Chapter 10- …And the continuation of arguments
Author's Note: The beginning of this chapter is similar to the old version, but it definitely changes towards the middle. A hint: when I wrote it, I was in a little bit of a dark mood, which lessened towards the end.
XOXO
"Now that everyone's rested and well-fed, it's time for a little exercise!" Mizuki-sensei announced "This exercise, is going to come in the form of a game, and the game is called…" She paused dramatically "The night hunt!"
Automatically and expectedly, the chatter began.
Mizuki-sensei voice rose above this, forcing people to listen.
"The night hunt is a game and a competition. All your teammates -which are also your roommates- are going to be separated into different areas of the forest. You will be led there by a teacher, blindfolded, so you won't know where they are leading you to. You will wait there for a few minutes before taking off your blindfold and therefore starting the game. You will have to find each member of your team and return back to this cabin. The first to return with all their teammates, wins the game -as well as a prize! However, if you return here without all your teammates you will be disqualified. This game will show and hopefully enhance, your skills individually -when you start off alone, and your teamwork and co-operation to work with others -when you begin to find each other, and have to look for the remaining people of your group."
She paused letting everyone process the information.
"You will be given a backpack that includes a compass, a flashlight, a raincoat, a whistle, a bottle of water, and a first aid kit incase anything happens. You will also be given a flare incase one of you are very badly injured and are unable to continue on, or if you are lost and too scared to continue on. If you want to send up the flare, you have to pull the tag and throw it as high as you can in the air, and teacher will immediately come to your aid. However, if you do send up the flare you are automatically disqualified from the game. This is a perfectly safe game, so you don't have to be worried. There are a few animals lurking in this forest, but most of them are harmless and never before has anyone come back badly injured. The longest this game has ever lasted in this particular forest is eight hours, before the poor girl finally decided to use her flare. Remember, the winners of this game will receive a prize, so try your best. Let the games begin!"
With this said, the four people occupying cabin number one were lead away from the rest of the group.
Sakura bit her lip nervously. She was in cabin two… which means her group was next.
Syaoran -who was standing only a few feet away- noticed this. He leaned sideways and whispered out the corner of his mouth "You scared, Sashimi-san?"
"No!" Sakura snapped back, refusing to admit anything. "And don't call me Sashimi! Only my friends call me by my first name."
Syaoran rolled his eyes before turning and walking away.
She glared at his retreating back before yelping in shock at the hand placed on her shoulder.
"Jumpy, are we?" Jake asked with a knowing smirk plastered on his face. Tomoyo stood next to him, grinning slightly.
"She's always been afraid of ghosts." She offered.
Sakura shot Tomoyo a playful glare. "Only a little." She claimed in a childish tone.
"Puh-lease." Tomoyo chided back. "Do you remember? When we were ten? It was Halloween and Touya had dressed up as a ghost, and when you saw him you almost pissed your pants?"
"Okay, no fair. That does not count… that was six years ago!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Sure it doesn't." Jake said, sarcasm outlining his tone.
"Look---" But Sakura never got the chance to finish her sentence. Because at that moment, her name was called out, along with the names of her other teammates. She stiffened noticeably and walked robotic-like to the front.
She could hear the stifled giggles from Tomoyo and Jake behind her, but chose to ignore it, the overwhelming sense of fear, overpowering all other emotions at that moment of hers.
She gulped, vaguely aware of what Tereda-sensei (another Teacher accompanying the trip) was saying. Something along the lines of safety and precaution… yada yada yada. 'Who cares about that crap when they're about to die?!' She screamed silently to herself.
She soon found herself with a backpack strapped onto her shoulders, blindfolded, and a gentle hand leading her away from the buzz of excitement and aimless chatter of the awaiting students, which gradually faded to the soft hum of nature.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, the teacher who was guiding her halted in her footsteps.
"I'm going to leave you here, by yourself, okay?" The teacher asked her kindly.
Sakura had to bite her tongue from blurting out how she really felt. In the end, she managed to croak out an "Okay."
"Just wait a couple of minutes, until you can no longer hear my footsteps, to take off your blindfold." The teacher instructed, before walking off.
Sakura took a deep breath, trying not to feel claustrophobic in the darkness, now left alone. She strained her ears for the sounds of any footsteps. Hearing none, she gently pulled off the blindfold. It was almost pitch black, with only the moon and the stars to light the way. She could vaguely make out the silhouette of trees looming ahead of her.
She quickly unzipped her backpack and pulled out the flashlight they were given. Switching it on, she shined it at her surroundings. Yup, just a whole bunch of trees.
She heard indistinct crunch from somewhere behind her and whirled around only to see possum dart back into the shadows. Laying a hand over her racing heart she did her best to calm herself.
She suddenly felt something furry brush lightly against her ankle. Squealing and stumbling backwards, her flashlight flinging around loosely in her hand, she wildly tried to find out what it had been. She caught a glimpse of a mouse that had scampered back through a grove of trees.
Cringing, she thought 'God, I hate this game.'
XOXO
Sakura felt like she had been wandering around aimlessly for hours. There was no way of telling whether she was accurate or not, seeing as she didn't have a watch on her.
Deciding to take a break, she brushed of a few stray leaves which lay on a big, flat stone, before sitting herself down on top of it.
Feeling frustrated, she blew on a loose strand of hair hanging in front of her face. When it just fell back to its original position, she narrowed her eyes and furiously blew it again. Having no luck, she swatted it away with her hand.
Suddenly approaching footsteps alerted her to a newcomer. She tensed, sitting rigidly on the rock. Her mind was busily weighing the options between raising her torch and identifying who it was, though at the same time alerting the stranger to her presence, or remaining in the dark, letting the person wander past her. She knew it could just be another student, but at the same time her mind couldn't help coming up with the worst possible situations.
'I could be a murderer or a rapist. Or even worse… a ghost.' She shivered at the thought.
Finally, gathering what courage she had left in her, she raised the torchlight, shining it in the direction from where she had heard the footsteps.
But no one was there.
She frowned, confused. She swung the torch left and right, squinting her eyes to see between the trees. And yet she found absolutely nothing. Not even an animal in sight.
She gulped, starting to feel frightened. She could've sworn she had heard footsteps. Slowly and cautiously, she stood up, her eyes darting back and forth incase something decided to pop up.
"Hello?" She called out, her voice echoing slightly in the grove.
Suddenly she heard a rustling noise from behind her. Whirling around with lightning speed, her torch gripped in her hand so tightly that her knuckles turned white and her eyes wide with fright, frantically searching for the source of the noise, she was met with nothing but darkness.
"Hello?" She repeated, this time her voice reduced to a hoarse whisper.
When again, nothing but silence greeted her, her breath got hitched in her throat, and she stood apprehensively, her body taut and ready.
A brush on her shoulder was all she needed before spinning around so fast that she dropped her torch, as well as hitting whatever it was that stood in front of her.
As soon as her hand made contact with the unknown entity, she let out a piercing, ear-shattering scream -which she held as long as she could- until a hand from behind her, covered her mouth to stifle her shriek, at the same time gripping her around the waist. But this only caused Sakura to struggle even more. Fiercely sinking her teeth into the person's hand, she brutally jutted her elbow out into the person's gut, until he/she cried out (revealing the person as a man) and doubled over.
She then frantically bent over, scrambling to find her torch, for without it, she was practically blind. She soon found it and quickly snatched it, almost dropping it in the process for her hand was shaking so badly. Immediately after, she turned around preparing to sprint off as far away from her attacker as possible, until a hand darted out and seized her ankle, clutching it tightly in his hand.
Letting out another screech, she frenziedly tried to shake the man's hold, but it remained tightly grasped onto her foot. She tried to move forward in a desperate attempt to escape, but as a result fell onto the ground, her hands taking most of the impact.
She twisted around, her legs flailing about, but the man -much stronger than her- managed to climb over her, straddling her around the waist, and gripping both her wrists so she wasn't able to hit him.
She thrashed under him -tears leaking out from the corners of her eyes- but to no avail. Her voice was caught in her throat, and all she managed to squeeze out was a strangled, guttural cry that could barely be heard.
'That's it.' She thought hopelessly. 'I'm going to be raped, and best case scenario I don't also get killed… what kind of hope is that?'
At this thought, she found her voice, and with all the strength she had left, she screamed. She screamed so loudly that she could've sworn she saw birds fly out of trees -like they usually do in the movies.
Her assailant clamped a hand over her mouth once again, leaving one of her hands free. Seizing the opportunity, her hand sailed across, thumping against the man's jaw.
The man howled, both hands flying up to his cheek. She forcefully pushed him off of her, and he fell back with a thump.
Clambering to her feet, she was about to flee when an arm wrapped around her neck, forcing her to become immobile.
"Son of a bitch," A gruff voice spat into her ear, breathing hard at the same time.
Despite the words, Sakura flickered with hope. The voice sounded familiar…
"Li-san?"
He swung her around to face him. "Who the hell did you think it was?" He snapped at her, angrily.
She glared at him furiously, though he probably couldn't even see it in the darkness. "Why the hell did you do that?!" She screamed at him heatedly.
"ME?" He asked her incredulously. "I didn't fucking do anything! You were the one being a bitch and going completely bonkers!"
"Well, that's only because I thought you were going to murder me." Sakura huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "And can you blame me? We're in the middle of a stupid forest, in the middle of the stupid night, with stupid furry animals running around and who knows what else---"
"Why are you so freakin' paranoid?" He growled at her, cutting her off. "Someone touches you and you go berserk. Jesus Christ." He finished irritably, rubbing his jaw, and began to walk away from her.
"Well, you shouldn't have snuck up on me." Sakura shot back stubbornly.
As soon as she said this, she realized she had made a mistake. Syaoran whipped around to face her, and even though she couldn't see them, she was sure his eyes were blazing.
"What the fuck is your problem?!" He snarled at her. "Why are you so damn high maintenance?! You just clobbered me, and somehow I end up getting told off, with you yapping away like a little five year old in my bloody ear, and now you're being the biggest, most annoying bitch I've ever had the misfortune to meet--!"
Without thinking, Sakura raised her hand and slapped him hard on the cheek.
For a second -only a second- they stood in a shocked silence. Then, with an enraged roar, Syaoran grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and slammed her against the bark of a tree.
Sakura cried out, both in pain and alarm.
For a moment, they both stood there, their ragged breaths coming out hard and fast, his fingers digging into her flesh painfully.
"Syaoran, you're hurting me." Sakura choked out softly, afraid of angering him any further.
He let go of her immediately, muttering an inaudible "Sorry" before turning his back on her.
Sakura looked down at the ground before mumbling just as quietly "Me too."
Not able to stand the awkwardness, Sakura went down on her knees, searching for the torch that she dropped. Finding it, she hesitated before shining it in Syaoran's direction. Looking pretty battered, he swiftly raised a hand in front of his eyes -which had become accustomed to the dark- to shield them from the excruciating bright light.
Sakura gasped, catching sight of his palm, which was trickling with blood.
Without a thought, she walked up to him and gently held his bleeding palm in one hand, with the other clutching the torch.
"How did this happen?" She asked him, aghast.
"You bit me." He snapped at her.
She flinched a little, before dropping her gaze to examine his hand, trying her best not to wince when she realized how deep it was.
Suddenly remembering, she began to search for her backpack which included a first aid kit.
Walking back to him, she carefully dabbed some antiseptic over his wound. Her eyes kept going from his hand to his face, checking to see if she was hurting him, but Syaoran didn't even flinch. Once she was done, she gently placed a band-aid over the cut.
"Sorry, that's the best it had." She muttered, avoiding his gaze.
"Thanks." He said softly.
She looked up at him in surprise, taken aback by his mellow tone.
His previously raging amber eyes looked peaceful and content. There was that gentleness which she usually only managed to catch glimpses of.
Stunned, she stumbled back a little. To cover her surprise, she turned to return the antiseptic bottle to her backpack.
"It's the least I could do." She replied, in a slightly higher pitch than normal, her back facing him.
Suddenly, a shrill screech broke the air around them.
They both turned to each other in an instant, Syaoran looking determined while Sakura looked worried.
"Let's go." He said firmly, grabbing her -his grip a lot more loose- and dragging her in the direction from where the voice had come from.
XOXO
Author's Note: Didn't know where to end it. Sorry! It's quite another short chapter. A little darker too, compared to the old version which I made lighter and funnier. For all my faithful fans who are re-reading this story, which did you prefer? Plz tell me in your REVIEWS! They'll certainly light up my particularly dark day. Lol.
Thank you and good night.
XOXO