her symptoms that she has now. I'd say that she was in fine health right before she fell and without everything that's going on now she still would be.
"But can you help her or not?" asked Tomoyo, she knew that it was out of place, but she couldn't stand to hear him rambling on about her friend and not doing a thing.
"No," was the doctor's curt reply. "I know of nothing that could help her." He then walked away and left the castle.
A knock was heard, it's sound sounded down the castle hallways and reached the ears of the King, Queen and Tomoyo.
"I'll go and give them entrance," Tomoyo said and ran. She ran as fast as she could down the hallways, sobbing the whole way. She made it down to the great doors that led into the castle and yanked them open, her fury allowed her to move them to be 0the full way opened. Outside stood Prince Eriol and the commoner Syaoran.
"What is wrong?" the prince asked upon seeing Tomoyo's rage and tears.
"Princess Sakura has fallen ill and the doctor can do nothing to help her, that useless-"
"Now, now, there is no need to curse the doctor," Prince Eriol said while trying to calm the servant. "Syaoran, why don't you go to the highnesses with the message that you bear. After all that is the whole reason that you came, isn't it?"
"Yes it is," responded Syaoran, though his heart told him that it might be otherwise and that the message was only an excuse. He ran down the hallway, careful to slow down and fix his appearance before entering into the eyesight of the king and queen. "Your Highnesses," he said, "I come here with a message for you from the one that I call father." He held out a scroll and the king took it from him. "I also would like to inquire as to how the Princess is doing, I heard that she has fallen ill." Syaoran did all that was in his power to stay calm and sound like he should, but he was on the edge of temptation to just shout something like "screw the stupid rules" and then run over to Sakura and see how she was for himself. And then, for that matter, not sound so official and stupid.
"You heard correct, Sakura is ill, though doing fine otherwise," Nadeshiko responded, but little did she know that Sakura was doing nowhere near fine, that she was currently almost as far from fine as one could be, and that later she would be even farther.
A/N: Well I hope that you liked it. It was mostly an introduction to the story and next chapter there will be more action and plot and such. Please come back to read more when I update, and please review and tell me what you think! Ja ne!