Disclaimer: Yea, we own CCS because we're all that. D Like you believe us anyway.
Hey all you wonderful REVIEWERS who are going to review to this wonderful new fanfic Vywien is me and anime-obsession260 are working on. ;)
So be amazed at our wonderful, joint writing talent (xD) and enjoy!
Meant To Be
Chapter One
"La la la… pick one rose, one violet, one tulip… hmm…" Tucking an auburn bang behind her ear gently as she worked in the forest, Kinomoto Sakura hummed meaningless tunes happily. She allowed her bright, emerald eyes to scan the bushes in front of her, making sure she didn't miss anything. For a few moments, she sat as still as a statue, in deep thought, but was instantly alert as she heard a yell emit from deep inside the large maze of trees.
She bit her pink lips nervously but left her basket there and immediately raced into the woods, searching for the source of the sound. Her emerald eyes swerved from left to right frantically, and at last she hid behind a large oak tree and peered out from behind it. In the small clearing was a young man with the most mesmerizing sapphire eyes. He seemed to know that she was there but made no attempt to call her over. From the corner of her eye, Sakura spotted another figure darting away with a knife in his hand…
… knife…
She looked instantly to the injured man on the ground. Without hesitating, she ran over to him. By the looks of it, he was a soldier of the Li palace.
"Are you alright?" A small gasp escaped her lips as she moved his hand from his side, revealing a deep wound apparently from the man with the knife who had run away earlier. With a grunt, he collapsed onto her shoulder, unconscious. Carefully, Sakura laid him upon the mossy floor and began to check for any other wounds. There were a number of them, but all of them were small. With a new sense of urgency, Sakura tore a small strip of her dress and tied it around his knife wound to temporarily slow the bleeding.
She began searching for medicinal herbs in nearby bushes. There were few, but she found some Athelas plants and some smoking weed roots. Quickly cutting them into small pieces, she pressed the leaves of the Athelas plant in his cut and began chewing vigorously on the root. Once it was soft, she pressed it into his lips and forced it down with some water from her own water jug.
Slowly, Sakura tore longer, thicker strips of cloth from her skirt and dressed his wounds properly. She cleaned his smaller cuts and treated the soldier's rising fever as well. When her work was done, she ran a hand through his silky blue hair. "Oh! I almost forgot." She took her bracelet off and placed it on the ground and began to tear off pieces of grass and soft twigs to make a more comfortable bed for her patient.
There was nothing else she could do for him, so with one last glance at his sleeping form, she left.
"Sakura-san, you came home so late last night; are you alright?" Fujitaka asked, concerned for his daughter.
"Yea kaijuu, you didn't even bring back any flowers." Her brother's dark brown eyes watched her from his seat at the breakfast table. For once, she didn't have enough energy to retaliate, "Mmm… shut up, Touya…"
"So where were you, anyways?" Touya demanded as he chomped on a piece of toast. She cast him a weary glance before plopping down at the table herself. "I found a soldier in the forest…"
"What!" Both Touya and her father jumped up. "What happened? Did he say anything to you?" Fujitaka asked. Touya, on the other hand, "Did he do anything to you?"
"He was hurt so I helped him… -yawn- …"
"Is he alright now?" Fujitaka placed a plate of eggs and ham in front of her. She smiled at her father appreciatively, "I did what I could but-"
"Open up!" A loud knock at the door interrupted their conversation, and Fujitaka went immediately to open the door. At the entrance stood a small posse of soldiers, each bearing the emblem of the Li family on him. "Does this belong to you?" the soldier demanded.
Sakura walked to the door silently and immediately recognized the basket of flowers as her own. "That's…" they all turned to look at her "That's my basket."
"Is there a problem, sir?" Fujitaka stood in front of his daughter protectively.
"That wench has helped a traitor! He should have died like the dog he is in the forest!" The man was burly and fierce. Pushing her father away roughly, he grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her out of the house.
"Wait!" Sakura cried, with her free arm reaching for her father's. One of the soldiers threw her into a horse carriage and the soldier who knocked slammed their front door into Fujitaka's face.
"Hiya!" the driver of the carriage exclaimed as he whipped the horse.
Touya raced out the door yelling, knowing it was futile and impossible to catch up to a group of galloping horses, but tried nonetheless. "Sakura!"
"Let me go!" Sakura tried to pull out of the soldier's grasp, but they held her firmly as they dragged her up into the throne room and threw her onto the floor in front of the majesties and the royal prince.
"Your majesties, your highness," as the soldier bowed, many of the royal subjects turned and looked at Sakura, interested. "We have found the criminal who assisted the traitor Eriol in his escape!"
A large gasp sounded around the room. Whispers emanated from within the crowd and all of them looked at Sakura in disgust. "Your majesties! I didn't realize he was a traitor… how could I?" she whispered sadly.
From within the crowd, one voice spoke up, "Your majesties, your highness… anyone can tell simply by looking that this young lady is merely a country girl. I'm sure whatever she did, she did without ill will." The speaker was a beautiful, amethyst-eyed girl.
A spark of hope lit inside of Sakura, and she looked at the three royals hopefully. None of them had any expression upon their faces, except for the prince who looked at her coldly, as if he wanted to make her disappear forever. And when their eyes met directly, shivers went down her spine. Her entire body seemed paralyzed on the spot, and simply breathing seemed to become difficult.
The king waved his hand, and that seemed to be signal enough for the guards who immediately took her and threw her into the prison chamber. As Sakura sat there forlornly on the cold, wet ground, a small face peeked in between the bars. "H-Hello…?"
To be Continued…
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