Chapter 9: Change Check
"Thank you!" Melanie beamed as someone else brought in another gift.
The girl smiled at her and Syaoran who gave a weak smile back. "We're all just so glad you and the baby are healthy and already at six months!"
Syaoran's attention shifted from the blabbering girl and her friends to the doorway where Eriol motioned him out.
Syaoran closed the door behind him and gave them a nervous smile. "Bunch of hypocrites we have in the group huh? One day they hate her, then Sakura acts all nice and suddenly they love her."
"It's been over a day." Meiling whispered, looking down. "We've been calling since this morning when Uncle Fuji told us that Sakura hadn't been home all night."
"And?" Syaoran questioned and Eriol shook his head above his girlfriend who was clutching him tightly.
Tomoyo broke free from him and slammed into Syaoran, "What if something happened to her? I'll kill you!"
She cried again knowing something had gone wrong. Eriol gathered her up in his arms, trying to soothe her.
Suddenly Meiling's phone vibrated and a call could be heard from inside. "Syao, your phone's ringing!"
Syaoran hurried inside, grabbed his phone and left the room again to see the three gathered around Meiling and her phone. He curiously opened his inbox and read the message that he had just received from Sakura's phone.
"She probably sent it to you guys too, but you forgot your phones in my car." Meiling muttered next to him, talking to Eriol and Tomoyo.
I'm fine. Just need some time to let it sink in. I'll be home when I'm ready. Please, calm everyone down for me?
"I got the same message." Meiling muttered over his shoulder. He showed him phone to Tomoyo, "See? You over exaggerate Daidouji, she's fine."
Even as she read the message for the thousandth time, the worry and fear in Tomoyo's eyes did not erase.
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The guy tossed the phone back at Sakura who turned her head to avoid getting hit in the face. The delicate and expensive phone hit the ground soft but hard enough to shatter the screen. Sakura's eyes widened.
She snapped her head up and glared at him. Not only did that phone cost more that his head but that was her last hope at reaching someone the four wall hell she was currently in.
The guy nervously smirked at her as the door opened and three other guys came in. In the middle was a guy that she recognized to be the leader, Itou Dai.
Ex-leader. She corrected herself as the previous day's events replayed through her mind. He graduated yesterday...
Next to him was his brother, who Sakura recognized from the inter school trip, Itou Jiro, and on the other side of Dai was none other than Caleb himself.
Sakura ignored the boy on the right and glared up anyways. Dai smirked and looked at Caleb who cast his gaze downwards. Dai motioned something to his brother and they both left, the door closing and locking behind them.
The cuffs on Sakura clicked and she pulled her hands apart and massaged them before stepping away from the water pipe as if the cuffs would lock again. She cast a quick glance at Caleb who was still staring at the ground. "Did they uncuff me to beat the living crap out of you right now cause that's seriously what I feel like doing right now."
"They sent me in here to make sure you don't go crazy and kill yourself." Caleb muttered, softly kicking a rock.
"And give them the pleasure of doing it themselves? No thanks." Sakura scoffed and crossed her arms across her chest. Caleb just turned away and looked at the wall opposite. The gesture made Sakura's eyes widen. In three long strides she was standing in front of him. Lifting his face she looked him in the eyes, something he hesitantly did as well. "Your kidding, right?"
Caleb shook his head. "I can help you." He whispered. "But they'll watch for an hour or so, so don't do anything to give it away alright?"
"You'll help me?" Sakura asked, hopefully but a bit suspiciously.
"Let's just say..." Caleb looked away again, his eyes darkening. "I have things to settle with the leader."
Sakura smiled and slumped against the wall, Caleb quickly joining her. "Why?"
"Why what?" Caleb asked, leaning against his arm.
"What have I done to get them so mad?" Sakura asked, an innocent shadow over her.
Caleb turned his head toward her and smiled. "You really don't know what this whole thing is about?"
Sakura thought about that one for a minute before answering. "Well, yeah...I think. I know the basics but I don't know like all the details."
Caleb snuck a glance at the camera in the corner of the room. "Well, we have some time...
About eighty years ago when Li's great grandfather went to high school, the schools disliked each other just because they were the only two high schools here in this area of Hong Kong. During their senior year was when the current leader's great grandfather met his future wife and proposed at Gashire. Unfortunately, his fiancé was a bit...easy.
Since he was from a different school all together, Li had no idea of the status of this girl when he met her. Quickly enough the girl was sneaking back and forth between the two. One night the guy from Gashire was getting ready to pick his fiancé up for their prom and sure enough Li had chosen that same night to surprise her at her house.
When she saw Li standing on her porch, she quickly forced him into her house, scared that her fiancé would show up any second. Unknown to her he had been waiting in his car, giving her more time to get ready but when he saw a guy from his 'rival' school go in his fiancé's house, he followed.
Sakura coughed. Caleb stopped for a moment and turned to her. "You okay?"
She smiled but as he went back to staring at the empty space in front of him she turned the other way and winced. 'I knew I should've gone to the doctor.' She mentally scolded herself as another shot of pain ran up her spine.
In a fit of anger he opened the door to see his fiance and Li in a..compromising position. He grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be a phone and threw it at Li, before grabbing another and another.
As they are now, Li was a coward and eventually backed himself up into the kitchen. He was beaten up pretty badly already when he pulled out one of the girl's kitchen knives and slammed it into the guy from Gashire's throat.
The girls had long called the police and as they showed up at the crime, she was quick to point them in the direction of Li, heartbroken that he would do such a thing.
They held a trial where the favor was going towards Li because he supposedly did it in self defense but he didn't get off that easy. Especially when he found out that the guy he killed was Gashire's pride and joy.
It seemed horrible but no reason to start such a rivalry over. It got pretty ugly for the next generation when people killed each other to 'avenge' those from before, but it never stopped.
"But I thought that it had stopped but when we started school..." Sakura trailed off, tilting her head slightly.
"It got bad?" Caleb finished. Sakura nodded.
"Why didn't you just stop?" Sakura wondered.
"Us?" Caleb questioned unbelievably. "Why didn't you stop it?"
"It had already gotten bad when Syaoran and I started school." Sakura reminded.
Sakura pouted as she sat in the back seat of the car, Eriol driving and Tomoyo in the passenger seat.
"I still don't get why I couldn't drive, we're all the same age." She argued.
Tomoyo turned her camera on her. "You look so cute like that Sakura! And as far as the driving thing goes, it's the first day of high school, you couldn't follow directions to your class imagine having put our lives in your-"
The car screeched to a stop and Tomoyo lurched forward banging her head on the dashboard. She cried out in pain and rubbed her forehead, "Maybe Sakura should drive.."
But her boyfriend didn't turn to her as he hastily unbuckled his seatbelt and got out. Sakura tried to see what was going on in front but it was difficult because of the low backseat of the sports car.
Tomoyo's eyes widened. "Syaoran..."
Sakura wasn't going to wait as she got out of the car from Eriol's side. She stopped cold when she saw what had happened. The car in front, driven by Syaoran had gotten jumped. Eriol and Syaoran were sprawled across the street, a group of boys half circling them with their backs to Sakura. They were a good distance from Syaoran's car.
Sakura closed the door softly before whispering to Tomoyo. "Moyo, drive home, but back out slow so they don't hear you."
"No!" She protested but when Sakura glared at her she obeyed. Sakura then snuck her way towards Syaoran's car where Meiling had gotten out as well but Sakura shoved her back into the car, this time in the driver's seat. Melanie sat like a frightened puppy in the passenger's seat and Sakura repeated to them what she had told Tomoyo, with a bit more of an argument from Meiling.
"Fine." She eventually surrendered and almost closed the door.
"Wait for me to do something first." Sakura whispered and ran full speed at the nearest one, who seemed to be the only one with a gun. She kicked his side and as he turned kneed him in his privates, causing him to quickly drop the gun.
From behind, Syaoran's car took off quickly. The other four took the distraction and turned to her as she reached for the gun. Syaoran quickly got up and pulled two back, throwing them on the floor. Eriol knocked another one on the back to the head, the guy stumbling before turning to Eriol. Sakura scrambled to the gun and turned it on the last guy from her sitting position on the floor, the guy laughed.
The laughing abruptly stopped when she clicked the safety off. "You think you can shoot that, little girl? You can't even hold it steady from all the shaking."
"Try me." Sakura challenged. Her shaking continued but the malice in her voice made him back off. Sirens could be heard nearby, the police called no doubt by the surprised residents of the street.
The four scrambled off saying something about 'it not being worth getting caught by the cops' the last one managed to break free from Syaoran's hold on him before following suit.
Sakura sighed as they took off in their car and looked at the gun in her hand's. Eriol was busy thinking of a way to avoid getting caught. A bit meekly she offered it to Syaoran who glared at her. "Keep it, if I'm lucky maybe you'll shoot yourself with it."
"They think..." Caleb started but stopped as if debating with himself whether or not to continue. "That if one death from our side started it, then another from your side will end it."
"Why me?" Sakura asked, scared out of her mind internally. "And how do you know that it won't just turn into what happened the second generation?"
"Li would be too obvious but he might end up being a target after they're 'done' with you. Besides, it started off with just being LI because his family was the only one involved but the last generation, the 'calm' generation, didn't have one leader on your side, but two. Your dad." Caleb stopped, a dark look crossing his eyes for a moment. "Li is the only heir left in Hong Kong, with his sisters no doubt going to live abroad pretty soon. You as well since we know your brother plans on going back to Japan pretty soon. You two are the only ones left to continue the tradition, so if you died..."
"So would all of this shit." Sakura finished angrily.
She stood up quickly, the pain intensifying horribly. Suddenly she was slammed back into the wall, crying out once more from the pain.
Caleb muttered a quick apology then motioned to the camera where the red light had stopped flashing. "They're gone, asleep."
"What?" Sakura whispered back.
"You're in the basement of the Itou mansion. The stairs are pretty easy to get to, go right, left, right, left, twice. You'll get to a set of stairs, go up about thirty and there will be a portrait of an army general. Behind it will be a latch and a door. Use it to go out and be careful when your outside because security is high here. From there it should be pretty easy to figure out, follow the road down and back into the city." Caleb explained as he unlocked the door.
"What about you?" Sakura asked as she left.
Caleb unsheathed a knife he had in his jacket pocket and smirked at her, "I was easy to take care of. Go."
Sakura took one glance back before following his direction, she had reached the last turn when her pain intensified, her back suddenly feeling as if though someone where ripping her in half slowly. She squeaked a bit as she sunk to the floor. 'No, I'm almost there.'
She got back up painfully as a door opened behind her.
"Who's that?"
"It's the Kinomoto girl!"
Sakura cursed and ran around the last corner. She ran slow due to the pain and by the time she reached the stairs they were close behind, she ran up the stairs, too scared to count or even consider stopping to find the wretched door. She reached a hallway and a door at the end. As soon as she cleared it, she closed it behind her and latched it from the inside of the house, preventing them from getting out of the basement.
She spotted a door, no doubt the front door of the mansion and ran towards it. The door clicked open and the alarm system went off. There were two guys smoking outside who turned to her alarmed and ran towards her full speed.
"Oops." She muttered and closed that one too. She ducked behind the stairs as the alarm from outside penetrated the walls. She ran into a hallway, scared as the doors started to open and ran into the only one not opening in alarm.
Unfortunately as she entered she heard why. The music was blaring so hard in there she couldn't hear herself think. Fortunately, however, the lights were off and the two people erm, 'playing' on the bed had not noticed her.
Sakura smirked. This could play to her advantage.
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Syaoran's phone rang in his pocket. He cursed himself for forgetting to turn it off. Melanie woke up groggily and Syaoran half smiled at her. "Sorry."
She smiled back and went back to sleep. From his chair, Syaoran looked at the call he just ignored and when he or his phone didn't recognize the number he paid no mind. The phone, now on silent, rang four more times but the no sleeping little wolf wouldn't know who it was as he lulled himself back into a sweet dream.
It was quiet for a couple minutes before a vibrating sound could be heard form across the room. Syaoran opened his eyes and glared at Eriol who had just put his glasses back on and was now examining his phone. He shrugged and went outside to take the call.
Syaoran tried going back to sleep but his attempt was in vain as he was hauled out a few seconds later. He was finally able to put together some words by the time they reached the elevator. "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?"
"Check your phone you idiot, that was Sakura and she's in trouble." Eriol explained fixing his shirt.
Syaoran was know wide awake and watching his friend look at the elevator doors desperately, waiting for them to open on the ground floor.
"Should we call-" Syaoran started but Eriol cut him off quickly.
"NO! Do NOT call Tomoyo or Meiling under any circumstances. They'll just freak out."
The doors opened and the two boys dashed out of the hospital and to the parking lot. "So what happened to her?" Syaoran asked as he got in the passenger's seat of Eriol's car.
Eriol sighed and began explaining what Sakura had just told him on the phone.
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"Some freaking rescue you two are." Sakura muttered darkly as they sat in the waiting room of Hong Kong Juvenile hall.
Syaoran and Eriol sat next to her as they waited for their parents, or in Eriol's case Syaoran's mom, to go pick them up.
Eriol turned to Sakura and smiled. "How about we breathe?"
Sakura glared at him and tried to choke him. "I WAS KIDNAPPPED, MENTALY ABUSED, CHASED INTO A ROOM WHERE I HAD TO FIGHT AND TIE UP A PAIR OF VERY PISSED OFF AND HORNY TEENAGERS TO USE A PHONE IN VAIN BECAUSE SOMEONE WOULDN'T PICK UP, THEN HAVE TWO VERY SMART RECUERS DO NOTHING BUT REVEAL MY LOCATION TO THE REST OF THE HOSEHOLD AND AS I RAN OUT FOR MY LIFE I ALMOST GOT BEATEN TO DEATH ONLY TO GO OUTSIDE AND GET ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING, ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TELLING ME TO BREATHE?"
"They brought you in for trespassing." Eriol choked out, his face nearly the same color as his eyes and hair. "Don't let them keep you in here for murder."
The door opened and an officer came in. "Miss Kinomoto, your guardian has arrived."
Sakura sighed as she turned. "Finally daddy, let's go-" Her eyes darkened and her voice froze over. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Nadeshiko looked from her bodyguard to her daughter and sighed. "Let's go Sakura."
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Merry Christmas! Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, happy holidays!
Wrote this on the plane, sorry I couldn't update till I landed. Halfway done with next chappie!
