Dancing. So much goddessdamned dancing that she was about ready to pass out…and it wasn't even her doing the dancing!

All Sakura was doing was passing out exotic drinks in delicate crystal glasses on polished silver trays throughout the ballroom, and those blasted women swirling and swirling and swirling and…oh, oh great…she was getting nauseous.

"Sakura? Um…honey? Are you okay?" Tomoyo paused by Sakura's side and gave her a worried look. "You look pale…have you eaten today?" She knew that Sakura had an annoying habit of forgetting to eat when she got busy.

Sakura nodded with a hand to her head. "I've eaten, I'm fine, really…" Swallow. "….WHY do these dances have to involve so much goddessdamned SPINNING? I'm not even participating and I'm about ready to vomit right her on their sparkly shoes." Another swallow.

Tomoyo wrinkled her brows and gently took Sakura's tray from her. "Here…let me empty this tray and you can go out in the garden and calm down for a bit." With one, swift movement, she had moved Sakura's nearly full tray from her hands and balanced it on one hand while the other deftly resituated the tray she already had. "You know good I am at balancing these trays. Go on, take a break. I'll cover for you." Tomoyo smiled at a passing guest her paused to take two drinks from her tray. "Just be back soon, k?"

Sakura gave Tomoyo one of the most grateful of looks and made her way towards one of the many doors leading out to the gardens. There were already other people out there, almost all of them guests, wondering in and out of the roses and callalillies and birds of paradise and other exotic flowers that grew within the Li family's vast gardens. The Queen had a thing about all her belongings being exotic…which might have explained her wanting only the most beautiful of lesser people to be servants within her household. Or, again, this could be explained by sheer lunacy…

Sakura quickly made her way past the guests into the thicker, deeper areas of the gardens, where fewer guests would be and more space would live. The deeper one went into the Li gardens, the more likely one was to find the streams and ponds with brightly colored fish, as well as miniature waterfalls with the calming sound of water flowing. It was here that Sakura could often be found meditating and cleansing her charkas, if not in the field practicing her techniques. It was deep in the gardens, on the grassy shores of the small ponds, that Sakura could glance into the future…and the past.

One pond in particular, with few fish and marshy grass and water lilies, was the pond that Sakura most often frequented. After all—the clearer the pond, the better the vision.

Bending down to her knees and sitting on her legs, she took a deep breath, held it, then slowly and purposefully released it. She closed her eyes and called forth the vision she wanted from the depths of her memory. It was one of the hardest visions to watch, but the one she wanted the most.

Opening her eyes, she leaned over the pool and began to stare into the dark depths of the pond. Her reflection stared back at her, deep green expectant eyes and dark red hair swept up in a mass of flowing waves by bejeweled hair pins. Oh yes—even the servants were expected to wear expensive accessories. Only the best, after all.

She let her eyes lose focus, and watched patiently as the vision slowly appeared on the surface of the water.

It was her, only three years of age, playing a childhood game of tag with her father in an open field that could have only belonged to her country Chanson. Her mother was there, the only time she could remember her still being alive, before the Red Sickness took her. Her mother was sitting on the grass nearby, laughing as she watched her tiny daughter run as fast she could after her father, and giggling as they both came after her in the end. This was the earliest memory Sakura had, and one of only a few that involved her mother. It was painful, it was heart-wrenching, it….was what helped her survive each day. It hurt and killed and it kept her alive.

"Ahem."

Sakura jerked, startled out of her reverie and feeling the instant headache that came from jumping out of a vision so fast. Blinking and forcing her eyes to readjust to the dimmer light, Sakura lifted up her head to look straight in front of her. A waterfall. No one around. Perhaps she'd imagined that voice.

"Did I startle you?"

Another jump from Sakura, and she whipped her head around to find…to find…dear goddesses, that was the prince standing behind her.

"Ah…..I…." Blink. "…I'm sorry, what?"

The prince smiled slightly. "I said—did I startle you?"

Sakura felt a twinge of annoyance spark inside her at that. "It wasn't obvious by my startled motion and confused look?" She grumpily remarked. She HATED it when someone asked a question of the obvious. Like when she was reading, and someone would walk up to her and ask "Watcha doing?" ….as if it wasn't PAINFULLY obvious….

At that, the prince broke into a full-fledged smile. "You certainly speak your mind, don't you?"

It wasn't until this statement that the fact she was still a servant of his house—hell—his bloody KINGDOM, came rushing back to her like a ton of rather weighty bricks. "I—I'm sorry, your Majesty." She bowed from where she sat. "Please forgive me. I wasn't thinking." Goddess, how she hated groveling.

He eyed her for a moment, his face a blank, his eyes searching for….who knew what. "Really."

He continued his blatant stare, causing Sakura to shift uncomfortably, wondering what the hell he thought he was staring at that little bastard. "Erm…" She bit her lip, longing, pleading, BEGGING for this moment to be over with. Why did he insist upon staring at her so? It was unnerving, it was unsettling, it was—

"What were you doing?"

She blinked. "….Sir?"

He shifted to the other leg and crossed his arms over his chest. "Just now—what were you doing?"

She swallowed. "I…I was just looking at the water, your Majesty. They are such lovely ponds that a person can…can get lost in them…" Lost in them?? She mentally shook her head and rolled her eyes. What the…

"It looked as though you were watching something in particular."

She swallowed harder. "Um…there's only the fish to watch in there, your Highness." She mentally smacked herself over the head. "But they can certainly be watched intently!" Your killing yourself here, Sakura…

His stare became more intent. "And then there are other things one can watch in the water."

Sakura froze. Does he know?? He couldn't know. There's no way he could no…could he??How—could—no!…just…no!

He smirked. "I imagine by now you're asking yourself something along the lines of 'Does he know?' And the answer is—yes. I know. I can recognize something such as that."

Sakura's head jerked back in surprise. A million thoughts raced through her head, flashing to the front and being pushed to the back. Should I pretend I don't know what he's talking about? Of course not—that's ridiculous. He already knows. No hiding. What will he do? Will he tell Queen Kimiko? She'll whip me for sure. I've not heard of anyone in this land being able to do these things…maybe they'll burn me at the stake! Oh gods…this cannot end well…this gonna be bad…this gonna be, like…end of the world bad…or at least, and of MY world bad…

"Um…well I…er, that is…" Heavy swallow. "What I mean is……are you gonna kill me?"

He blinked in something that was similar to surprise and then shook his head and chuckled. "You're awfully dramatic, aren't you? There are people in our world who can See through mirrors and water and such, though those people are few and far between."

"So….those people aren't, like…hurt or, say….burned at the stake….or anything….are they?"

At that, he threw his head back and laughed. It was a soft sound, as though even his laughter were somehow restrained into a more royal and noble action. "Yes, you definitely have a flare for the dramatic. No, we don't burn people at the stake for being a Seer. In fact, I'm fairly sure we don't burn people at the stake at all. After all, if we did, I'd probably be dead."

Sakura paused in her worryings. "I'm sorry…what?"

The prince glanced at her with his amber eyes that seemed to search her soul. "Myself. I am a Seer."

She gaped.