Author's Notes: Hey hi and welcome to Chpt.1 of Captive Butterfly. Everyone's positive reviews have really encouraged me to folllow through with this story. I was nervous at first and half expected to have my head bitten off by the prologue. So, thank you very much for the reviews, and without further ado chapter one. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: As I have stated multiple times before, I do cough not cough own CardCaptor Sakura or any of it's characters. But MY storyline and characters are my own.
Chapter 1: Newcomers
From the time we are born, we have been taught to despise men.
"Men are stupid, spineless, worthless, dirty animals, " our leader, Mother Fuyu, would tell us. Our teachers and mothers never said otherwise. In fact, some of the women in my villagehave saideven worse things.
In the games my friends and I used to play one of us would pretend to be a horrid creature, and the rest of us would run around screaming and laughing that a "man" was after us. It wasn't until the year I turned six that any of us even had our first glimpse of a real male.
I was playing with my friends at Mirror Lake, a short walk north east of our village, one bright, warm day in mid-Spring. My mother, an emerald-eyed beauty, Nadeshiko, was watching over us along with her cousin, Sonomi.
My friends Tomoyo, Chiharu, Naoko, Rika and I were chasing each other around in the shallow waters. We were all shrieking, laughing, and splashing as " the man," Naoko, tried to get us.
I had stopped a moment to catch my breath when we heard it, screaming and yelling coming from the direction of our village. My mother and Sonomi immediately set off running, with their weapons ready, toward the sound. My friends and I all looked at each other and without a word followed right behind, the game completely forgotten.
As we neared the commotion I began to sort out the jumble of noises. I could hear a young girls' voice yelling out in another language while the women of my village tried to calm her down. By the time we arrived a crowd had already gathered. I could tell from the people around me that something was off. Most of the women seemed upset or angry while others looked almost...excited.
Being so small, my friends and I were able to squeeze past the crowd and get to the inside to see what was going on. As I pushed past the last pair of legs, I stopped short.
"Sakura? What is it," Tomoyo asked as she stopped beside me, clutching a stitch in her side.
I could only stare ahead of me in reply as Chiharu, Naoko, and Rika caught up.
"Jeez Sakura! You sure can run fast. Wait for the rest of us next-, " Chiharu cut off as she too saw ahead of her.
What we saw was a little girl with raven hair and ruby eyes crying, and trying desperately to break free from the hands holding her back. She was calling out to someone being dragged away from her, and that person was fighting just as hard to get back to her. I couldn't see who the other person was from my side of the circle, at first.
Abruptly, there was a sudden jostling of people around me as a path was being cleared, from behind, to allow someone through.
I turned in time to see my mother leading Kaho Mizuki toward the conflict with Sonomi following right behind them. All three looked slightly pale and scared as they raced as fast as they could through the crowd.
"What's wrong Mother? What's going on," I called out to her, alarmed. I had never seen my mother look so nervous before. Something was wrong.
"Sakura! What are all of you doing here? You shouldn't-," Sonomi stopped short as my mother interjected.
"Don't worry about it right now. I'll explain later. Just stay back there," she said over her shoulder as she led Kaho by the hand toward the fray. "Wait! Calm down, let's get this figured out first! Don't kill him! Can't you see he doesn't understand a word you say," my Mother called out.
The moment they were close enough, Kaho started calling out to the strange girl in her own language. The girl immediately stopped thrashing about, but continued to strain against her captives. She began talking rapidly and frantically with Kaho, while gesturing toward the person she was trying to get to.
By this time the woman surrounding and concealing the unknown person had the person on the ground with weapons raised, poised to kill. My mother was trying desperately to reason with the women while simutaneously trying to calm the unknown person down.
"Enough," rang out an icy voice, coming ever closer up the semi-cleared pathway through the crowd. Women immediately stepped to the side at the sound. We all knew that voice.
It was Lady Fuyu. Our clan "Mother." At the age of twenty-one, one year older than my mother, she was the youngest leader the village had ever had. Always graceful yet cold, her long silver hair and piercing pale blue eyes gave off an aura of power and superiority. She was the strictest follower of the old ways; from the time when our clan was first founded.
"This has been tolerated long enough! Kaho, quickly translate all that I say, exactly how I say it, "she commanded sharply as she contined to walk toward the center of the commotion.
At the time, Kaho who was only four years older than me, was already a very skilled linguist. Learning different languages was a skill passed from mother to daughter in her family, and she had a partucularly strong knack for it. Everytime a new person entered the village, guest or prisoner, Kaho would be one of the first people there. As such, she was highly respected by the clan. Her calm and gentle manner could earn the trust of anyone she met. Within minutes she would be conversing or at least attempting to communicate anyway possible.
This time, however, things were different. If she wasn't able to convince these newcomers to cooperate, oneof themwould be killed on the spot.
Kaho nodded, her face slightly pale and tense as Lady Fuyu first gestured toward the women holding the unknown person down to release the person into a more "dignified" manner. Namely, kneeling on the ground in front of her, with arms tied behind the back, a knife held at the throat, and head held back to get a full view of her.
Giving this new person such a clear view of herself, allowed me toget the first full view of the captive as well.
My eyes widened in disbelief as I locked eyes with an amber-eyed boy. He looked to be the same age as me, and nothing like the witless monsters we had always imagined. In fact, his eyes showed a fire and passion that wasmixed with his confusion, terror, and hatred.
Seeing such emotion in anyone, much less a male made me step back in shock for a moment before I shook my head clear and glared back. "How dare a male look at me, a female of Haru Village, that way!" I thought.
His eyes immediately took their attention off me and flicked between Lady Fuyu and Kaho when they began to speak.
"The two of you have stumbled upon Haru Village, a proud clan of female warriors. We do not tolerate men here, however the girl is welcome to leave or stay as one of us, as it seemsthw two of youare alone.
"You however," Lady Fuyu directed at the boy," will be forced to live across the river with the rest of them. If you refuse, you will be killed immediately. Both of you have a minute to decide."
As Kaho translated this I watched the faces of the two strangers fall. They knew it was impossible to choose anything otherwise, and so with one glance at each other they agreed to stay.
By now the women holding the girl back had released her as she had given up struggling. She stood with her fists clenched and steady tears falling down her cheeks from her fire-lit eyes. As they began leading the boy toward the northern river, the girl said one last thing to the boy. He turned his head to look at her and noddded with a smile, that was more of a grimace, on his face.
Lady Fuyu looked sharply at Kaho and questioned, "What did she say?"
Kaho jumped slightly as she looked at Lady Fuyu and responded, " Please be safe."
Lady Fuyu nodded shortly as she quickly turned and focused her attention on the rest of us. "Who will take in this girl and raise her as one of her own," she asked.
My mother immediately stepped forward and bowed her head as she said, " I will take her in, if it pleases you, Lady Fuyu."
Lady Fuyu agreed with a slight inclination of her head as sheabrubtlyleftthe center of the crowd, and called out to those still standing around, "Continue with your day, the problem has been dealt with."
I hardly heard her however, as my head was swimming. My mother had just adopted this new girl into our family! I felt a mixture of curiousity and excitement bubbling up inside me.
"Wow Sakura, " Rika breathed. "You just got a new sister."
"But who was that boy she was with, " Naoko voiced aloud the question we were burning to know.
As my friends began to discuss the sudden appearance of the male stranger, my mother called me over to her. "Sakura, come here a moment. I want you to meet your new sister."
I quickly ran over to my mother's side. As I neared, I heard Sonomi explaining that she would take Tomoyo and my friends back to the lake, the expression on her face unreadable. I reached my mother in the midst of her asking Kaho to help us translate.
"Of course. I'd be honored to help," Kaho replied with a warm smile, the color returning to her face.
My mother kneeled down to the ruby-eyed girls' level and asked her her name. The girls' eyes immediately darted to Kaho.
As soon as Kaho translated the question, the girl turned to us with fire burning in her eyes and replied, "Meiling."