Summary: He's been searching for her for over 200 years. He doesn't remember her face, nor does he remember her name. He doesn't even know whether she's alive, or dead. But he continues to walk this cursed path just for her. AU
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura
From My Reflection of You
Chapter 1. the soul reader
"I vaguely remember… that I should not have reached out towards her. I could not…"
The sun had set earlier than usual today. And air was oddly more humid than usual, and getting more so by the minute. It was getting hard to breath, but then again, he always felt like that despite how the weather was. His breathing slowed down as he watched one by one the windows in front of him come to life. He sat on a branch of the large oak tree that was just beside the large mansion's concrete fence. Swinging his feet, he swiftly jumped down noiselessly, and landed in a crouch.
"I'll be right back." His quiet whisper was picked up by the wind and flew towards the man that he had been sitting beside since this morning. His glasses gleamed under the light of the flickering candles, and he smiled eerily.
"Of course."
He ran with ease, his long, powerful legs carrying him further among the field of flowers that danced along with the wind in his presence. He brought his hand up and adjusted the mask that covered his lower face. Leaning on the wall, he carefully looked around the corner, and seeing no one, he made his way towards the wooden door. It opened easily and silently, yielding to him completely, and shut behind him with a click. The corridor was dark, and only dimly lit by candles that sporadically hung from the ceiling. But this was perfect for him.
He quickly walked down the corridor with great stealth, and made a turn to his right at an intersection and continued his way. He had long since memorized the blueprint of this house so he travelled the halls like he had been living there for ages. His eyes darkened as he stopped in front of a pair of wooden doors. He went in without a moment's hesitation. It was just his luck that today the family that lived here were going out to attend a banquet so there were a few number of people around, save for maybe just where they kept all their valuables. But apparently that wasn't what he was going for. On this high level and, supposedly, dangerous job, his client had ordered him to locate a book and take it back with him. Although he wasn't complaining, for an easy job, he was getting well paid after all.
The library was large, and even had another level that was connected by a swirling staircase. According to his client, the book would be on the second level. He made his way up. He could've taken his time with the books, since no one was going to be going to the library in the middle of the night to clean, or read, but he's been watching staking out at the house since this morning and he didn't want to stay here any longer. He skimmed the shelves of the second floor, a bit happy that it wasn't as large as the first. The dark didn't bother him at first, but when his eyes began to ache, he sighed and reached into his pockets to bring out a small black tube. Pushing the light at the back, it emitted an eerie yellow glow. Scowling, he almost felt like slamming it into the books but restrained himself. Eriol must have changed the settings on his night light so that it wouldn't shine a beam of light, but glow instead. The glow didn't help much, but at least it lit up the room inconspicuously.
He finally found the book after looking through shelves, and shelves of books, and idly wondered at the back of his mind how this book was so valuable to his client, when here in this shelf, it was just an ordinary book. He let the yellow glow glide over the cover, and the book's title glinted back at him. It was a light silver metallic colour that gleamed under the light, and its curvy elegant font read 'The Soul Reader'. Other than that, the cover was plain with only black as its background. He tucked the small book in his front pocket and turned around to leave when he smelt a whiff of strawberries and vanilla. It was odd that this old dusty library smelt so fresh and nice. Why didn't he smell this on his way in? Why hadn't he noticed?
He made his way towards the railing that looked down onto the first floor but didn't see anything after he put away the small tube to hide himself. The bookshelves at the bottom were arranged in a complicated pattern that almost resembled a maze, and he probably would have gotten lost if the bookshelves to his right didn't create a straight line to the second floor.
And then a shadow fell down from ceiling, swinging off the pole from his left that pointed out from the railing that was holding out some kind of flag, and when the shadow's body moved up, right in front of him, snatched the book away from his front pocket easily and with another swing, fell down to the shelves below. Although he, or she, fell down on the shelves a bit too loudly, more like crashing, and teetered to the side and fell again, this time off the shelf and onto the ground. Books fell onto the ground as the shadow attempted to stop falling by grabbing the shelves but instead, books fell on top of the body when it landed.
Syaoran wasted no time going after the culprit that stole his book. He jumped off the second level, landing much more quietly, and right next to the pile of unmoving books. He took a step towards the pile, eyeing the unmoving hand that was lying on top of a book. The rest of the body was hidden under the books. The hand twitched. He tensed. The shadow burst up, and sat up straight breathing heavily, not seeming to notice him yet. The shadow's short hair was in a complete mess from the fall, and Syaoran noticed that there was nothing to covering his, or her, face. The heavy breathing stopped. Dark green eyes slid to his. It was a female.
They both froze, staring each other in complete silence, well aware that the slightest move would initiate the other to attack. He didn't understand but goose bumps began forming on the back of his neck, and he started sweating. And then she smiled, with just the slightest tilt of her lips.
"Checkmate." Her lilting, smooth voice wrapped itself around him almost pinning him to the ground. All his instincts told him to stay where he was. But he lunged towards her instead. He wasn't able to catch her, instead, she flipped into the air with her feet kicking several books in his direction, and landed elegantly in front of the pile of books, a big contrast to what happened moments ago. He dodged the books easily enough and chased after her as she turned a corner and disappeared. He turned the corner, listening to the sound of her footsteps.
All of his senses were going haywire. He couldn't concentrate clearly, and all his instincts were telling him to stop chasing her. He didn't understand. There was no reason why he wouldn't chase after she pulled that stunt. Even his heart was beating at a rapid rate, pounding so loudly and hard in his chest that he felt a slight ache. He shook his head. His mind was beginning to grow foggy.
She disappeared behind another corner. He followed her. Turning the corner sharply, he couldn't see her anymore so he continued on cautiously. And then the sound of her footsteps also disappeared. Pulling his eyebrows together, he turned another corner to where he last heard her footsteps. She stood there, her back to him and standing in front of a book shelf silently. It was somewhat surprising the way she stood so still, because it wasn't a dead end. She could've quickly made a turned to her right to escape, but she continued to stand there. This was his perfect chance to strike and get the book back, but his feet stopped moving, pausing just three feet away from her. She noticed his presence from the way her shoulders tensed when he approached, although she didn't move.
She turned around and faced him; the small book was open in her hand. Syaoran narrowed his eyes at her.
"If you give me the book, I'll let you go." He took a small step towards her and held his hand out. She looked at him blankly. She closed the book with a loud snap and tucked it into her bag without averting her eyes away from him. Then she smiled at him the same way as before, as if she had already claimed victory when it hadn't ended yet, with slightest tilt of her lips.
"Who said anything about that?" She tilted her head to the side, her hair falling over gently and gazed at him almost innocently. "Do you know the contents of the book?"
Thrown off balance by the random question, his hand dropped back to his side as he perused her. Her hair was in a bob cut with so many layers that locks of her hair stuck out at random directions, and her bangs went across her forehead, slightly parted to the left. Her eyebrows were perfectly arched which went well with her sharp eyes. She was at least a head shorter than him, and she wore a cloak as she eyed him back. The other corner of her lips tilted upwards.
"Studying?" She asked in a breathy whisper. "I asked if you know what this book is about." Her voice came out harshly and cold, oddly out of place with the way she had crashed into the book shelf earlier. He didn't know whether he should reply to her or not. And then he surprised himself when he opened his mouth.
"No. Give me the book."
She looked at him in an uncanny manner. "No."
The space behind him exploded. He turned around. Bookshelves were toppled over and the flames licked at the hardwood floor. Books were strewn across the floor in a careless manner as a replacement for gasoline to help the fire burn. Another explosion. And then a shadow ran out from the flames completely unhurt and knocked over more bookshelves as if irritated.
"Thanks, Asa!" The female voice behind him did a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn when her voice turned cheerful and friendly as she called out to the shadow. He slowly turned around, and saw she had turned her head in the direction of the angrily pushed bookshelves but he couldn't see her face clearly when her auburn hair covered the side of her face.
"Just hurry up already!" The brash male voice called out irritably and hurried towards the exit without helping the female that had called out to him. She turned back towards him; the flickering of the fire behind them cast an eerie glow onto her face as she smiled at him. He took a step towards her. She took a step back, hitting the shelf behind her.
"Sakki," she stated. He didn't understand. But his heart was pounding in his chest, wanting to burst open. A trickle of sweat rolled down his cheek and he didn't know if it was from the heat, but he felt nervous. People were screaming in the background, growing louder by the second, but he couldn't hear their exact words. His ears started ringing and he could barely make out her next words. "Why don't you come and find me if you make it out alive?"
His vision began swimming and a blanket of darkness wrapped itself around him.
She swung her feet back and forth from where she sat at the edge of the cart, happily watching the scene in front of her slowly fade away. The cart rose in the air for a split second when the wheels rolled over a bump in the dirt road, and landed back down, shaking, making her hair bounce up and down. She laughed quietly with an imperceptible tilt of her head, it was infectious and melodic. Her laugh and the scene before her. Wisps of flames brushed against the sky, its fingertips desperately reaching towards the blanket of oblivion only to fade away and being replaced by a transparent cloud that she could barely see in the night sky. The flames cackled, and the sound of the cracking wood echoed through the empty dirt path which only held a dainty cart. The witnesses to this were the moon and stars above that shined and twinkled down at them in vain. It was beautiful, in its own twisted way.
She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, parting her lips and letting the affable wind caress her face. And then she sighed, turning her head and watched as the bulky man lying down next to her sleep peacefully. Her eyes traced the light scar that ran from the corner of his forehead to his cheeks half way, going across his nose, right next to his eye. She brought her legs up from the edge and hugged them to her chest while she stared at him. It was getting cold tonight despite the earlier humidity. Asa suddenly snored loudly making her laugh again, except this time shorter. She fell back, lying next to him with her hands folded on her stomach.
She silently recalled the earlier events that had happened. For the past week, her little agency that consisted of just four people had been running low on money since finding missing children and lost items had never been that easy, so she had to resort to their last type of job, which was high class and dangerous, but strangely easier to complete compared to finding lost items. These clients were always wealthy, and being the poor people that they were, one job from them would usually last them an entire month before they began scraping at the edges with the small odd jobs that they were able to find. And to think that they were supposed to be a detective agency. They were quite the failure. So being cold and hungry, Asa decided to take matters into his own hands and went in search for a wealthy client in those obscure places like he does every other time. Their client was a small, old man that spoke to them very politely, which was very odd since this little man had just been doing a deal in the black market moments before Asa found him. His request was simple. To steal a book titled 'The Soul Reader' and burn the library down, which indirectly stated to burn the house down, but they just did what they were told. Sometimes they had to do dirty jobs like this in order to survive. Although some didn't care either way, she didn't find it really appealing. Finding missing children were so much better, because they were usually so happy to see you. Usually.
So both Asa and she snuck into the house in search of the book. While he prepared to burn the place down and she went looking for the book, the most surprising thing was that another person had appeared moments later and was also looking for the book. She could tell that he was well built despite his lanky form as he ascended the stairs and skimmed the contents on the shelves as she hid inconspicuously on top of a shelf which she couldn't understand how she had gotten up there so quietly. And when he finally noticed the presence of another being after finding the book, she had, with break neck speed, and feeling slightly suicidal all the same, jumped over him, aiming for that pole that obtrusively hung from the railing. She could've of missed, and died, but luckily managed to hang on, swing herself around to grab that darn book that he had put in his front pocket, and do another swing to land more safely below. She almost did it perfectly but she landed wrong and just had to fall over the shelves, grabbing some books and pulling them down with her in the process. Buried under those books, she could have died, but she just laid there pitifully, imagining him laughing at her, and when she heard him land close to her, she knew that she was in trouble. So when he tried to get closer, she gathered up all her strength and sprang straight up from that pile.
His presence made something inside her twitch, and she had smiled sadistically at him, and for a reason she didn't know, said, 'Checkmate.' The sadistic side of her seemed to be making its grand appearance, but she didn't mind either way, since he had found the book before she had a chance to look much. So when she was running away from him, she had conveniently, and curiously, skimmed the contents of the book. But it was odd. What was in the book, that is. Sakki didn't understand, but yet she did understand.
The cart gave a violent lurch this time, flying in the air and jiggling the people in it for more than a split second this time. Asa continued snoring. A female voice began wailing like a banshee.
"I – I'm so sorry!"
Sakki looked up from where she lay, arching her back slightly to get a better view of the female that was near tears. Her dark blonde hair was neatly combed and parted to the side elegantly unlike her own. The female gazed down at her.
"Don't worry about it, Hisoka," she replied gently, smiling brightly. "If Asa didn't wake up, then you don't need to worry at all! Since he'll probably not only demand an apology from you for making him wake up, he'll probably make you do his share of the chores for the rest of the year."
She turned a few shades too pale, and faced the front again. "I'm sorry!"
"Hiso-chan, you don't need to apologize. You didn't upset anyone." A male said softly, his light voice floating through the air.
"Oh…"
"That reminds me, when is our Black Dealer going to come and collect his prize?" Sakki rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin onto both her hands to balance herself. "I'm sure he told us, but I can't seem to remember." She scrunched up her nose in concentration, and her eyes slid over to peer at Sho who was sitting next to Hisoka at the front, hugging her arm tightly. Sho turned around to look at her with his eyebrows drawn together.
"He said he'll be waiting for us at our office."
"Did he?" This time Sakki had her eyes brows drawn together as she tried to recall that little old man telling them that. Then the pieces clicked together, everything falling into place. She scrambled up to sitting beside Hisoka. "He said he'll wait for us to come back at midnight!"
"That's right." Sho replied.
"Hisoka, hurry or he'll chop our heads up!" Sakki whined, pointing directly ahead.
"Shut up, Sakki!" Asa yelled from the back and she cringed in terror.
"No, that wasn't me Asa! Don't kill me!"
His head ached terribly. It was as if someone was pounding down on his head with a sledge hammer none too gently. It didn't hurt, but it felt like a numb throb from the back of his head.
"Let us be friends!"
He opened his eyes. A small girl stared at him, holding out her hand and smiling at him as if he was a precious person that mattered a lot to her. Except that he wasn't. Her face blurred together. He couldn't make out the outline of her face, nor could he make out the colour of her skin under the glaring sun that shined at him making shadows cover her face. All he could see was her smile. He reached out towards her.
And the mirror broke, crashing onto the hard ground. The broken pieces showered all around him, making the most beautiful music he's ever heard; the sound of laughter and the running of water coming together, eluding all of his senses. It was breaking into a million pieces, shattering even more as it hit the ground, but he could still see the image of her etched into that broken mirror that lay at his feet. Even now, she was still smiling at him. In the back of his mind, he vaguely remembered that he wasn't supposed to reach out towards her. He was supposed to do something else, something else so she wouldn't leave so soon.
His headache disappeared and she left his line of vision. He frantically looked around; he didn't want her to disappear. He hadn't been able to see her in such a long time so he wanted to see her smile, even if it was just one second longer.
"It's time for you to wake up."
"Wake up, Syaoran, you idiot!"
A light pierced through his eyes mercilessly, and he screwed his eyes even tighter together. His pounding came back worse than before.
"Be quiet, Meiling," he croaked out, his voice hoarse and scratchy.
"And the prince wakes up." He opened his eyes slowly, and saw her wave her hand towards in a way to emphasize her words.
"Eriol-san found you." Another voice spoke up softly from the corner of the room where he couldn't see her, but she appeared in his vision quickly, dropping something in his eye with no warning whatsoever. He closed them in reflex. "You were out cold in the library. It was on fire so he went looking for you. When he brought you back, you were blue and cold to the bone. Syaoran-san, you were poisoned."
He rubbed his eyes furiously and sat up, leaning against the wall. The people in the room stared back at him expectantly and Tomoyo handed him a glass of water. He gratefully accepted it, taking a gulp.
"But the most important questions are who did it and stole the book?" Naoko asked, and glanced at Eriol who seemed to have dropped out and went to sleep in the chair next to her.
"Sakki," he stated simply with a sigh. "That was what she said, and that if I made it out alive, I should go and look for her."
"Well, you can tell she's incredibly confidence just from that sentence alone." Naoko analyzed, tapping her finger against her lips. "Anything else? Did she show any abilities that we should take note of? How did she look like?"
"I don't think you should be over questioning him right now, Naoko." Tomoyo paused, and then glanced at him. "Unless your throbbing headache isn't killing you right now, and you can think clearly?"
She shot him a disapproving look.
"I think I can manage." His amber eyes wandered around nonchalantly, looking every where except at Tomoyo who had her lips pursed sternly at him, but left after gathering her stuff.
"Syaoran?" Naoko called out.
"Oh, right, abilities…" He suddenly recalled the way she crashed into the book shelf and fell down. "She's nothing special from what I saw. She knows the basics of fighting, but she didn't do anything else that caught my eye."
"So this Sakki… who had no special abilities managed to poison you?"
"There was somebody else. She called him Asa."
"Asa?" Naoko's eyes widened, and then she coughed in her hand.
"Naoko?"
"No, I was just thinking of a case five years when a swordsman named Asa raided a whole village by himself, killing everyone, but he died in a fire." She looked towards Meiling who had wandered around the room, until she sat comfortably next to Syaoran on the bed. "So we have two names. Sakki and Asa. I'll see what I can find so we can get the book back. Our client won't be very happy to know that we've lost it to someone else." She got up and left, leaving Eriol sleeping on the chair.
"So Syaoran…"
"What, Meiling?"
"You were beaten by a girl."
"No, I was beaten by a pair of enemies."
"Who were both girls?"
"I'm not sure."
"Then let's assume they were both girls."
"And?"
"You were beaten by two ordinary girls."
"Meiling…"
She laughed merrily and flew out the room in a breeze, leaving him and Eriol in the room.
"I see." Eriol got up from his seat, and stretched, before looking at Syaoran sternly. "I'll ask Naoko to fix you a new training schedule. Whether that other person is a girl or not does not dismiss the fact that Wolf's Society's Leader has been defeated by merely two people and almost killed you."
He sighed irritably. And to think that he just recovered from a near death experience. His headache was just getting worse, and sadly, it was by the people around him.
"Sakki, you're going to go blind if you keep staring at that pile of papers like that." A voice from the couch reprimanded her, and it was no doubt that Sho had been staring at her the whole time.
For the past hour, or two, maybe even three, she had been staring at her very own copy of 'The Soul Reader' in the dark room with only a lone candle to light office, but the sun was already beginning to rise, shedding in the first morning rays through the windows behind her. 'The Soul Reader' was, to say the least, an incredibly interesting book. It was no wonder that that old man wanted it. So she had taken the opportunity to skim through it once again, memorize it and make her own copy after giving the Black Dealer the original one as Hisoka raced back towards their office. For just a single book, the little old man had been incredibly happy, and gave them a large sum of money. She sighed, taking the papers and shoving them in her one of her drawers.
"I know."
The street behind her began bustling quietly as people were beginning to wake up and making their way to work, or already opening their shops up. She leaned back against her chair and rubbed her eyes. Ever since they had arrived here, Asa had made an immediate beeline to his room while Hisoka and Sho had wandered about, waiting for her to finish up the deal. Afterwards, Hisoka also rushed back towards her room with a polite good night, but Sho seemed to have decided to stay here instead of going to sleep to stare at her.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Sakki asked, brushing away a lock of auburn hair and tucking it behind her ear. "You've been like that all night. You might just faint when you try to stand up."
"Of course, but you should be sleeping too." Sho smiled brightly despite the way his eyes were beginning to droop.
"You're going to get sick."
"I'm always sick."
"That's why you need plenty of sleep," she chided gently. He rubbed the back of his head. The rays reached his face and making his face glow unhealthily, emphasizing his all too pale skin, but formed a halo around his maroon hair. "I'll wake you up in a few hours. It's still early."
"Well – " She heard a door burst open, disrupting the tranquil atmosphere between Sakki and Sho. They both looked at the door blankly, it wasn't as if this was an irregular occurrence since Asa always had the habit of slamming doors open to annoy others, or clients that left after an angry debate. But they could both tell that this time it was neither the latter, nor the former. She rubbed her temples in exhaustion and made her way out of the office to the foyer. Sho only sighed, getting comfortable on the couch and closing his eyes, leaving Sakki to deal with what was happening on the other side of the door.
What greeted her on the other side was unexpected, but she should've known that this would happen.
"Coming in without knocking implies little etiquette." She said as she watched the small group of people in front of her. They looked irritated, if not frustrated, and Sakki could easily guess why as a tall male walked forward, his unruly mass of chestnut hair triggering something in her memory.
"We've come to take the book back."
"Take it back? What makes you think you can?" She narrowed her eyes at him for belittling her agency. The she sighed loudly, and yawned at the same time. She was too tired to play games. "Well, you're too late anyways. The book is gone."
"Was stealing the book also a job for you?" This time a female spoke up. She wore round spectacles that almost covered half her face with a bob-cut that almost resembled her own, except it was shorter, with bangs covering her forehead, and much, much neater. Sakki assumed that she was their strategic tactician from her analyzing and information gathering behaviour.
"And how would me telling you change anything?"
"Your response may trigger an immediate change to our current plans; therefore, it is for our best, and your safety, to tell us all everything that you know of relating to 'The Soul Reader'."
"Oh." She blinked at them, eyeing that blue head that had yet to speak up. "Then I assure you that it is for your own safety to tell your other four eyed friend that searching my office with his mana for that book may also trigger some unwelcome reactions."
"There is no need for you to worry if what you have been telling us is the truth."
"I'm not worried," Sakki yawned again, covering her mouth. "But as I said, it may trigger some unwelcome responses. Some rather violent ones."
"Are you threatening us?" This time the tall male narrowed his eyes at her.
"Well, not me in particular, but – "
"Who the hell is searching my room?!" A loud voice boomed through the small office, and Sakki cringed, watching the mixed reactions of the group of three in front of her. The female looked towards the direction of the voice, the tall male tensed, getting ready to attack, and the four eyed male grimaced as if in pain.
"Too late," Sakki whispered under her breath. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
The four eyed male whispered something towards his little groupie, but Sakki heard him as clear as day. "Someone's pulling on my mana."
"Is that possible? Mana isn't tangible."
"They have, and are coming here right this instant."
On cue, someone, rather angrily, marched into the foyer from the corridor that was connected to all their rooms. Their hair was wild, and messy, no doubt furious from getting an early wake up call.
"The hell!" Hisoka roared as her eyes roamed the three strangers in their office. Sakki really hated it when gentle Hisoka woke up and turned into foul mouthed Hisoka. She shook her head. Blood was sure to shed. She could even hear Sho mutter behind her, 'Oh, its Soka-chan.' She almost felt sorry for that four eyed. Almost. She really did resembled Asa when she was like this. And now that her mind wandered towards Asa, she realized that he was also bound to wake up from all the noise and explode just like Hisoka had.
"You are so going to pay for waking me up," she said malevolently, taking a step towards the four eyed mage. Sakki amusedly noted that it looked like her eyes were bleeding red. She turned around when Sho spoke up, casually ignoring the racket behind her as mana flew back and forth, and chaos ensued her precious office.
"Shouldn't you stop her before Soka-chan destroys the foyer again? Hiso-chan will be so devastated when she wakes up."
"That's true." Sakki sighed, and turned back towards the scene. The female four eyed was watching the fight at the back with her jaw dropping so low that it looked dangerous. Her eyes slid over to the scene of a tall male trying to hold back Hisoka while she cat scratched him all the while battling the Mage with waves of invisible mana that could not be seen by the naked eye. Chairs toppled over, books fell down, and something seemed to be burning. She scrunched up her nose. "Okay, let's be good kids and stop fighting everyone." No one listened to her. "Guess not."
She sighed. A horrible headache was surely coming her way. There had to be another way to stop these people. She shook her head as her fingers twitched. She angled her hands in front of pelvis, palms facing opposite of each other with fingers facing outwards without touching. She swiftly pulled them apart, shaping a semi circle as if she was weaving delicate threads.
"God damn it, stop destroying my office!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, glaring at everyone in her line of vision. Sakki let out a sadistic smile when everybody stopped moving. Hisoka hissed angrily at her. "Well, not that you're all in the palm of my hands, whatever shall I do to you people?"
"Let go!" Hisoka screamed.
"No," she replied tersely, and sticking out her tongue. "Anyways. Let's be good little kids, and stop fighting, okay?" Silence. "Gosh, people never like listening to me do they?"
"Are you…" She turned towards the four eyed who spoke up but trailed off. He looked at her with concentration. "You're a Puppeteer."
"That's right."
"Puppeteer?" The tall guy inquired, looking at his friend for an explanation.
"To put it simply, a Puppeteer is a Mage that can control other people's limbs. It's a complicated process that not many Mages can achieve based on statistics." The female replied for him while Hisoka grumbled at the explanation.
"Anyways!" Why were they talking about her like she wasn't there? She clapped her hands and they all fell to the ground. "I'd say make up, and be friends, but I don't want to. The book isn't here, and if you really want to know what happened then you'll have to buy the information." She resumed business mode when she had taped their mouths shut with her mana and began the one sided negotiations. "Even though Hisoka did start the fight, four eyed Mage and tall guy did participate in it, and so all three of you should take responsibility and pay your worth. The next time you guys decide to visit, please knock politely and wait for someone to open the door for you like the mature adults you are. Don't go searching my office as you please, because, as you can see, the end result is rather humiliating." She paused, and looked at Hisoka who was giving her the glare of doom. "Hisoka, go back to sleep." Hisoka stood up, and quickly walked back towards her room as if she wasn't being controlled. Her moves were swift and natural. "I'll mail you guys the bills, the door is that way." Sakki turned around to go back into the office, releasing her hold on them.
"Wait!"
She paused, and peered back at them.
"We can… we can talk this over calmly." The tall male said grudgingly while getting up.
"There's nothing to talk about. I told you everything already."
"Can't you just tell us what happened to the book?"
"In my world, everything comes with a price, whether it's small or big."
"I think we got off on the wrong foot," he sighed. "Why don't we start over? My name is Li Syaoran, master of Wolf's Society." He held out his hand for a handshake. She didn't say anything as she eyed his hand. "We honestly don't mean any harm. If you're really a detective agency then you're, in a way, similar like us in working for our clients. We can talk… about becoming an ally in the future." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Well, you and the people in your agency seem strong, and I wouldn't want to clash with you in the future. We can help each other out in the future if either of us needs it."
She stared at him a while longer. Emerald eyes blank as she stared into those sincere amber eyes. And then she smiled, with the slightest tilt of her lips and grabbed his hand.
"Kinomoto Sakki, master of Sakki Puppet's Society. And my people are strong." She paused. "If you want, I have a copy of 'The Soul Reader', you can have it if you want but you'll be paying by the page."
The night sky envelopes me towards eternity
I look into the water
And see your reflection
Your ebony hair sways in the gentle breeze
With the moon light, ripples flow towards you
My fingertips could only brush against the cold water
I cannot see your face
The memories have faded with time
All I remember is your smile
Junryou –
Okay, so I'm treating this as a pilot chapter of sorts, I guess. Just to see how things go, and if I'll be able to finish it. That's the biggest problem. But if you are willing to read, I promise that I will do my best too!
And if you haven't guessed, Sakki is Sakura. Forgive Sakura for her streak of sadism though, I couldn't help but add that to her characterization for various reasons, but the biggest influence is probably because this story is somewhat of a rip off from one of my original stories that I'm trying to complete, and the main character from that story is really sadistic, except she knows what she's doing. Sakura's sadism is somewhat more uncontrolled. It comes out with no warning. Oh gosh, I've created a dark Sakura, haven't I? But no need to worry, each story is uniquely their own, although set in the same alternative universe. The OCs, Asa, Hisoka and Sho are also from that story, although I changed Sho's original name to fit this story more. Did I mention that it was really hard to decide on a title for this too? I almost even resorted to using the title where Asa, Hisoka and Sho came from. XD
I have to admit, writing this story was hard, although I had a lot of fun, there were just too many decisions to make! Like who would be in Syaoran's group, and whether I should put CCS characters in Sakura's group. But the biggest problem is whether I should go through the majority of the supporting casts' stories since I do have a big number of characters, and if I don't delve into at least some of them, they'll seem so one dimensional, and that would be no good. I also want to make each character have their own quirks so that they'd each be different and lovable. And sorry if Eriol seems so weird right now. I don't how he turned out like that. And Syaoran too.
I hope everything was clear. I proof read it a lot of times, but since I already have the rough outline of Sakura and Syaoran's story already, I might miss some mistakes. FMROY will probably have more action in the future, and that has got to be my weakest point in writing. I'll try my best though, since I like what I have of the story so far. I've written another chapter already, but oddly enough, it isn't the next chapter, but some odd chapter in the far future.