Next chapter should be on the 27th of January.
Just as we're leaving the house for a final time Masayoshi comes running up, panic clear on his face as he comes to a stop just before he crashes into any of us.
He looks up, eyes drifting across our clothes.
"You're leaving already?" He asks, frowning as his fists come up and he leans forwards, "So soon?" The boy clarifies.
Syaoran smiles a little, glancing to Sakura who tilts her head confused by the gesture and still bleary eyed.
"Yeah. It's time for us to go." He says gently, extending a hand to Masayoshi.
The boy looks at him for a moment then dives forwards, wrapping his arms around the taller boy. Syaoran reacts with shock, stepping back a little then relaxing and the arm that was extended around the boy, his smile turning sad.
"I'm so glad I met all of you!" The dark haired boy says, face buried in Syaoran's chest.
"We're glad we met you too!" Mokona chirps, joining them by hopping onto Masayoshi's shoulder and hugging his head.
Masayoshi finally pulls away, hands lingering on Syaoran's forearms.
"I'll see you all again though?" He asks, distress clear on his face as he searches the older boy's face in hope.
Syaoran seems torn between saying truthfully that he doesn't know and reassuring the boy but Fai cuts in before he can speak, grinning.
"I'm sure we will at some point." He tells Masayoshi, laying a hand on his shoulder not occupied by Mokona and subtly separating him from us. The tall man bends down to his eye level.
"You've got a lot of training ahead of you though, haven't you? If you want to be part of the police? That will keep you so busy that it will be no time before you see us again, right?" He asks, smiling at the boy as if everything is certain.
Masayoshi nods, standing taller again as he wipes his eyes.
"Yeah! I'll work hard so when you next see me this city will be safe!" The boy says eagerly, leaning forwards again. Fai leans back and releases him, smiling gently.
"I'm sure you'll do brilliantly." He tells him, holding his hand out for Mokona. The creature tilts their head, one paw going to its mouth.
"Are we going now then?" They ask, not hopping across yet, pausing in the uncertainty.
Kurogane huffs, hands held behind his head.
"If we want to get back to my world at any point then yes." He grumbles.
The small creature sticks their tongue out at him in response but hops across into Fai's waiting hand moments later.
"Goodbye, Masayoshi-san." Syaoran says, stepping back a little to come closer to the rest of us.
The boy looks at him in confusion, hand stretching out a little in spite of his acceptance of us all leaving.
"But how are you going to leave? Don't you need to take a boat?" He asks panicked.
Syaoran smiles but sas nothing as Mokona leaps into the air.
"How are we leaving?" I ask Fai as he stands beside me, keeping a clear distance despite the appearance of closeness.
The tall man looks down and smiles, chuckling a little.
"You'll see." He whispers back, waving at the boy and letting his grin grow wider.
"Mokona Modoki is ready to go!" Mokona cheers from above us, suspended in the air above us as light shines beneath our feet.
I step back in shock, feeling a jolt go through me in the confusion as I stare at the spinning words? Symbols? Beneath us.
"Are you-" Fai asks but I'm flinching away from his brief touch to my arm before he can finish. He smiles apologetically as my gaze snaps to him, tension shooting through me.
"What- what is this?" I ask, unable to help my panic as the wind picks up around us and I brace myself against the force of it.
"Magic." The blonde replies over the wind in our ears, smiling as the world around our group is swallowed by ribbons of blue as if the veil of that world was a wrapping paper to be torn away leading to whatever this space is.
When the strange blue void around us starts to split apart the colour outside seems strange, a dusty yellow against the pale sky a shade off sky.
The view quickly appears and corrects itself in my mind into a huge stretch of sand dotted with houses and market stalls that we're approaching at an alarming rate.
I yelp in shock and horror, heart rising to my throat as I try and orient myself against the air as I fall through it and panic about the quickly rising earth.
The impact rattles my bones and I clench my teeth against the pain, eyes squeezed shut against reality as the blinding pain flares then vanishes soon enough that the scream that had been building sticks in my throat and I choke on it, rolling over and kneeling up just so I can bend over, coughing, my eyes watering as I just try to breathe.
When I have the breath to look up and my eyes have cleared I see the others around me in similar states aside from the princess who is looking around at the debris around us in confusion and rubbing her eyes sleepily.
There're splinters of wood sprayed from a knocked-over crate, strange round gourds spilling from it and scattered over the dusty, cracking earth. A few are bruised and one is cracked open slightly to reveal a reddish-orange interior speckled with pale seeds, at odds with the pale dappled skin.
Fai is already standing, looking past that to a large man advancing on all of us, shoulders hunched over slightly with the pull of muscles. Behind him are a group of men who look small compared to him dressed in identical clothes- a uniform. Kurogane's gaze is fixed on them too, body tense as they approach, ready to fight.
There's silence as the men all come to a stop just on the other side of the broken pieces of a wooden box.
"Who are these people?" The biggest man asks, leering at all of us with a disgusted expression.
No one answers but Syaoran finally rights himself to look up at the man, Mokona safely in his arms somehow.
There's deathly silence as the natives try to go about their normal lives, none of them wanting to draw his attention and we stare at him.
"Where did you come from?" The man barks, striking forwards suddenly to grab Sakura's arm. Quicker than even Kurogane can react Syaoran is in the air, a kick aimed squarely at the man's face which hits with a crunch.
Fai's immediate reaction is to laugh somewhat nervously while Sakura draws back, arms held close to her as she uses the distraction to escape.
Mokona cheers and even Kurogane makes a small sound of approval.
The man goes flying backwards and everyone else scatters out of the way as his head knocks into the front of a cart with a heavy thunk.
Syaoran lands again, arms spread wide in front of Sakura as if the prone man somehow would get up and come for us again within the space of a few seconds.
Instead he looks up dazed, glaring in our direction.
"Do you know who you just kicked?" He growls, voice sounding distorted by the shock of retaliation as he lumbers to his feet.
Syaoran's tension eases a little as he looks on in confusion, he opens his mouth to speak but before he can is interrupted by shouting.
"If you don't want to be kicked then maybe you should stop grabbing people you stupid kid!"
I follow the voice and find myself looking at a girl, only a little younger than Sakura I think, standing on a rooftop with no fear and hatred in her eyes. The irony of the size difference makes me freeze for a second and look back to the man with worry if he went after her.
He doesn't though.
Instead his body tenses and his eyes harden more somehow.
"Who are you calling stupid?" He growls, his men waiting behind him for orders.
The girl on the rooftops puts a hand above her eyes and looks around dramatically as if searching, not bothering to complete the gesture or look at him before she speaks casually.
"Well there isn't anyone around dumber than you." She says as if she were next to him and not shouting it from a roof.
I can't help the beginning of a smile that pulls my lips up as I watch this young kid insult the much bigger man. There's something bizarre about it but it erodes at the shock and nerves of both the rough landing and the man grabbing Sakura.
"You dare insult me?" The boy shouts, waving his fist, "I am the oldest and only son of the Ryanban-sama- the king of this country and this town!"
That doesn't seem to impress the girl either. I presume they've had this argument before if he isn't immediately going to attack her and she doesn't even falter at the idea of disobeying the leader's son.
"You might call him the king but only months ago he was a wandering magician." She hisses, hands seeming somehow restless despite their place on her hips as she leans forwards.
The man smirks cruelly, eyes fixed directly on hers.
"You know the punishment for opposing my father. I will get what I deserve for your insults. Better be prepared." He says, leaving with his armed guards as if he'd been brave by insulting a child, standing tall amid them.
Syaoran relaxes even more, offering a hand to Sakura and bending down to check on her.
"Are you alright?" He asks as she looks at his hand then his face, soft smile coming to her face.
"I'm fine, thank you." She says as she takes his hand and lets him help her up.
"It seems we caused a bit of a disturbance." Fai says, humming a little as he looks around at the marketplace which is slowly picking itself back up. I meet a man's eyes and he looks away quickly, going back to gathering the splinters of wood on the ground. The people living here seem afraid of approaching or acknowledging us. Distantly I hear Mokona enthusing about Syaoran's attack on the king's son before the boy is distracted and begins scrambling to pick up the things we've upset in falling from the sky, apologising profusely. Mokona joins in excitedly, not seeming to notice the villagers' apprehension and then Sakura, following Syaoran's lead.
I kneel down hesitantly and begin gathering up the strange gourds, uncertain about whether they want our help in the first place.
Soon enough everything is cleared up again, Fai and Kurogane joining in too even if the latter was irritated into it by the former. The girl from earlier has managed to find her way down from the roof and is watching us curiously as she places her armful back into the crate it originally came from, thankfully undamaged.
"What do you want, kid?" Kurogane asks over my head, arms crossed as he glares in her direction.
The girl starts a little but her expression shifts into determination.
"You're wearing weird clothes." She says bluntly.
The ninja goes blank for a moment as I turn to look at him, standing myself. Then he scowls.
"She called your clothes weird, Kuro-tan!" Fai sings, apparently finding the statement acceptable new fodder for annoying the slightly taller man. Kurogane turns to him, teeth bared.
"If I'm weird then you are too!" He growls, fists clenched as if he's just managing to restrain his desire to punch Fai.
"Perhaps..." The girl murmurs, seemingly disregarding the two men as she grabs my arm, me being closest to her.
"What-" I ask, trying to pull myself out of her deceptively strong grasp as she begins to run, one hand to her face as she turns back and yells.
"Follow me!"
I keep pace with her easily though she keeps towing me along with her, everyone catching up with us quickly. I manage to pull my arm free after we've left the village proper and she stumbles a little, turning to us with a pleading expression.
"Please- my house isn't far from here- I can help you while you're here!" She asks, grabbing my hand in both of hers again.
"That would be great!" Fai says enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear. The girl releases my hand again, hope sparking in her eyes as she smiles at the mage.
"It's no problem! We can talk more when we're there- it's not safe here!" She exclaims, setting off again, Fai by her side this time with Mokona motionless on his shoulder. The girl gives the creature an odd look but says nothing yet.
We reach the girl's house in minutes, Kurogane grumbling the whole way.
It's a small open building, one story tall on short stilts to keep it above the ground. It's roofed with wooden planks which overhang a large porch area. Outside are an assortment of pots and hand-woven baskets, some empty as I pass and others covered with matching lids and flaps.
The ground around it is terraced up to the building itself, a small garden just visible around the back and a furrowed patch to the left of the building, possibly for crops she can grow herself. There's a small door in the side which we go in through into shade I am very thankful for given that I'm wearing black.
I sigh, settling myself on one of the cushions near the edge of the room while Sakura and Syaoran take a seat near the middle of the room. Kurogane instantly goes to the back of the room, pulling out some kind of book while Fai places Mokona on the low windowsill and sits beside it, pretending to admire the view as he whispers to the small creature.
"So- you'll help get rid of the king, right?" The girl asks, leaning forwards with her hands on her knees.
Sakura's head drops a little and she makes a confused noise as Syaoran jolts in shock.
"Wh-what?" He exclaims as Fai chuckles softly.
The girl looks around at all of us, hands clenching into fists on her knees as she frowns and visibly slumps.
"Thinking about it there's no way you guys could really be the Amen'osa." She murmurs bitterly, biting at her own lip.
Sakura leans forwards, frowning herself. She gently lays a hand other the other girl's.
"Who are the Amen'osa?" The princess asks, voice soothing as the other girl lifts her head slightly.
"The Amen'osa are the guards of the people. They make sure that each country's Ryanban doesn't take advantage of his people and if they find one that does they get rid of them." The girl says, talking to the floor with a dull voice, swallowing, "In our village we've been waiting for them for a long time." She summarises.
Fai looks at her curiously though he still faces the window.
"So I'm guessing the Ryanban of this country is one of the bad ones?" He asks, the usual hint of teasing to his tone gone.
"He's the worst." The girl chokes out reflexively, shoulders rising as tension fills her and her face crumples.
"Only a few years ago he was just a street magician then all of a sudden he gained power. My mother- she went to reason with him and free our people." She says, shaking a little now as tears begin to slip down her face.
Nobody needs to ask where the story leads as Sakura leans further forwards and wraps her arms around the girl, not much smaller than the princess herself.
"That shouldn't have happened." She asserts, voice soft but holding a strength like steel as she holds the other girl close.
In Sakura's arms the girl shudders, openly sobbing now as she clings to her, unable to speak through the grief.
"Everyone has lost people they love. That's why I want to take him down more than anything." The girl manages to say, tears cutting up her speech as she squeezes her eyes shut.