Chapter 11

Night took forever to pass by. Her dreams seemed to never end, but she had no problem with it. All she saw was a night sky full of shooting stars, and her feelings were marvelous. But when morning had come, the air had smoke in it. Sakura jumped out of bed and rushed down to the kitchen, covering her nose from the smell. "What's going on?!" She yelled

"Uh, I was cooking?" Riccio was standing at the oven trying to cool the element down by blowing on it and holding the pan up that had egg in it. But when he turned around, his face went blank as if Sakura wasn't supposed to be there. In seconds everybody was down outside the kitchen looking at Riccio to see what he was doing, and pretending that Sakura wasn't there.

"Riccio! What are you doing? Trying to burn the place down?" Prosper scolded. He was always trying to be the mature one when Scipio wasn't there

"You guys were still asleep! And I was hungry! You try dragging that fat snoop up to the projector room and going to sleep on an empty stomach!" Riccio stood on his toes trying to intimidate Prosper. They kept on bickering about Riccio's cooking, when everyone went off to get something warm on, it was in the middle of fall, and the heating system in the Stella wasn't that good.

"Hornet?" Sakura spun around and caught Hornets arm, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh. Sure" Hornet was still not looking at Sakura. They both went up to Hornet's room, or library if you prefer since it was always full of books. The floor was cold against their feet, but once they got to Hornet's room, both their feet met a warm blanket that was like a carpet for her, the red carpet that covered the ground of the Stella wasn't enough, "Um. What is it?"

"Last night, I felt like I was suddenly not accepted anymore. I don't blame you for not acting like that but," She paused to take a breath in, "I just don't want it to stay like that."

"Okay, I know you are human and that your world is like this world but..." Hornet sat down on her bed that was surrounded by books of all colors and sizes

"You feel that I can't be trusted?" Sakura sat down across from Hornet

"No, it's just that. You kept it a secret from us. So because of that, you may be keeping other secrets too."

Sakura froze and thought what she was going to say, "Well, everybody has a secret or two. But my secret was something that nobody thought would exist, I was just afraid what would happen if I said anything."

"Well, since you told us the truth, and now that you said that, I think everything will be fine between us." Hornet smiled and picked up a book called 'Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe'.

"We have that book, in my world." Sakura pointed at the book in Hornet's hands

"Really?"

"Yep. It's a popular book."

"Yeah, it came out in theaters, but I didn't get to see it." Hornet frowned

"Oh, well it was a good movie. I saw the new one and the old one. The new witch is different than the old one." Sakura smiled and was happy that she had talked to Hornet. Eventually Hornet and Sakura left to help Riccio with cooking, but Riccio was still ignoring Sakura. The day took forever to pass by, Sakura borrowed a book from Hornet trying to pass the time, but she finished it in a few hours. It was noon when she put the book back in Hornets room, but now she figured out that she could only get to different world by reading aloud. She tried to sleep but she just lay there with her eyes wide open.

Irritated, she got up and picked out the clothes she was going to wear that night. She couldn't decide. The clothes that she had were not that good for going out on a date, but she chose the best of what she had. A white zip-up hoody, jeans, and her black boots. It was good enough, even if she would be kinda cold.

Sakura went on with her day that was going by too slow for her. Prosper, Hornet and Riccio went out to watch the house they were going to raid. Mosca, Bo and Sakura stayed and worked on the projector. Bo was just sitting there staring at Victor with and was thinking, his face always showed how he was feeling. Mosca was fine with Sakura being around, but was still a bit nervous. "Do you need any help?" Bo asked Mosca

"No, I think we may be done for today." He said putting down a small screwdriver

"Yeah, I don't think we can do anything without parts." Sakura stretched her arms up to the ceiling. They all left one by one, but before Sakura left, Victor said "Hey, wait a minute."

"What?" Sakura came over to sit in front of him

"I don't believe that you are from another world." Victor said with a small smile on his face

"Why? I know how you met Prosper and Riccio."

"How?" he said with an even bigger smile on his face that had disbelief all over it

"Well, Prosper and Riccio were walking past a bakery. You only noticed that they were there when Riccio called Prosper back over to the bakery." Sakura chuckled, "You went over to them after you put on your fake moustache and asked Prosper 'Your name is Prosper isn't it?'. Prosper ran off then Riccio hit you in the stomach with his head and ran off."

Victor's mouth was wide open and trying to say something. But nothing came out.

"Well I gotta go now so I hope you like your stay here." she got up and left Victor alone still with his mouth open.

They day still took awhile to go by; Sakura took a shower, and then got dressed at about 3:30. Finally Scipio came at around 4:15, wearing his usual clothes, black and white stripped shirt with jeans and a belt. It was so quiet it was like he never came in, but Sakura noticed him come in. She was standing at the rail of her room when she noticed he slipped through the curtains and snuck over to Bo. Before Bo noticed he was there, Scipio lifted him up into the air trying to be playful. Bo let out a small playful scream when he felt his feet leaving the ground. As Scipio put Bo down he looked up to find Sakura staring at him with a small smirk on her face. He smiled back with the same warmth her smile gave off, Prosper came rushing over to see if Bo was alright, and Bo was laughing and asking if Scipio could do it again. But he said no. As usual Scipio had a bag over his shoulder full of stolen goods from the adults. Sakura made her why down to see Scipio, trying not to blush at the fact she was going on a date with him.

"Hey, Scip." She greeted him

"Hey," he continued to smile, "I did a small raid last night. There are a couple decent items there, but they should be enough to top up the money box."

"Ha. I bet that fat, old, slime ball is gonna try to sell us short again." Riccio laughed

"Well, all Prosper has to do is set the price a bit higher than what we want. That Barbarossa should raise his price a little." Sakura tried to help

"I don't think that is a bad idea." Prosper agreed. Sakura was happy that he didn't treat her like she wasn't there

"Yeah, it does sound okay." Riccio still wasn't looked at Sakura. But she didn't care what he thought now.

"Okay then. We'll go with Sakura's plan then." Scipio put all the goods back in the bag and handed it to Prosper, "I promised Sakura that I would show her around Venice again."

"Yeah, I swear! If I go out alone, I'll be lost in five minutes. Even if I was already told where everything is." It was obviously a lie, but nobody thought that because they were all laughing

"Let's hurry before it gets dark. I don't want you to fall behind." Scipio laughed quietly heading towards the door. Sakura followed shaking her head, as if she was actually annoyed by what Scipio said. They both got out of the Stella and started laughing quietly. They went to the San Marco first so that if the others were following them, they could quickly get away by going through the crowds of tourists.

"Were to now Mr. Tour guide?" Sakura said trying not to fall over with all the people pushing through

"I have to go back to my house and get changed." Scipio looked around

"Why?"

"You really think I'm going out in this?"

"Well if you want to go change it's fine with me."

"Good. I also have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?"

"Yeah, come on." Scipio took her hand and lead her out of the crowd and through the alleys too his house. Scipio never looked back at Sakura while they were weaving through the crowds of people. The cold air nipped at both of their faces, but neither of them cared about that. Scipio kept on pulling on her arm. If he didn't stop soon, her shoulder would pop out of place. They finally stopped at a giant house that reflected against the water like it was only something you would see in a dream. The yellow paint looked as if it was glowing; the black paint on the big doors was pealing off.

"So how do we get up?" Sakura looked around for the rope Scipio used

"This." Scipio pulled out a rope that looked new and unused from a the small alley next to the house

"Oh, okay." Sakura looked into the window, "Isn't you father home?"

"No, he has work today. He won't be home for a few hours." he threw the rope that now had hook on it up to the balcony that could barely fit one person, "So we're safe."

Scipio was the first one up to the balcony, he got up there and opened the French doors to his room and waved Sakura to come up. She did what he told her to do without even thinking about it. When she reached the rail Scipio was holding out his hand for her to take. "You're a lot better at climbing ropes than I am." She took his hand

"Well, you're better at some stuff." Scipio pulled her over the rail and led her into his room. She could never get used to how big it was.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well, you can jump from roof top to roof top without hesitation." he said going over to his desk that was next to the balcony doors and took out a dark blue velvet box, "And you have a special power."

Sakura sighed, "What's that?"

"Close your eyes." she did. Her heart was pounding from the excitement was whirling around in her head, "Open."

There in the box lay the gold heart necklace he bought for her, the crystal sparkled in the light. Sakura's mouth dropped, "Wow." she whispered and took the box from him. Scipio laughed quietly still smiling.

"Do you like it?" What a stupid question. She looked up and just looked at him forgetting how to speak,

"Uh, yeah! I love it!" He took the box and took the necklace out and went behind Sakura. He brought it over her head and wrapped it around her neck and clipped the ends together, she turned around and looked him in the eyes, "Thank you so much." and hugged him.

"You're welcome."

"Well, I'll wait outside while you change" she said when she unwrapped her arms from his neck

"Okay." Scipio went to a door that seemed to lead to his closet and opened it. There was a nice new pair of jeans with a tuxedo jacket with a tan colored shirt. Sakura continued to out towards the rope hanging from the balcony. In a second she was down on the ground, she didn't even bother using the rope, her feet hurt from how high she had jumped from, but she didn't care. The one she loved, was also in love with her, that was all that mattered right then.

Scipio was changing as fast as he could, he didn't want to stay away from Sakura right now. He was overwhelmed that he was a thief, and he had his heart stolen from him, but at least the right person had stolen it. Sakura, her name rung in his ears for a time that seemed like forever. He was all dressed, and quickly threw his shoes on then headed for the balcony. "Done!"

"Okay." Sakura looked up at him, as he climbed down the rope. When he got down to the bottom he threw the rope around a bit to unhook it from the rail, but it didn't work. "Will this work?" Sakura handed him a broom stick handle.

He poked at the hook for awhile, when it finally came off; it made a huge clank sound when it hit the ground. He quickly dragged the rope into the alley with the broom stick handle. He came back over to Sakura holding his arm out like a gentleman. She took it laughing quietly. Scipio was going through the alleys still holding onto Sakura. They took a vaporetti through canal grande and then took a gondola to a restaurant that looked expensive. There was a red carpet leading to the door and waiters at the door with white cloths hanging over their arms, Scipio got out of the gondola first and put out his hand to help Sakura out, again she took his hand without thinking. As they walked down the carpet to the doors of the restaurant two other people came out complaining about the food and the wine, the lady had red hair the was obviously dyed because you could see little gray hairs under the red, and the man had gray hair combed back and was wearing a gray business suit. The old lady didn't watch where she was going and rammed her shoulder into Sakura.

"Watch it!" the old lady snapped at her

"Why don't you?" Sakura spat back at her and continued to walk with Scipio. The old lady was baffled at how Sakura had spoken to her. The old man started to pull her along away from Sakura and Scipio and into the gondola that sat at the edge of the canal. "She looks familiar. But I can quite tell who she is." Sakura whispered

"Probably another rich tourist thinking that she is the Queen of England or something." Scipio whispered back

"Yeah, probably." But Scipio didn't hear her; he was too busy finding the reservations that he booked for them. The waiter had slick black hair and a french moustache. He looked at Scipio as if he was too young to be going to a fancy restaurant like this one. But all Scipio did was look back with the most mature face Sakura had ever seen; the waiter looked at her and led them to their table without a sound. The table had a white cloth over it and there was a small candle in the middle of the table the looked like it had been burning for awhile, the seats had white cushions and oak legs. Sakura looked around, awed at what stood before her. When the waiter placed the menus down on the table he left without even asking them if they wanted drinks. Scipio pulled out a chair for Sakura to sit down, again acting like a gentleman. Sakura looked around surprised at what she was seeing, all the door frames had white curtains, the walls were a beautiful dark red, and the windows looked out onto the Grand Canal with the setting sun reflecting off the water. The music was soothing, each note was a perfect sound that if you just sat and listened to it for long enough, it would sing you to sleep.

"So, what do you think of this place?" Scipio asked sitting down in his own chair

"It's so...Wow! I think I dressed too casual."

"Don't worry, you look great." The waiter brought them some water and left again, not even saying a word.

"Thank you." she said looking at the waiter then looking back at Scipio, "Really?"

"Yes." Scipio took a sip from his water then checked his menu, Sakura did the same. They had decided their meals Scipio had to ask the waiter to come over to order. Scipio had a steak teriyaki, while Sakura had shrimp ravioli. The waiter when to the back of the kitchen giving the order to the chiefs, a couple minutes later a chief and the rude waiter popped their heads around the corner to see Scipio and Sakura. They were talking and not sensing that they were being watched. Suddenly there was yelling from the chief, Sakura and Scipio whipped their heads to face the loud voice.

"What are you saying?!" the chiefs voice tried to whisper, but everyone in the restaurant could still hear him, "That is the son of Dottore Massimo! You are so lucky I'm not telling our boss what you wanted to do!" The chief dragged the waiter into the kitchen muttering under his breath. Sakura laughed quietly and looked back at Scipio.

"Wow, your father must have come here quite a few times for the chief to be acting like that." she combed her fingers through her bangs

"Well, he has been here a few times. I just can't believe that he is respected by other people." Scipio's face went serious

"What do you mean?"

"Uh...It's nothing." He looked down at his drink; his finger was sliding around the top of the glass. Sakura tilted her head, curiosity filled her head slowly, and she knew that she would find out sooner or later. But she decided not to talk about it for now. The time ticked by, it felt like each second was a whole hour. It felt very uncomfortable, Sakura started to feel bad for asking him what he meant by 'I just can't believe that he is respected by other people'. Finally Scipio spoke, he apologized for the awkward silence, their conversations started to pick up again. Soon they began to forget about why they stopped talking. When their food came they had a new waiter, he too had slick black hair, but no mustache, and he had a welcoming smile on his face. Scipio and Sakura both thanked the waiter, and started to eat. The food tasted so good compared to what Hornet usually cooked back at the Stella. Scipio seemed to be used to this food, he probably had steak a million times.

"This is delicious! I've had shrimp before, but it never tasted this good." Sakura said after swallowing

"That's good." Scipio smiled taking another drink.

Sakura was so happy, she never wanted this day to end, but sadly it did. After they had dessert, Scipio paid the bill with his cash. Sakura took a peek at the bill, her mouth dropped when she saw the price. It was over 150 Euros. Scipio took Sakura's hand to get her attention; he put the money with the bill and took Sakura out of the restaurant.

"Did you like it?" Scipio asked, he guided Sakura through the streets that where embraced in darkness.

"Yeah, it was great. I never thought that I would ever eat at a place like that." Sakura looked up at Scipio; he was a few inches taller than her. She always wanted to be taller; she was older that most of her friends back in her world by about a month or two, but they were all taller than her. It made her mad when they all said she was their 'little sister'. But now that didn't matter so much because of her new life.

"Well, that's not all."

"Huh?"

"Just wait. You'll see." he placed his arm around her shoulders and gave her a playful one armed hug.

"But shouldn't we get back to the others soon. We said we would be back before dark."

"I don't think they'll be worried. They should know that Venice seems to have more magic at night." Scipio stopped and turned Sakura to face a beautiful boat that was laced in lights. Sakura glided up to it speechless. She gently slid her fingers along the edge of the boat as if it would disappear when she touched it.

"You went all out! This is amazing; you didn't have to do all this for me."

"I know, but I wanted to." he jumped into the boat and held out his hand for Sakura to take...

Sorry I haven't been writing for awhile, but I have exams to study for and I've just been busy with that. Please write a review!!!!