Chapter Ten
The bow both looked and felt awkward in her hands. "I think it's too big," Sakura said, readjusting her grip so she was holding it like Fai had showed her. Her delicate fingers curled around the smooth wood like bird feet wrapping around a wooden perch.
"Maybe a little," the wizard admitted, nudging her thumb away from the little groove where the arrow was supposed to rest. "It'll have to do. It's good practice anyway. Now take an arrow from the quiver and lay it so it sits on this notch."
She did as she said, hesitating for a moment as she tried to decide which hand she was supposed to hold onto the bow with. Eventually, she settled for keeping her left hand on the sturdy wooden part while freeing her right from the string. She reached back, elbow bending awkwardly as her fingers sought the fletched end of one of the arrows. After a moment, her fingertips grazed the sharp line of a feather. With great care, she pulled the arrow from the quiver and set it horizontally on top of the groove in the wood.
"That's good," Fai said. "Now make sure the bowstring is touching the little groove in the back of the arrow and pull the string back. Be careful not to let go, or you might scrape some skin off your fingers."
That sounds painful, she thought, drawing the bowstring back. The amount of force required to stretch it was much greater than she'd expected, and she could only pull it back a couple of inches before her weak muscles forced her to ease up. The taut thread returned to its normal position. "I'm not strong enough."
"The strength will come with practice. Try using your core strength instead of just your arm."
That sounded like the sort of rudimentary information any warrior ought to know, and she cursed herself for not thinking of it. Even worse, she didn't know how to draw strength from her core. You've been pampered too long, some part of her said. You have no idea how to get along in the real world.
"Don't lose your stance," Fai said gently.
"Sorry."
Fai smiled at her. "Don't worry about a thing, Sakura-chan. I'm sure you'll get it soon."
She wished she felt that confident. She moved back to the stance Fai had showed her half an hour ago.
"Feet parallel," he reminded her. Her face reddened as she obeyed. "That's just right. Now pull back on the string again."
She did as he said, getting another inch this time. She still wasn't anywhere near the full draw length of the bow when Fai told her to release the arrow. She lifted her fingers away from the fletching and let it loose, aiming for the wine stain on the towel Yuka had given her. The arrow missed the target completely, even at the short range, and sailed into the trees beyond. Sakura winced.
"That's okay. Just pick another arrow and try again."
Breathing shakily from exertion and failure, she pulled another arrow from the quiver on her back and lined it up as Fai had showed her. Her eyes flashed over to him for guidance, and he nodded. Summoning strength from her torso instead of her arms, she brought the arrow back a few inches and aimed, trying to adjust according to the direction the other arrow had gone.
"Go ahead," Fai said. She released the arrow. This time, it actually hit the target, piercing the lower right corner of the ratty towel. Far from a fatal shot, but it was an improvement.
She tried three more times, enough to make her arms tremble with exertion. When Fai said they were done practicing, her quiver was still half full. "We can work on it later tonight, if you want," he said, pulling two arrows from the makeshift target and handing them to her. She put it back in her quiver and moved into the trees, looking for the ones that had missed altogether. She found two buried in the ground a few feet behind her target, and one dangling from a leafy branch. "That's all of them, I think."
Fai smiled at her, then turned, looking up the path. "Hey, Kuro-pon! Are you ready to go?"
The ninja made an exasperated noise. "I've been ready for an hour. Let's get this over with." Mokona popped out of his shirt, prompting him to jump. "Gah! When the hell—"
The white creature pointed. "The feather is that way."
Sakura smiled and half-ran down the path, tripping over her feet in her haste. The dirt path scuffed up her palms, leaving them raw, but she managed not to damage her weapon as she fell.
"You okay, Sakura-chan?"
She looked back, smiling to show she was okay. "I'm fine. Let's go."
Behind her, the ninja grumbled about her energy level. Truthfully, she wasn't eager to put herself in danger, but to restore at least some of what Syaoran has lost. There must be so many beautiful things he's forgotten, she thought, slowing a bit so the others could catch up to her. All the places he's traveled, all the friends he's made, plus basic skills and short-term memory. It's a lot to lose.
The sun was just falling beneath the horizon. Having lived in a desert all her life, Sakura expected the temperature to drop a good forty degrees within the hour. I should've brought something warmer, she thought, wrapping her cloak around her. This world was generally a bit colder than she was used to, and with the sun setting, she was sure the temperature would go from cool to uncomfortable in a hurry.
They walked for almost two hours, but the temperature only dropped about ten degrees. Maybe it's because there's so much water here, she thought. Water's more resistant to temperature changes, at least according to the scholars. And Syaoran said once that the desert varied in its daily temperature more than any other climate. She frowned, realizing Syaoran wouldn't remember telling her that. He'll never remember me at all, if that was really how Yuuko-san took our relationship. As far as he knows, the first time he saw my face was in Ookami-kuni, with the wolves.
She realized she'd slowed when she heard the other's footsteps close behind her. By reflex, her face turned back to look at them.
Mokona was leaning out of Fai's shirt, having evidently found a safer perch than the ninja's shoulder. Her ears were flat against her back, her features twisted in focus. Sakura kept walking, guessing that the direction Mokona faced was probably the direction to Syaoran's feather. I have to get it back for him, no matter what.
"We're getting close," Mokona said after a while. Sakura renewed her efforts to keep her eyes open. This time, she wanted to be the first to see the feather. She ran around a bend in the path, then yelped as someone slammed into her.
"Sorry," the blond boy said reflexively, shoving past her. Sakura got to her feet, only to be shoved aside by two older men running down the path.
"Get back here, you little runt!" one of them shouted. Sakura wheeled, stunned by the sudden rush of action. She heard Mokona calling out to them.
"It's him! That boy has the feather."
The boy? she thought, turning around. The path had scuffed up her knees when they fell, skinning them bloody so that when she walked, the chilly air swept across the raw flesh. In Clow, she would've been immediately tended to by one of the healers, but here, she had no such luxury. She ran off after the strangers, clutching the bow tight in her hands as she fumbled for an arrow. "Stop!"
She turned the corner, and saw the two men tackle the boy, forcing him face-first into the ground. The bulkier man pulled a long coil of what appeared to be rope from his belt and uncurled it as the boy thrashed. When the man lifted his meaty hand in the air, she realized the black coil wasn't a rope, but a whip. "Stop," she commanded. The man paid her no heed, bringing the whip down so it struck the blond boy across the shoulders. Blood spattered across the path as the boy let loose a wordless shriek.
Two rocks flew through the air, faster than her eyes could track them. They hit each of the thugs in the temple, causing them to recoil. "Let's not have any more of that," Fai said, tossing another stone in the air as a threat. He wasn't smiling.
Sakura ran over to the blond boy and knelt down beside him. "Are you—" The words froze on her tongue as he looked up. Impossible. "Yukito-san?"
The bespectacled boy flinched. "How do you know my name?"
He doesn't know me, she realized. "I—"
"Hey. Who the hell are you people?"
She turned toward the speaker. It was the thickset man with the whip. A surge of anger rushed through her. "Who are you?" she demanded, stalking over to them. "And how can you be so cruel?"
"Back off, brat."
She lifted the bow up into the proper position and set an arrow on the little notch. "I can put an arrow through your eye at twenty meters," she lied, injecting false confidence into the words in the hopes that would make them sound more convincing. "You don't want to know what I can do at three."
The bulky man scoffed, but his thinner friend glanced at the bow with apprehension. "Hey, Ryon, maybe we should—"
"Hell no. We're not leaving the runt until we get that magic feather back."
Sakura pulled the bowstring back as far as her weak muscles would allow. "Get out of here."
"Tell that little pest to return the feather to us."
"No."
The bigger one made a move toward her, and she fired her arrow high up into the air. It sailed through the branches, showering them with leaves. The skinny one lurched back, shocked by the display, and even the more violent one backed off when she notched another arrow.
"Come on, Ryon. Before we get shot."
The man with the whip hesitated a moment longer as she pulled the bowstring back. "Next time we come back with a dozen men," he snarled, turning and running back down the path.
Sakura lowered her bow and returned her attention to the man who looked like Yukito. "Are you all right?"
He sat up and let one hand rest over the shoulder where he'd been whipped. Sakura winced the same moment he did. "I'm all right."
She glanced up at Fai and Kurogane, hoping one of them had some idea what to do. Fai stepped forward. "We need to take him back with us to get that treated, otherwise it could get infected." He gave her a meaningful look, and she nodded to say she understood.
We have to get Syaoran's feather back, too, she thought, helping the blond man up. His boyish features and delicate bone structure had initially led her to believe he was her age, but now that she got a good look at him, she could see he was at least a few years older. He looks just like Yukito-san, but he doesn't know me. How can that be?
"How did you know my name?" he asked, eyes tight with pain.
She bit her lip, not sure how to answer.
"She recognized you from town," Fai said, returning with the arrow she'd shot into the air. "She must've overheard your name when you were talking to someone. Our Sakura-chan never forgets people's names."
"Yeah," she said weakly, draping Yukito's arm over her shoulders and helping him up the path. Fai dropped the arrow in her quiver.
"What the hell did you do that made them chase you?" Kurogane demanded, crossing his arms out in front of him. Sakura opened her mouth to tell him this wasn't the time, but Yukito answered before she could.
"Well, you see, I stole something from them."
"Stole something?" The Yukito I know would never steal anything. But maybe they aren't the same people, if they're in different worlds. "Why?"
The blond's eyes dropped, as if he were ashamed. "Because my brother is dying."