Fire Dreamer
Hey, people! I haven't updated in a while… I'M SORRY! I have so many other things I'm working on, random ideas clogging my brain that were mostly for the other stuff I'm working on, and I basically forgot about this.
Have to mention that the lack of reviews for all those oneshots/drabbles I put up were disappointing… . But anyways, even with the disappointing number of reviews, I wrote this because I felt guilty for not writing in a while. That's me, always being guilt-tripped by my own self… This was slightly inspired by Dustfinger in Inkheart who is awesome, by the way.
AH WELL! Have fun reading this… ^_^
Random fact and note: this is longer than most of my oneshots. *hits head* Also, I like cliffhangers. *grin*
Once upon a time, in a land that would be long forgotten as time took its course, there was a girl who dreamed of fire, fire that set the world on fire and took the girl's breath away.
Her name was Kinomoto Sakura, but all knew her as the Fire Dreamer.
Auburn hair that flew in the air when she ran, as if setting the air itself on fire, and green eyes with a fire of its own, her pale skin contrasting with the fire she played with, danced with, and dreamed of.
This was the Fire Dreamer.
"Fire Dreamer!" a girl called, shifting her large wooden basket into a more comfortable position, exotic red eyes staring into green ones, a faint smirk on her face as she brushed her dark hair away from her face. "I heard the Royalties themselves have called upon you, to see if the rumors of your talents were true."
Sakura laughed, green eyes sparkling with mischief, her hands bouncing the ball of fire back and forth as the other girl shook her head, knowing that all she did should be impossible.
"I'm more surprised they didn't call upon you, Form Dancer!" she called after the girl's back, both of them chuckling.
"What about the Song Weaver?" the 'Form Dancer' asked as she dumped the water in her basket into the pail.
"Hey, don't drag me into this, Meiling!" shouted a amethyst-eyed girl, picking up the pail, raven hair swinging, mouth quirked up into a suppressed smile.
"O Mighty Song Weaver, we bow to you! You are too mighty and amazing for lowly peasants such as I!" Sakura announced, pretending to faint.
"I'm your cousin, Sakura!" she protested as Meiling doubled up in laughter.
"And how did such a lowly peasant become the cousin of such a might being, we'll never know, Tomoyo," Sakura sighed with a grin.
"So what is this I heard about the Royalties calling you?" Meiling asked after she had caught her breath.
Sighing, her grin dropping, Sakura answered, looking troubled as she played with the ball of fire, throwing it up and catching it with twists and moves that seemed rather pointless. "The Royalties wishes for me to perform at the annual Autumn Ball."
Tomoyo squealed and latched onto her arm, eyes flashing with excitement. "What's not to like about that? To perform at the Autumn Ball is a dream for us artists!"
"I guess," she murmured softly, still looking unsure as she caught the ball with the hand not attached to the arm that Tomoyo was still latched on.
"You're worried about us, aren't you?" Meiling remarked with a roll of her eyes. Of course Sakura would – she worries about everything, especially her friends.
"If I do accept, then I'll have to practice more, and I'll be leaving for the Palace, which is two weeks' worth of walking!" Sakura protested, looking more worried than ever. "Then you guys won't have me to help around the house and make our weekly payments! How will you guys get enough money?"
Meiling huffed, crossing her arms, narrowed red eyes looking into worried green eyes accusingly. "Excuse me? I do believe we can take care of ourselves!"
Sakura blushed prettily and stuttered out a response as Tomoyo removed herself from Sakura's arm, looking quite amused by the whole thing.
"I- I didn't mean you guys can't take care of yourselves! I- I'm just… worried," she murmured, looking downcast.
With a sigh, Meiling hugged the girl as Tomoyo did the same.
"I'm sure you'll do fine, Sakura!" Tomoyo said happily, her usual smile in place. "Don't worry about us. We'll be fine – we can do things without you, you know."
Meiling and Sakura sighed as Tomoyo lapsed into some kind of mumbling about how she was simply disappointed she couldn't video tape her precious Sakura-chan while she was at the Palace and…
"Syaoran!" interrupted Sakura as she waved to the form on the path to market, feeling guilty for being glad that there was an excuse to get away from Tomoyo when she had a 'moment'.
Li Syaoran turned her way, offering her a slight smile before continuing on his way, easily walking with his large load.
"I don't see how the two of you are related, Meiling," Sakura remarked.
"Well, we're very distantly related," Meiling replied cheerfully as she began pulling Sakura towards Syaoran.
"What are you doing?" Sakura shouted as Meiling quickly grabbed a few baskets, desperately looking at Tomoyo for help, but she was still in the middle of her 'moment'.
"No escaping this time, Sakura!" Meiling announced cheerfully, offering her a very evil smile. "You're going to market this time, whether you like it or not!"
"Why?" Sakura groaned, turning her green eyes up to the skies above, but her only answer was a fluffy cloud moving across the blue sky slowly.
"I know, I know," Meiling assured her mockingly. "I don't like any of those idiotic boys that ogle us all the time, but it's necessary to buy food in order for us to live."
"But it's not necessary for me to come with you!" Sakura practically screeched.
"Well, it isn't fair if I'm the only one to suffer," Meiling pouted. "Besides, I can't take Tomoyo who's currently in a 'moment', so I must take you."
Again, Sakura looked to the sky, as if expecting rain to start pouring, thus preventing them from going to market. But much to her chagrin, there was no longer a cloud in sight.
"I hate this," she mumbled darkly as she let herself be dragged by Meiling.
~:~*~:~
It was nerve-racking. She sat in one of the most beautiful carriages she had ever seen, and that was only the outside, the perfect unmarred shining black outside. The inside was basically completely covered with dark velvets, smooth underneath her rough fingertips.
She would've been completely freaked out if it had been anyone but her brother sitting right next to her, a soldier to escort her to the Palace.
"ONII-SAN!" she had cheered as she jumped on the brother she had not seen in a few years.
"Miss me, kaijuu?" he asked teasingly as Sakura had pouted.
"I'm not a monster!" she protested and each word was accented by a stomp with a vengeance. Touya's poor aching foot didn't know what hit it, especially after so many years of being out of practice.
Now, both of them were sitting in the most comfortable carriage Sakura had ever been in (not to mention the first carriage she had been in), a companionable silence sitting between them.
"How're you guys doing?" Touya's gruff voice broke through her thoughts, and the sad look in his almost muddy brown eyes told her he was feeling guilty for leaving them alone for so long.
But it wasn't his fault, after all. It was always the Royalties' fault, demanding, demanding, demanding. Stupid Royalty.
"Fine," Sakura murmured, another pang of homesickness throbbing in her heart. It may have been tough, living there, for they were dirt poor even though the fame of their arts had spread all the way to the Palace itself, but every day was a happy day. Because there was family, blood-relation or not.
Touya looked at her disbelievingly, obviously knowing that she was covering something up, but opted not to say anything. Sakura was stubborn, and although she was a sweet child, once she made up her mind about something, it was next to impossible to convince her otherwise.
"I heard you've been invited to the Palace."
Sakura smiled at him. "Seeing how you're escorting me there, yes, I suppose."
Touya snorted, amusement dancing in his eyes. "To offer your services for the annual Autumn Ball?"
Sakura leaned back into her velvet-covered seat as the carriage wheels ran over a rock, causing a slight discomfort as the carriage rocked. "Apparently so."
A sad smile stole over his features. "Mom and Dad would be proud."
Rubbing the velvet, Sakura thought carefully before replying, her own green eyes glinting with overwhelming sorrow.
"I hope so."
Silence settled over them again, but this one was somewhat more uncomfortable than the last. Touya gazed into the air, thoughts in another world completely whereas Sakura continued to rub the velvet, as if asking for comfort.
Slowly, sleep crept into the borders of her mind, burning away all other thoughts and emotions.
Sleep, sleep, sleep…
She could hear the lure of fire, her wonderful fire-filled dreams, where she could forget her sadness and unhappiness, and slowly fell into the grasp of dreams.
She did, indeed, dream of fire, fire so bright it almost burned your eyes, fire of every color imaginable and unimaginable, the height of the sky, and she dreamed with them all, dancing and weaving through them, playing.
~:~*~:~
Sakura woke after countless repeating days of breakfast, sleep, think, lunch, think, think, dinner, and sleep. She was only half aware of her surroundings, but could vaguely process through her brain that an unfamiliar voice talking to her brother's deep tones.
"Who is it?" a snide voice asked.
"General Touya, here to escort the Fire Dreamer to the Palace."
There was a pause before the soldier's shaky voice came through, suddenly a lot more nervous and less arrogant than before.
"Y- yes, General Sword Protector!" a squeak came floating through the dark curtains and the carriage began moving again.
Sakura was more coherent by then and turned to her brother, emerald eyes glinting with sleepy amusement.
"Sword Protector?"
Touya grimaced. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not the one that chose the name. I don't see why all people of importance and artists need to be given a special second name."
"At least mine sounds better," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
Touya scowled. "They seem to put some more special effort for the people they like, and stick some random name on the people they don't. Meaning me."
Sakura rolled her head around, feeling the bones crack and relaxation seeping through her body as she sighed contentedly. "Are you sure? Yukito kept on hinting to me you had some sort of complex, but I'm still not sure what it is."
Touya's scowl grew, though in the very faint light no one could notice the tiny spots of red on his cheeks. "I don't."
"Ah, denial," Sakura sighed with mocking cheerfulness, causing Touya to stop his grunt mid-way and glare instead.
After lifting the heavy dark-colored curtains, light immediately flooded into the carriage, causing the siblings to blink as their eyes adjusted to the sudden light.
As she tied the curtains to the side with some velvet string attached to the sides, she desperately wished she could have been with her friends as well, however nice it had been to see her brother again. She still missed them, and wasn't quite sure if she could go through this ball without them.
The carriage rode through the path in the Royal Gardens, giving Sakura a lovely view of the flowers that grew. Though, on her side, far past the gardens, she spotted a staging area.
The place where the Autumn Ball is held, where the artists that perform there are coveted by those all around the world, and those who get tickets to see are close to being murdered, and the Royal Family has front seats. Wonderful.
The carriage shuddered to a stop and Touya climbed out after opening the door and jumping out, extending a hand to his little sister as well as offering her a sheepish smile, knowing fully well that she could handle something as simple as climbing out of a carriage.
Rolling her eyes and deciding that she might as well comply with her brother's incessant worrying for her, she took his hand and jumped out, her ragged, pink-dyed dress flaring out as she did so.
Touya looked her over disapprovingly, as if seeing her in a new light. "I guess it's a good thing that I told you not to bring anything other than a couple of Tomoyo's dresses. You look pretty awkward in anything else."
Sending him an annoyed glance, she looked up and her eyes were blinded temporarily. She blinked a few times and looked again, unable to keep herself from gaping.
A castle made of white marble, set against a blue sky and a few of those fluffy clouds she recalled seeing back home in her tiny village hung there. It seemed to come from some fairy tale picture book.
"Welcome," her brother announced, smiling at the amazement in her eyes.
"Welcome to the Palace."
~:~*~:~
It was amazing, to say the least.
Bowing before the Queen herself? Her? Sakura? Doing what? What, are you crazy? Why would the Royalties bother with her?
Well, apparently, as she bowed to the Queen, if anyone had told her she would be bowing to the Queen, they wouldn't be completely crazy after all.
"Fire Dreamer… I have heard much about you." The voice was calm, powerful, each word chosen carefully, each word given much weight.
The Queen definitely knew what she was doing.
Sakura stayed silent, knowing that if she spoke out of turn, the Queen could easily order her execution. After all, Royalties were crazy, so who knew what they would do, just for amusement?
"The rumors heard here of you were plentiful," the voice continued on, Sakura silently wondering why couldn't she just leave already, "and very much complimentary."
Sakura was beginning to feel uncomfortable in her bowed position.
"I sent someone to see if the rumors were true, and when the messenger came back to report, he had found more than one surprise."
The Queen, of course, had to speaking of her friends' talents. But if so, why hadn't she invited them as well?
"Oh, but you'll probably hear of that later." Sakura could almost hear the smile curling on a beautiful face to match with the alluring voice the woman had.
Royalties really were crazy.
"The messenger came to me with only praises for your skills, and I could see in his eyes he was still thinking of your show, and I could almost see the fire in his eyes, and he was obviously mesmerized. Fire Dreamer, you have a talent many people would do anything to have."
That was a compliment. A very good one, too. Sakura blushed, though no one could notice with how her auburn hair got in the way of seeing her face.
A sigh came before the voice began to speak again, and Sakura was startled by the noise.
"I dearly wish to see your talents, but I will save that privilege until the Ball. Go and practice, my dear."
With that, there was a rustling, and Sakura could tell it was of heavy robes. Most likely silk, though maybe some other material she hadn't heard of, which was unlikely. But that would mean that the Queen was walking out of the room, and that meant she still couldn't move yet.
Gritting her teeth as she waited for the Queen to be out of earshot, Sakura had to wonder what did the Queen look like.
Soon she could no longer hear the rustling and she lifted her head up in relief. There was no one in the room anymore, obviously vacating it to follow the Queen instead.
Then, a thought suddenly hit her.
Where am I supposed to practice?
~:~*~:~
Sakura, after many inquires and threats to a soldier's person with fire and her own personal knife, finally figured out she had her own special training place or something, located somewhere in the gardens.
Her first thought was that that was stupid. Who the heck let someone who practiced with fire practice in the gardens, where there was lots of burnable plants?
Wonderful. Royalties were crazy, proven again by this.
Now, if only she could figure out where in the gardens was she supposed to be practicing.
Huffing, she sat down on a rock, fit into one of Tomoyo's special outfits. It was the one that she had spent a week on, and wouldn't let Sakura see until the danged thing was finished, but the final product was breathtaking.
It was a mixture of all the greens that she had ever seen in her lifetime, looking so very like a dress yet not, and when she moved in it the thing rustled so slightly it sounded like the leaves waving in the wind.
It was perfect to blend in with the green fire she had recently come up with.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps, and Sakura's head whipped up, green eyes looking eerily evil amidst the plants and outfit, lighting up with the prospect of threatening the location of her practice place out of the random passerby, be it soldier or some sort of Duke.
And, to her ultimate surprise, it was Yukito, also known as Snow Magician.
"Yukito-san!" she cheered, jumping up immediately and startling the Priest, who laughed once he realized it was Sakura.
"It's nice to see you again, Sakura," he remarked calmly in that cheerful voice of his.
Perhaps a few years ago Sakura would've blushed as hard as she could have, but she had grown out of the crush. Besides, it was awkward when you had a huge crush on your annoying brother's kind best friend. Makes you wonder how they became friends, anyways.
"Could you tell me where I'm supposedly supposed to be practicing?" she instead asked with a sigh, feeling quite tired after all the fruitless searches and threats she had gone through to get where she was now.
"Turn right at the corner right there, and go straight past the peach tree, and from there turn left and you'll find the staging area – you're supposed to practice there," Yukito announced with another smile.
"Arigato, Yukito-san!" Sakura said faintly, not looking forward to the walk.
"Good luck, Sakura-chan!" he said before moving on, his robes that marked him as a Priest shuffling slightly.
Sakura, after following Yukito's directions, found herself at the staging area, exactly as he said she would.
The place was beautiful, seats of polished black obsidian, and a clearing large enough for just about any art to be practiced there with room to spare was the place. Simple, yet not simple at all, in its special own special way.
And then, she began to practice.
~:~*~:~
It had been about a month since she had arrived at the Palace. Well, now it was time to see if her practice did her any good.
She had been told there were four other artists, but nothing else. She would be last. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Kinomoto Sakura, however, was currently stuck waiting for some costume designer to come and give her her costume already, and was getting extremely impatient.
Sakura's head snapped up when the door to her current waiting room creaked open and in peaked a very familiar head of silky raven hair and laughing purple eyes.
After a moment of disbelief, she jumped up and hugged her best friend and cousin as tight as she could, Tomoyo returning the favor.
"Sakura!" Tomoyo said happily, the familiar sparkles shining in her eyes. "I'm so glad to see you again! And guess what? They appointed me to be the outfit-maker! I made it especially for you, and it'll look wonderful on you! Now put it on!"
With that said, Tomoyo shoved some sort of soft material into Sakura's hands before rushing out the door, leaving Sakura rather dazed.
"Ummm…?"
Then, silence settled over the room again, leaving Sakura quite alone with her thoughts again. She stared at the material and could make out some red, but it was too dark in her room to see its true wonder.
Because if Tomoyo said it was going to look wonderful on her, it was. They don't call her the Song Weaver for nothing.
Slowly, she got up, random thoughts whirling in her mind. She could sense the fire's power, the enormity of what she was going to perform later.
It was time for her to perform soon, and the sun had long since set. Light was most beautiful when in the darkness, and it seemed the Royalties knew that as well.
After getting dressed and sorting out her thoughts, she emerged from her room, and met Tomoyo outside.
"You look amazing!" Tomoyo announced after looking her over, the sparkles in her eyes still there.
Sakura certainly felt amazing, with how she seemed barely able to feel the cloth on her skin. It felt so light, she felt as if she could do any kind of jump or twist. The outfit consisted of beautiful reds with the slightest trace of pink, looking almost like the dawning sun. It had sleeves stopping half-way down her arm, cut off as if torn off, and the end of outfit was the same, giving it an almost wild look, as if to say I'm free. When she shifted, the sparkles on it caught the light, yet there wasn't an overabundance of them so it still looked realistic.
She looked as if she was the fire itself.
"Arigato, Tomoyo," she murmured, green eyes glinting gratefully at her friend.
"You're welcome, Sakura. Now, come on, let's go meet Meiling, who's probably sulking somewhere around here."
They met Meiling a few doors over, and she was sulking for some strange reason. Her beautiful red eyes were glaring daggers on the wooden floor, obviously quite unhappy for some reason.
"What's wrong, Meiling?" Sakura asked tentatively, not sure if her friend would blow up and get angry as she usually did.
"Ah, nothing," she replied, waving the question away before happiness lit her face up.
"You're going to be great, Sakura! Do your best!" she cheered, with Tomoyo agreeing.
"Yes," Sakura agreed, the fire in her green eyes burning again.
"I'll show them who I am."
Her friends escorted her down the stairs, dressed in their own dresses, since they weren't performing. Nobody was milling around the place anymore, giving it a sad empty feeling that Sakura didn't like.
Many turns and doors later, they arrived at one elaborately decorated door, the one that led outside to the final waiting room to go out into the staging area.
Tracing the gold carvings and curves, she slowly calmed her nerves and called upon the fire aura she always had when performing.
"Blow them away, Sakura."
With that thought in mind, she entered the room to meet familiar brown eyes.
"Onii-san," she greeted with a kind of finality.
"They're waiting for you," was his reply and stepped back as the platform began to rise.
This was it.
There were no more thoughts clouding her mind, no frayed nerves, nothing but the thought of fire.
She closed her bright green eyes as the platform rose out into the open and only when the click that meant she was completely out did she open her eyes.
Sakura's eyes were met with so many people, but all she could focus on were the people that had front row seats, seated in the more comfortable seats that were lavishly embellished.
Royalties.
She was barely able to make out five women and no men in the Royalties' seats from the dimly lit stars' lighting.
Interesting.
The eldest one, obviously the Queen, stood up and the crowds were immediately silenced.
"My People," she said in that familiar voice, "This is the last part of the show."
There was obvious disappointment in some faces, but mostly eagerness to see what this little girl held that made her so special. The last part of the Autumn Ball was the most special, the one that people talked about for years to come, for the Royalties themselves chose what they wanted to see the most, and they had good taste.
Not quite your usual Ball, hmm?
"Welcome… The Fire Dreamer!"
That was the signal; start.
Sakura's arm shot up, throwing tiny fireballs into the sky, lighting the night on fire.
She didn't need dramatic music with drums; she didn't need anything but the night and her fire.
Home.
Looking into the faces of those already amazed, she wondered how they would react to the more amazing parts of her show. Maybe have a heart-attack.
The fireballs began to react to gravity and as they fell she threw a few more up, turning the colors from the normal red to blue.
She jumped high into the air, launching herself in-between the intricate circle and twisting all the while, her hair tightly put into a ponytail spinning with her, her outfit fitting her slim body perfectly so there was no need to worry it would catch on fire.
Once she was right in the middle of the circle, she created a larger fireball; red, like her dress. She coiled herself around to hug it and she could hear the audible gasps, the crowds expecting her to be burnt from such reckless touching of fire.
They could never understand; fire was apart of her, and when fire and fire touched, then came an even greater fire. Fire was her light.
She landed on the ground with even two feet. The rest of the tiny fireballs were finally pulled down by gravity and landed around her in a circle formation, leaving her right in the middle, her huge red fireball still in her arms.
In a swift motion as she pushed down on the fireball, the fire parted for her hands and swept across the staging area, traveling wherever there was space, coming dangerously close to the audience.
There was complete silence as Sakura stood there, hands still parted as if she was pushing down on the fire ball to the sides, amidst a sea of flames, flickering red, orange, and yellow, lighting up the whole stage that was once so hard to see from the dim stars. The circle of blue fire prevented the rest from reaching the Fire Dreamer.
For a few moments, she simply stood there, letting the sounds of the night rush into her senses, her green eyes looking eerily like tiny green flames amongst a large blaze.
Then, she began to move.
It was a dance, the soft fabric moving against her legs as she moved gracefully in her tiny circle.
With another jump, she flipped herself and landed on her hands, and she could hear the fire roaring, moving, wanting to dance with her.
She stretched one hand into the fire and removed it to hold a flame.
The crowd watched, breathless as she began moving, back on her feet, dancing, with such quick movements it could only be a dream.
The one hand that held a flame of fire moved so quickly a trail of fire was left in the air as she continued to dance.
Quickly, she snatched up another flame of fire in her empty hand and her moves became impossibly complicated, writhing and curling.
Before anyone had realized what was happening, she had thrown her arms out and the flames disappeared, along with the sea of flames.
But the circle of blue flames remained, and she bent down to pick one up, throwing it up high.
One by one, the tiny flame of circles became undone as she threw each one up to join the first, the colors becoming distorted and lightening until it was some sort of dark yellow.
Sakura picked the last tiny fireball up and threw it into the large yellow ball, turning it into a dandelion golden-yellow. She opened her arms, face facing the heavenly night sky and yellow fireball.
When it reached as far as it could, the ball burst apart with a loud noise and little golden bits that looked like stars floated down, on the audience, on Sakura, no one was spared.
There were delighted cheers as a child soon figured out he was not going to burn if the golden flames touched him, and showed his mother with delighted large eyes.
The rest of the audience soon figured out the same thing and the applause grew louder and louder as Sakura smiled at them, taking a bow.
The Queen seemed very pleased and Sakura was just glad for the whole thing to be over with.
Now I can go home…
But apparently, there was more, because the platforms surrounding her position all lowered and when they came up, there were the other artists who displayed their talents in the Autumn Ball. Takashi Yamazaki, Lying Mask, for example, was there.
The Queen herself walked out onto the stage and turned to face the audience.
"My People, there is something important I must have you know."
Sakura's curiosity was burning now. The Queen had sounded almost apologetic. Now, why would that be…?
Another platform was lowered, and as it began to rise, the Queen continued on.
"My son and another one of my family who I consider as my own daughter have finally been found. They had not died, and I am afraid I have lied to you all."
Two heads appeared, one of messy brown hair and a head of jet black hair, so sleek, so familiar…
"I had sent them both to learn of the world, to a small village called Clow."
Sakura's eyes widened.
"Please, welcome, heir to the throne and one of his dearest friends, Li Syaoran and Li Meiling!"