Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to own, anything Marimite, it all belongs to the creators
Chapter Eleven- Hostages
The next few days were, as far as Sakura was concerned, quite boring. Nothing happened, there was no word from Sakura's uncle regarding her grandfather's hunt for them, Lance kept undercover when he went to buy groceries and Sakura had yet to make up her mind about what to do with her uncle's serum. Finally, after looking at every possible angle, and considering what she had overheard during the conversation between Lance and her uncle, Sakura made up her mind and made the decision about which of them got the serum.
"Hey Lance," Sakura called, retrieving the bottle from the cabinet in her bedroom and returning to the living room where she had been reading earlier.
"Yea?" Lance called back, wondering what on earth Sakura wanted.
"Come into the living room, I've made a decision." She sat down on the couch and waited for Lance.
"Made a decision? About the serum?" Lance asked, entering from the kitchen where he had been preparing their lunch.
"Yea, I did." Sakura answered, motioning Lance to take the seat across from her.
"And?" Lance asked, sitting down and not letting the hope he was feeling enter his voice.
"Here." Sakura passed him the bottle and sat back as Lance looked at it incredulously.
"What? You're..." Lance was too shocked to speak.
"I considered every possible angle and based my decision on that." Sakura stated. "I realized that I don't need to become human, nor do I want to become human, because I have people who care about me for me and don't give a damn that I'm not like them. Also, I feel that I can do a lot more good in this world as a Draconian than I can as a human. Besides," she held up a finger silencing Lance's attempted protests, "didn't you always tell me that all you ever wanted was to be a normal teen, to go to school, goof off and talk about girls with your friends? You told me once that you were orphaned when you were a kid, thus was never normal. This is your chance to become that teen that you wished to be. You won't have my grandfather coming after you and you won't have any of the responsibilities that we have now when we shouldn't." Sakura leaned back to study Lance's reaction, and then continued. "I won't force you to drink it of course, the choice is entirely yours. However, I will warn you now that if you do, or don't, take this chance, I will not be drinking that serum ever, so don't even think about being chivalrous and telling me to drink it."
"I...I...wow, Sakura, you make this tough on a guy you know." Lance said, looking at Sakura who had to keep herself from laughing.
"I know," Sakura said, smiling slightly, "but you have to realize that I have been thinking about this these past few days and came to the conclusion myself."
"Well, I wouldn't want to waste all the brain and willpower it took for you to come to this conclusion, so I will comply with your wishes."
"You will?" Sakura asked, surprised, she thought it would have been harder to convince Lance to drop the chivalry and drink the serum himself.
"I will." To prove his point, Lance transformed into his Draconian form and downed the serum in one go.
Meanwhile...
Yumi sighed, it had been at least a week since Sakura had come to tell her friends good-bye and the mood within the Rose Mansion, and the Yamayurikai themselves, had changed drastically. Sachiko was constantly worrying, Shimako was quieter than usual, Youko and Eriko didn't seem to be putting as much effort into meetings anymore, Rei hadn't baked anything in a long time and even Sei and Yoshino had become more subdued in their antics. Yumi herself was quite worried about her friend as well and was constantly thinking about where Sakura might be now.
"Yumi?" Yumi stopped her depressing thoughts and looked across the table to Yoshino who looked concerned. Before she could reply, however, the door to the meeting room burst open and the Yamayurikai were immediately surrounded by men with guns in black uniforms.
"What is the meaning of this?" Sachiko, who had stood up with the rest of the Yamayurikai when the door burst open, demanded, glaring at the men in black.
"Our apologies miss," one of the men said, "we did not mean to come in here so suddenly unannounced, but we are under orders to bring the group of you back to the Ogasawara household."
"And why is that?" Sachiko asked, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach.
"For your protection miss," a second man answered, "your grandfather has discovered a plot against him and believes that the plotters may use you as a hostage to get to him."
"I see, and why must the others join me?" Sachiko asked, the sinking feeling getting stronger.
"Because your grandfather believes that, if the plotters can't get you directly, they may use them to get to you and use you to get to him." A third man answered.
"Very well, we'll go back to the mansion with you." Sachiko reluctantly agreed, giving the others a look that said 'keep quiet about Sakura and follow my lead'. The Yamayurikai nodded discreetly and, without any resistance, allowed the men to load them into black BMWs and drive to the Ogasawara's place.
Sakura watched as Lance began to glow a soft white and his Draconian form gradually disappeared until all that was left was the human Lance with a set of white wings and a silver sword hanging at his hip.
"Huh?" Sakura asked, standing up and tugging on Lance's wings and inspecting the blade. "I thought the serum was supposed to get rid of most Draconian traits, except for the heightened senses and strength."
"I guess the wings are part of the deal with keeping those traits." Lance said. "But I definitely can't create fire out of thin air anymore," he demonstrated for Sakura who nodded in affirmation, "and my Draconian form does not include the armour, I still have the sword though, so I would say that your uncle's serum worked."
"But what about the wings?" Sakura asked. "What are you going to do about those?"
"They're easy to hide," Lance answered, shrugging his shoulders, "if I get sick of it, I can always go to your uncle and see if he can surgically remove them."
"I guess that could work," Sakura said, thoughtfully still wondering why the wings didn't disappear. Before they could ponder the effects of the serum any longer, they heard a scraping sound and looked towards the front door to see an envelope lying in front of it, obviously have been pushed through the crack under the door.
"What's that?" Lance asked as Sakura walked over and picked up the envelope.
"It's a letter," Sakura said, pointing out the obvious and realizing that the slanted, black handwriting on the envelope was her uncle's.
"No, really?" Lance asked sarcastically while Sakura opened the envelope and withdrew the letter, written in the same black handwriting as the address on the envelope did.
"Sakura," it read, "I have just received word that Sachiko, and the other members of the Lillian Yamayurikai, are to be staying at the main Ogasawara mansion. Apparently, you grandfather has discovered some sort of plot against him and he is bringing them there and leaving them in the underground areas under high security (bodyguards, men with guns, laser beams etc.), for their own protection, at least that is what I have been told. I, however, do not believe a word of it. Something fishy is going on so expect a letter from my father sometime soon. Please, be careful and deal with that serum ASAP. Your Uncle."
"What's it mean?" Lance asked, reading the paper over Sakura's shoulder.
"Trouble." Sakura stated, paling and tossing the letter in the trash.
"What's wrong?" Lance asked, noticing Sakura's anger and trying not to get himself in trouble with her.
"WHAT'S WRONG?!" Sakura exclaimed, rounding on Lance. "What's wrong?!" She repeated, beginning to pace the room. "Everything's wrong! My sister and my friends are practically hostages in her own house and...OH MY GOD!" She turned towards Lance, face pale and eyes wide. "Hostages! That's it! They're not in the underground area at Sachiko's house under high security 'for their own protection'! They're hostages! And the letter from my grandfather he mentioned must be his terms for letting them go free and...!" She was interrupted when the scraping sound returned and a second letter appeared from under the door. Sakura raced over, ripped open the envelope and read the enclosed letter before angrily shoving it in Lance's face and continuing to pace the room.
Lance looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. "Sakura," it said, "I'm not going to beat around the bush because I know that you know who I am and I also know that you know what I'm informing you about. As you have probably already figured out, I have Sachiko and your other little friends as hostages in the main mansion so that I can keep a close eye on them. What I want from you, in order to free them unharmed, is simple. I want you, or Lance, whichever one of you is still a Draconian (yes I know about my second son's serum) to pledge your loyalty and obedience to me. That is all. Come here and do that, and your friends are released unharmed. I look forward to your visit."
"Wow," Lance said, handing the letter back to Sakura who promptly ripped it up and threw it in the trash, "never one to waste time is he, your grandfather?"
"No," Sakura agreed, still pacing.
"So what are you going to do then?" Lance asked, already knowing the answer.
"I'm going to go," Sakura said, stopping her pacing and facing Lance with a determined look, "but I'm not going to agree to his terms."
"You're going to break them out and deal with him once and for all?" Lance asked, knowing what his friend was like.
"Naturally," Sakura said, smirking. "I'm going to give him the fight of his life."
"Here we go again," Lance said, sighing as he realized they were going to attempt something stupid and remembered what happened the last time Sakura got that look in her eyes. The two of them were barely four years old and Lance had dared her to jump off the roof of her uncle's house and fly. Sakura took on that dare and, with a determined look in her eye, climbed to the roof and jumped off. Unfortunately, she had not been old enough for her wings to work and she wound up breaking her arm and receiving a scolding from her uncle.
"Oh no you don't," Sakura said, glaring at Lance, "You're not a Draconian anymore, so you probably don't heal at the same rate that you used to. I'm not going to have you die because I decided to go against my grandfather's wishes."
"And I'm not going to have you go walking into a, possible, trap by yourself," Lance retorted. "Besides, I can still fly and I can still fight," he pointed out, indicating his wings and sword.
"Fine," Sakura said, going into her room and getting her bag, "but I'm only agreeing because I don't have the time, or the will, to argue with you."
"Didn't think you did," Lance said, smirking, as he followed Sakura out the door.
At the Ogasawara mansion, Sakura and Lance snuck around the back and climbed the wall. After dropping down to the ground on the other side, they scurried past the guards that, undoubtedly, had been positioned by Sakura's grandfather and made it to an oak tree in the middle of the grounds.
"What are we doing here?" Lance asked as Sakura began lightly tapping the tree in different places.
"This is another entrance," Sakura explained, tapping the tree three times in a particular spot before a hidden door swung open. "It'll take us right to where grandfather is supposed to be holding Sachiko and the others."
"If you say so," Lance said, following her as she entered the hollowed out tree before the door swung closed behind them.
"I found this place a long time ago when I was a kid," Sakura told Lance as they followed a winding passageway. "No one else knows about it, so it's the perfect entrance for us who want to get in without getting noticed.
"I see," Lance said, it was all he could think of to say.
After what seemed like forever to Lance, Sakura stopped and opened a large door quietly. She poked her head out, looked around and crept out, motioning for Lance to follow her. Once he was out, Sakura quietly closed the door and surveyed the scene. They were standing along a side wall in what seemed to be a large antechamber made of metal. There were beams all along the ceiling and a carpet on the floor in the middle of the room. On the walls on either side of them, there were alcoves and shelves of books and weapons and on the wall across from them was a large set of double doors. Skirting around the carpet that she knew hid a trap door; Sakura led Lance to the double doors. Giving him a look out of the corner of her eye, she threw the doors open to reveal a scene that made her blood boil with fury.
The room they had just entered had the look of a great hall in a medieval castle. There were four long tables on either side of the room and a dark red carpet led to a slightly raised platform at the far end. There were torch brackets along the walls and on the platform sat a large throne-like chair. It wasn't the room itself, or the decor, that made Sakura so mad, it was the fact that, along the far wall, at an angle to the throne, there were wrist chains hanging from it and hanging from those chains were people, people Sakura recognized.
"Sakura, are they...?" Lance asked, as Sakura walked quickly, but quietly, over to the people chained to the wall.
"Yea..." Sakura whispered, the fear and hatred clearly evident in her voice as she looked at the unconscious forms of the Lillian Yamayurikai hanging from their wrists in front of her.
"Who did this to them?" Lance asked, watching Sakura go from one girl to the other and checking each and every pulse.
"I would have thought that would have been an easy guess." Sakura and Lance whirled around at the sound of a haughty, male voice. Out of the shadows of the corner across from them stepped the man Sakura hated most in the entire world. Her grandfather.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for not updating this in a while! With school stuff and more people reviewing A Rift in Time i was working on that a little bit more than this. Plus, I had serious writers block for the longest time. But, after a major epiphany this morning during English class, I'm back now and hopefully will have the last two chapters (that's right, two chapters left!)up by the end of November or December. So, if you want more, faster then there's only one thing to do...REVIEW! Peace, C131
