Here's the next chapter! Thank you to all who reviewed!
Pain rippled through her side and radiated through her ribs and back. The very notion of breathing was painful. Sakura could hear people moving around outside and Sakura guessed that people were going about their regular routines.
She opened her eyes and blinked, trying to adjust to the light. As she came to, she realised someone had dressed her in a light weight garment.
A hand cupped her cheek and she looked over, finding Syaoran sitting on the edge of the bed beside her.
"How are you feeling?" Syaoran asked softly.
She swallowed. Her throat felt dry.
"I'm ok." She replied.
His expression suddenly turned into a frown. "Oh really? And I'm supposed to believe that's the truth?" he asked coldly.
She was quiet for a moment. "It's painful, but I'm ok."
He leant over, their noses almost touching. He didn't look pleased at all. "Do not do that ever again."
She flinched. Why was he so angry? She looked into his eyes and beneath his anger she saw something she knew well-fear.
"Why are you so upset?" she asked.
He only looked more agitated. "Why am I so upset? Probably because you didn't alert me about what it might do to you." He raised his voice and she fisted her hands in the sheets to try and keep herself calm.
Someone entered the tent and Syaoran left, probably to go blow off some steam.
Meiling walked over carrying a basket with salve and clean dressings in it and moved to untie the garment Sakura was wearing to gain access to her wounds. The medic didn't ask anything or say anything, which was common for her, and Sakura was grateful for that. She knew Syaoran would probably demand answers later, but she wasn't ready to tell him.
Meiling applied some of the salve to her wound and then dressed it before tying Sakura's garment back into place.
"Is she awake?" Eriol called out before entering the tent. He smiled upon seeing Sakura conscious, "How are you feeling?"
"It's painful." She answered honestly.
"I'm not surprised. I don't think I've ever seen healing magic quite like yours. It's pretty much unheard of." He said, watching her for a reaction.
Sakura looked away and didn't say anything.
"Well, I wouldn't do it again. Syaoran's really worried and for a while he was afraid we might lose you."
"He seems pretty angry about it even though he agreed to it." Sakura muttered bitterly.
"It might have been better if you told him everything about your magic." Eriol added. "Which you haven't."
"It's not important." Sakura murmured.
"It is to Syaoran." He said. "You seem to heal fairly quickly-I'm surprised."
"How many days has it been?" Sakura asked, ignoring his comment about the extent of her abilities being important to Syaoran.
"Two days, roughly. From the rate you're healing, you should be up and moving in the next one or two days. There's a pile of work for you to complete as well once you're better."
"Thank you." She said quietly.
Meiling stood and left with Eriol, but not without giving Sakura a comforting pat on the head first.
Sakura lay there feeling a mixture of confusion and exhaustion. She rolled onto her uninjured side and curled her legs up to her chest despite the pain. Memories of her past came flooding back and she closed her eyes to rid herself of the images, but it was no use. The mind had a funny way of tormenting a person.
She lay there, alone, for a long time. She didn't know how many hours had passed.
Syaoran entered the tent and lit the lanterns. She guessed it was nearly dark.
"Are you able to sit up?" he asked softly from where he stood, lighting the last lantern.
"Yes..." she murmured and shifted her body, so she could sit up. It didn't hurt as much as she expected, and she felt relief.
He walked over and sat down beside her, "We need to talk."
Sakura felt ill. "Can we talk later? I'm not feeling very well."
"No."
She lowered her eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me about your magic sooner?" he asked gently. He knew well that he needed to approach this carefully if he were to get any answers.
"Because I didn't think it mattered. You ordered me not to use my magic, so I didn't say anything more." She answered.
He lifted her chin and forced her to make eye contact with him. He didn't look angry nor displeased, but there was something.
"Thank you for helping me." He said softly.
Shock rippled throughout her body. Tears burned paths down her cheeks and she found herself unable to control her sobs. She had never received such a sincere thank you.
He pulled her into a gentle embrace and held her as she sobbed into his chest. He wished she would trust him more, but he knew that would take a lot more time-possibly months-before she would trust him.
"I wish you'd talk to me." He murmured softly. "I can't help you if you don't."
She just sobbed harder as she clutched at him. He didn't push her for answers after that, just let her rest and recover her strength. Despite how much he wanted to know, he said nothing.
It would have to be at her own pace, for now.
Sakura was back up and moving around within a few days. She spoke nothing of her magic and focused hard on her work in the medical tent, running errands and helping Meiling and Eriol mix remedies, and Tomoyo with tending to wounds.
She finished placing the last bottle in a crate to allow to brew for a year and picked it up to carry to the storage cart. She stopped briefly for a moment as she passed the training grounds, watching as one of the younger soldiers sparred with Syaoran. The young king easily disarmed the soldier and then waited for one of the others to step up. Many of them just watched, laughing when another young man stepped up to challenge him, all of them thinking he had no chance.
She watched as Syaoran dodged several swipes and a kick before moving to defeat him as well. The soldier muttered something under his breath and Syaoran moved to take a break.
"Lady Sakura?"
Sakura jumped and turned her head to see one of the soldiers looking at her curiously.
"Oh-can I help you?" she asked.
"Actually, I was wondering if you needed any help." He nodded to the crate.
"Thank you, that's very kind but I can handle this. Pardon me." She hurried past him, grateful to get away as she felt a prickling on the back of her neck. She found the storage cart and lifted the crate onto it with a small amount of difficulty.
Then, she hurried back to the medical tent.
Upon returning to her tent for the night she was greeted with the scent of cooked apples and cinnamon. Syaoran was waiting at the table for her and she joined him.
"I saw you talking to Kyle earlier today." He said.
"Who?" Sakura asked with confusion.
"The soldier who asked you if you needed help with that crate." Syaoran explained.
Sakura remembered the man he was talking about. "Oh-yes. He did ask if I needed help."
He watched her for a moment. "Did he make you uncomfortable in any way?" he asked.
"How did you know?" she asked with surprise.
He sighed softly. "What did he do to make you uncomfortable?"
"Well...it's not that he did anything... it was more of a gut feeling." Sakura confessed. "Why?"
"There have been some complaints from other women about him. Try and stay away from him." Syaoran replied, "Until this issue is resolved."
"I understand." She replied.
"Have you got everything ready for the move tomorrow?" he asked.
"Yeah-I put the last of the crates on the cart today." Sakura told him, "They were heavy."
"They looked heavy." He murmured, "By the way, is there anything you want?"
She dropped her fork in surprise and scrambled to pick it up.
"Um-not that I can think of..." she replied.
"Well, if there is, let me know." Syaoran murmured.
"I don't know what there could be that only you'd be able to give." She whispered.
He smiled softly but said nothing as he continued to eat.
Sakura ate in silence and then read over her notes for the evening before joining him in bed.
They headed off not long before noon the next day. As usual, Sakura spent a lot of her time reading and memorising her notes as they rode.
"Don't you ever get sick of constantly reading those?" Syaoran asked.
"Not really. It keeps my mind occupied." She answered, flipping the page.
He smiled, "Very well then."
"Why are there more soldiers than normal guarding us?" she then asked.
"I'm surprised you noticed." He confessed.
"I'm not blind."
"I'm fully aware of that, sweetheart." Syaoran murmured.
She blushed at his use of pet name.
"To answer your question, due to the attacks we launched on those cities, I suspect we may be attacked soon as well." Syaoran explained.
"Oh..."
"I promise I won't let them hurt you." He said softly, but sincerely. "Not anymore."
Sakura wondered if she could trust his words but shook the thought away. It was better not to think about it.
Roughly three days later they set up camp by a river. The nearest city was half a day's ride to the east.
Sakura fell asleep earlier than usual, no thanks to the fever that had started the day before, but when she woke the next morning she was feeling perfectly fine.
She went about her usual duties without much of a hassle, but she did feel like someone was watching her, and it was making her uncomfortable.
"Sakura, could you tend to Mari? She tripped and scraped her leg on some rocks down at the river." Eriol said.
"Do I just need to clean the wound and apply disinfectant?" she asked.
"She needs stitches." He added.
"Alright."
Sakura found some thread, a needle, some gauze and the disinfectant, placing them in her basket and then got some water and a cloth to clean the wound.
A young girl of about six or seven sat crying on one of the beds with her mother beside her.
"Hello," Sakura greeted with a soft smile, "Are you Mari?"
The little girl kept sobbing and her mother looked apologetic.
"I'm just going to clean your wound." Sakura said softly. "What's your favourite class, Mari?"
Mari calmed down a little and sniffled. "Arts and crafts." She mumbled.
Sakura wiped the wound gently. It was deep, and she wasn't surprised Mari had been crying so much.
"Arts and crafts was never my strong point in school. What are you working on now?" Sakura asked curiously as she thread the needle.
"We're making baskets." Mari replied. "Whoever makes the best basket gets to choose what we make next."
"If you got to choose what to make next, what would it be?" She asked the child, keeping her distracted while she stitched the wound shut.
Her mother looked at Sakura incredulously.
"I'd really like to make dream catchers for people who have bad dreams." Mari said innocently.
Sakura smiled. She was a sweet girl. She finished stitching the wound shut and cut the thread, taping some gauze over it.
"There we go, all done! Will you come and show me your basket when it's done?" she asked.
"Yes!" Mari beamed.
"Great-I look forward to it." Sakura smiled cheerfully. "Be careful with that sore leg, alright?"
"Thank you, Lady Sakura." Mari's mother smiled, and then led the child from the tent.
Sakura stood and sighed heavily.
"That was amazing-Mari is never that quiet in the medical tent." Eriol said.
"Really?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah. I think I'll have you look after kids more often." He smiled.
"I don't think I'm ready for that yet..." Sakura said modestly.
"Well, its nearly sundown, so you should head back. Good work today, Sakura."
Sakura smiled and placed her things away before heading back to the tent. She bumped into someone and looked up to find it was the soldier named Kyle.
"Sorry-pardon me." She hurried past and back to the tent, hurtling through the entrance and into Syaoran.
"Woah-what's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm sorry-" she breathed.
"It's fine." He reassured her. "You seem on edge. What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "I think I'm just being paranoid, but I feel like someone's watching me." She said.
"I see. Just today or have there been other times as well?" he asked.
"Since before we moved here..." she answered.
He nodded. "Thank you for telling me. I'll escort you to and from the medical tent starting tomorrow, and I'll let Eriol know of the issue. Will you be more comfortable that way?"
She nodded, "Thank you..."
He smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. "Of course. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their home."
Without really thinking, she hugged him. He gave her body a small squeeze and then released her, "Dinner is waiting for us." He said.
She nodded and parted, moving to sit down and eat.
As he had promised, Syaoran escorted Sakura to the medical tent in the morning and alerted Eriol of the issue at hand. Sakura spent most of her day in the tent and accompanied Meiling occasionally to and from the tent.
As Sakura waited for Syaoran just outside the medical tent, Kyle walked over to her looking worried.
"A child seems to have injured themselves down by the river-would you mind looking?" he asked.
Sakura felt uncomfortable. "I'm supposed to be heading back to my tent now. I'm just waiting for Meiling to give me something. Eriol's inside though, he can help."
"Please? I promise to tell the king I asked you to help." He begged.
Sakura bit her lip. What if this was just a rouse to get her away? But if there were injured kids she should help.
After a few moments she sighed. "Alright. I'll have a look." She said.
"Thank you!"
He led her down to the river and she looked around. "Where are they?" she asked.
"Just over here." He said, walking further down.
Still no kids.
Sakura stopped. "I have to head back. My husband will be furious if I'm not back..." she turned to head back, heart hammering in her chest as fear dominated her veins.
She hoped that maybe Syaoran would come looking for her, perhaps he had seen her leaving, but her hopes were scattered as she felt something hard collide with her head and she blacked out.