Hey there!
I have a new job and it's really nice to prepare my fanfic! I answer questions on the phone when clients call or when they come to my desk, but that's not so often, and transfer important calls to my superiors. Most of the time, I don't have a single thing to do, but I have a computer and a connexion to internet; see me coming? Yes, I can write and make sure my story is fine. And I can answer to your reviews. Though the marketing office sometimes gives me work to do and then, of course, it is my priority. The thing that's really hard about this job is that you have to sit during 8 or 9 hours straight! My ass is hating me right now lol. But I like this job. It's well paid, most people are nice and I work 42 hours per week during summer so it's great to store some money lol. That, I will do until june-july. Afterwards, I might be assigned to either painting or taxes. Different chores, I know, I don't mind. Anyway, until then, I don't think there will be any problem with my updating.

Okay, so I think you will hate me after reading this chapter. Why? I've been doing this to you once in a while, but now it's two times in a row. What the heck am I saying? I'll be ending this story quite abruptly, but come on, you know you love me for doing so; you love drama lol.

Okay, on with the story

R&R

Traduction: The title means '' A snake knows how to strike unexpectedly''

Wiccacraeft

Chapter 10: Un serpent sait attaquer par surprise

Tomoyo-chan and I took our horses' reins and went outside the stable by the doors opposite to the ones we had entered by.

Will was right. Mia was the nervous type, but it didn't really matter to me; since I was a little girl, I had noticed animals tended to be attracted or easily by me. I couldn't say why. But therefore, Mia represented no problem at all and I was easily able to mount her.

Few minute later, the guys and the instructor got out of the stable too with their own horses. Eriol-san's horse seemed to be ratter obeying, but Li's was behaving more wildly and was pulling hard to escape from my bodyguard's grasp. Will looked at Tomoyo-chan and me.

"Very good ladies! You're already on your horses! Sakura, I'm impressed you were able to mount her so quickly. Some of my skilful clients had to soothe her for five to fifteen minutes!"

"Mia is great, but are you sure Li-san's horse isn't too much agitated? Isn't there another horse?" Concern appeared on Will's face while he mounted his horse and joined Tomoyo-chan and me under a furnished tree.

"Huh. Huh. That's what I wanted to do, but your boyfriend gave me a clear description of the type of horse he wants."

I looked at Li, soothing and restraining his horse; what was in this little brain of his! If the horse was to become too frustrated, my "dear" bodyguard would get injured; no matter how idiot he could be, it was not something I was hoping for.

Suddenly, I realised something...

"Who told you he is my boyfriend?" Will stared at me, puzzled.

"Nobody, I just thought..." I didn't let him finish his sentence; I could hear Tomoyo-chan's giggle on my left.

"No. No. No. No. No. Huh. Huh. He is not my boyfriend." Will stayed stunned for a moment and then chuckled.

"Your denial is a bit too enthusiastic, but fine by me. He is an idiot then if he hasn't tried anything to earn your interest." I sulked on the first part of his reply and reflected on the other one.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You can. Say, one of my friend's friends is having a party at the beach house of his parents tonight. Would you like to come?" Li's deep voice answered in my stead.

"As long as she doesn't go alone." Will turned around on his horse and stared a t my bodyguard.

"You managed to make Tornado accept you! Impressing. And of course, the invitation was for the four of you. Here." Somehow, his voice was not sunny anymore, more like a little hard... Challenging.

Will took out from one of his pockets a ranch's card and a pen and wrote what I presumed was the party's address. He handed it to me since I was the nearest. Afterwards, he explained the rules: to stay on the ranch's ground. It was encircled by a wooden fence which you could barely see since it was so far.

Will pointed the different parts of the plain; one covered by trees, one where you could face obstacles and one where you could just speed off.

Afterwards, he invited us to do whatever we wanted with our horses; we were free to go. I approached Li.

"What's with the attitude? And how did you earn such a stubborn horse? Were you rude to William again like back in the stable?" Li's eyes pierced me like a bullet.

"I'm your bodyguard and I just don't like the way he's acting towards yo...the way he's acting. And what's with your attitude? You were more difficult to approach when you first met me. You're growing careless." I stared at him, not believing he was actually the one saying those words.

"Oh, please! That's how Caucasians behave! Of course, in Japan, we're less intimate, but here, it's different! People are not afraid to touch someone or of what they'll look like if they do." Li snorted.

"Fine. I'm just doing my job. I couldn't care less." Somehow, his comment hurt me. But of course, he was just doing his job. That was all there was between us.

I left him and for the whole afternoon, we kept distant from each other. Will, on the other hand kept coming back to where I was to make sure everything was alright. It was really a pleasure to be with him; funny, joyful, playful... Of course he had a job to do and was often visiting how my friends were doing.

Suddenly, when I was at the far end of the meadow, a pang pierced my lungs. And the next moment, my horse was neighing and was up on her two back legs. I tried to hold onto the reins, but Mia was just too frightened and agitated; I fell on the hard ground made of sand and grass, my back hitting the floor and the air being pushed out of my lungs.

Unsteadily, I managed to stand up while Mia escaped, furiously running. I didn't have time to even ask myself what had frightened her so much; the answer was a few meters away from my feet. A snake.

I had no idea if it was poisonous or not and it didn't matter one bit because this snake was in attack mode and mainly because I was deeply, unconditionally, furiously afraid of snakes since I was a kid.

In those situations, people's reactions can be either to fight, fly or freeze. Mine was to freeze. My consciousness was not focused on the process of my mind anymore; it was filled with the snake.

It was sticking his tongue, in and out, his head slightly balancing and his eyes... glaring... And I could do nothing besides trembling. Tears were not even free to spill; I was tetanised.

Suddenly, I felt like an iron bar hitting me on my left side and swinging me up. It was Li.

He had grabbed me by the waist while his horse was still running and had placed me on the saddle in front of him.

"Hey! Are you okay? Did it bite you? Sakura answer me!" I jolted at my name, but I didn't answer. I wasn't conscious yet; all I could do was to hold onto his shirt as strongly as I could.

I heard other horses' footsteps.

"Is she okay? What happened?"

"She's fine, go check on the horse, Tomoyo-san and I will take care of her." Li's noice sounded like a bark, but Will listened to him even if he was rude.

"Why is she like this?" The question was meant for Tomoyo-chan to answer.

"Snake has always been what she feared the most. It's her phobia."

I finally managed to release Li's shirt, finger by finger, and to produce logical thoughts and sentences.

"I'm afraid of them since childhood." My voice was still shaky, but comprehensible.

"Ever thought to see a professional?"

"It can't be cured. That's the way it is." My bodyguard frowned.

"How so? Why?" I tiredly sighed.

"The night my mother died, I was half sleeping in my father's arms and I dreamt of her being enveloped and strangled by a huge snake. In my dreams, I was helpless, no surprise there, but while killing my mother, the snake turned its head towards me and looked right into my eyes. It wasn't talking, of course, but words were echoing into my mind: "I'll come after you too". That's the way it was supposed to be and that's what happened too. Half an hour later, my mother was dead."

"Wait a minute; your mother was killed by a snake."

"No, but what killed her was just as sneaky and vicious... Lurking in the dark." Li frowned once again.

"Vague as always. Won't you tell me what I'm protecting you from? It's ridiculous!" I looked at Tomoyo-chan who was nervously twisting her hands. I shook my head; this secret was mine to tell and I had decided not to: I didn't want to appear as a victim. Maybe it was misplaced pride, but I didn't want Li to see me as such.

"You have your secrets, I have mine."Li's features hardened.

"Fine."

Will came back to our little group with Mia tied to his own horse with Eriol-san on his tail; they had managed to calm Mia down.

Will looked apologetically at me.

"I'm sorry. I knew Mia was nervous around snake, but I never knew she could throw such a tantrum because of it." That could be my fault: The connection I had with Mia amplified her fear with mine. This was what the gift I had could do... a side effect.

"Don't worry about it. A few bumps here and there. It's no big deal, really."

"Maybe you should stay home tonight instead of partying..."

"Nonsense..."

"Great idea..." I looked at Li who had, of course, instantly agreed with William on the last proposition.

"I'm fine! And I want to go. It will be fun. Stay at home it you want, but I'm going." I heard a barely audible growl coming from Li's throat.

"Fine, we'll go." I heard Tomoyo-chan and Eriol-san nodding. So it was settled.

We arrived at a four floors beach house at nine that evening. Judging from the animation there was there, the party was only beginning, but the music was already in his full swing.

We let our coats in the car and took out the alcohol we had brought with us. That's something I had learnt in America; when you're going to a party, still bring something to drink or you'll be badmouthed during the night.

We entered the house without knocking and made our way towards an animated room where we could hear babbling; the living room.

It was not that crowded in fact; the majority of the guests were on the verand, but Will was there, laughing with a large group of young adults.

When he saw us, he immediately jumped out of the group and came to us. He was brightly smiling as always.

"You came! I'm glad. Let me introduce you to my friends!" He took my hand and motioned to the others to follow him.

"Sakura, Tomoyo, Eriol and Li, let me introduce you all to Melinda, Michael, David, Jessica, Audrey, Clark, Kyle and Tyler." I loosened my hand free from his grasp to shake hands with his friends. Tomoyo-chan, Eriol-san and Li did the same.

The girl named Jessica whistled.

"Wow! And here I thought Asians were small! Is everything proportional? 'Cause if it is, sign me in!" I frowned, not understanding the meaning of her words.

"What for?" Will gave me an apologetic look.

"She just dumped her "plus one". Don't mind her." I looked at Tomoyo-chan, unsure of what it meant. Again. I knew about parties, but I actually never had gone to one so I felt a bit out of my secure zone. But this time, I didn't ask what was all about; I had seen the boys small smiles when I had asked for clarification.

Afterwards, the alcohol we had brought was put on the bar and we were given a drink. By then, the house was hot and animated and we had to scream to be heard.

And during this whole hour, Li had kept silent. Maybe sulking though I wasn't sure why.

When our group really couldn't hear each other anymore, we decided to go to the dance floor that had been created in the living room by pushing in the corners the couches. We could have gone outside on the veranda too, but the night was fresh and I was wearing a brown flowing skirt, decorated with blue flowers, ending above the knees and a sleeveless blue shirt. Tomoyo-chan wasn't much more dressed so we stayed inside.

Will invited me to dance with him while Eriol-san did the same with Tomoyo-chan. I accepted though I wasn't sure of how to dance with a guy in front of me; dancing alone on a rythmed song was fine since it was kind of natural for me, but with boys which were rarely good dancers... Well, it was a bit stressing me out.

It turned out it didn't matter; all we did was face each other and dance our own way thought Will was always making me laugh with his funny moves.

From where I was dancing, I could see Li who had joined some drinking games. Jessica and Audrey had followed him and were laughing and flirting with him while cheering for him. They were pretty... both tanned, one with curly blond hair, the other with honey brown fashionably cut short hair; harmonious bodies too... though their faces could have had less makeup on.

And not once did Li look at me to make sure I was alright. Lousy bodyguard.

At eleven, I had drunk several drinks and was a bit tipsy. Just a little. Just to be lightheaded and a bit unbalanced on my legs. William proposed to me another drink. I nodded. I wasn't drunk so it was okay, right? I could still think clearly, I swear.

Yet, I really needed to go to the bathroom so I warned Tomoyo-chan who was nearby and left to search for the needed bathroom without waiting for her reply.

If there was one on the first floor, I ignored them; everyone had gone there. Instead, I went upstairs to find one. However, it was occupied. I didn't feel like waiting so I decided to test my luck with the third floor. I was right to do so. This bathroom was neat and the floor was quiet. I could hear myself thinking which was a good thing since alcohol wasn't helping me to do so.

Once I was done, I began to take my leave to go downstairs, but something caught my attention: a room was illuminated, the door completely opened. It was a study room. It was empty, but the light was turned on; someone must have been curious and visited the room, but forgot to turn everything off.

I was curious too so I entered the classic and furnished room. The desk was made of wood and was really huge and imposing. The leather chair seemed to be extremely cozy. Behind the desk, a full wall was occupied by bookshelves while another corner of the room was converted into a little lounge. This place was radiating education and money.

End of chapter 10

So, what did you think? Am I perfectly despicable? Kidding. But the fact is that I had written the correct amount of pages so I stopped at a moment I could do so. Everything is written in a booklet, remember?

By the way, maybe there is some errors, because sometimes I was distracted by people calling or passing by.

If you have time, don't forget to leave a review! I have a lot of free time!
Take care!
Lune-diamant