A/N: Hey guys! I kept my promise to you and updated the lastest chapter! It took me three weeks but at least this time I didn't think I'd abandon it :D

Enjoy your reading!

Chapter 21: In The Dark
Syaoran had just finished talking with Hikaru when Yamazaki came rushing in: "Syaoran! Daidouji is banging at the door, yelling something about they were ambushed and Eriol might have been taken! Should we let her in?" Syaoran raised a brow: "Daidouji? I thought she was in the sa... - " then something hit him: "What do you say? Eriol is taken? Ask Meilin to come see me at once! I'm going down there!" He stood up and turned his tv screen on. The surveilance camera was showing a panicked girl crying and banging on the door, begging them to let her in. Frowning, he made a dash to the main gate.
Tomoyo slid down, her forehead pressed against the door as she cried her heart out. Just then, the door flung open violently, make her lose her balance and fell on the ground. She looked up to see Syaoran standing in front of her, his eyes lit with fire. He bent down and pulled her up, accidently touched her gunshot wound, made her arch in pain but he simply didn't care, instead Syaoran gestured his guys to close the door while he pressed her against the wall and growled: "Where is Eriol? Tell me what happened!" He demanded in a furious tone. Tomoyo was too much in pain and scared to talk clearly, her voice was small and a little shaky: "We were talking in my living room when Eriol heard some noise. He told me to go hide upstairs while he stayed to deal with the assasins. I heard them struggle with each other for a while before someone was sneaking behind me and held me hostage, I heard Eriol call him Tsukishiro. He tricked him into believing he was gonna let him take me but then he snapped back at him and freed me, telling me to run to you and call for back-up. But I think he might have been captured or maybe even worse...I don't want to think about it! They also said something about it was Sakura who asked them to do this but I don't trust them! She would never do this to me!" she cried out. Syaoran cursed then released her and turned to give order to his guy: "Yamazaki, call another four to come with me to his safe house and Chiharu? Have the girl treated! Let's go!"
~oOo~
When they arrived at the scene, the house was totally in a mess. The antique vase put inside at the entrance was smashed into pieces, curtains half-ripped hanging loosely on the windows, the couch pushed out of its old position and there were small pools of blood splattered everywhere.
As they entered the house, Meilin couldn't stop herself from shivering, thinking about what Eriol might have gone through. Syaoran ordered the group to split up and search the whole house for any clues but they return empty-handed, except for the window in the bedroom on second floor was broken and the scratches on the wooden door showed signs of struggle. Syaoran flopped down onto the couch, rubbed his eyes irritatedly: "I'm sorry Mei, I let them take him away!"
Meilin sat down next to him, her eyes glued onto the blood stain on the carpet and answered him in a dreadful tone: "It's not your fault, Syaoran. He always felt the need to protect other people, it's not like you can help it. The thing we have to do right now is to locate where he is and take him back rather than just sitting here and blaming ourselves. You're our leader, Syaoran. If you dont stay strong, how are we suppose to hold on?" Syaoran took her hands into his then hugged her tight. He swore to himself he would do whatever it take to take the Lions down, even if it was the last thing he did.
~oOo~
Eriol winced in pain at his last attempt to escape the rope tightened around his wrists. He was hanging on a bar with his knees on the ground. Due to his blood loss, he was feeling a little dizzy and nauseas but he tried to cope with it for as long as he could since he knew back home everyone must be really worried about him and he couldn't let them down.
He didn't know how long has it passed since he was knocked out, but for all the time he was being held there. There was one thing he knew for sure: Sakura was framed. When he first being locked up in the room, he was mostly unconscious the whole time so he didn't get a good look at the surroundings. All he knew was someone was watching over him while researching some kind of documents. But now when he tried to take a look at the paper left on the short round wooden table about two feet away from him. He could see it was a report of a breaking and entering at the Secret Info Base as well as the unknown whereabout and their suspicion toward Kinomoto Sakura.
As he was trying to figure out their plan in his head, Eriol heard the door heavily creaked open with a loud, grinding sound.
"Well well well, look who's up and full of energy! If you're trying to escape the rope then I'm very pleased to tell you that there's no way you could do it. Seeing the way we tied you and the condition you're in. So, what have you managed to examine while I was away?" Yukito pulled the chair in front of Eriol and leaned forward, his fingers pressed against each of the other hand, his eyebrows raised in a provoking manner.
Eriol just wished he could had wiped that snobby smirk of his face: "Seems like our Princess is truly loyal to us after all. You dirty trash tricked us into shooing her away so you can roam around freely without her on your tail huh? But you made a big big mistake. I saw the file on that table over there and it's pretty undeniable that such a impossible thing can only be done by her. She's giving you guys quite a headache, no?" Yukito chuckled: "Don't blame us. Your leader is the one who doesn't have much trust for her in the first place. Poor little Sakura, she risked everything she had to protect him and his little bunch of useless trash that he calls a gang. And what does she get in return? what did she get for doing all those things? She was doubted, chased away by the man she always adored and might end up getting killed by poking her nose too deep into our business. What an ending!" He clicked his tongue: "Also I have to say she is one hell of a loyal bitch! But we assure you that we will catch her in no time and bring her here so you won't have to worry about her so much! Actually she just might want to come herself. Since you're here after all." Yukito kicked Eriol's wound in his thigh, watched him all tensed up before lighting a cigarette and started pacing around: "We have broke the news out. It's a matter of time before she will come find you. Until then I'll try to make sure you don't die. However I can't guarantee you won't have one or two broken bones".
He was about to walk toward the door when he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Eriol: "By the way, have you ever asked yourself how could we get to you and the girl that easy?" He laughed and shut the door behind him, leaving Eriol in the dark.
~oOo~
Sakura studied the files she got from the Secret Info Base on her laptop, her mind was all messed up that she could hardly focus on the names flashing on the screen. There were words that The Lion got hold of a Wolf's member, specifically, Eriol. She knew perfectly that was a trap waiting for her to step in. Still, she couldn't ignore the fact that his life was in danger but she couldn't afford to act recklessly or both would be dead. Sakura began to wonder where the heck Hikaru was when everyone needed him as she closed her laptop, put on her coat and made a call.
~oOo~
"I was surprised to hear from you. And there I thought you don't want anyone to find out about you, yet you requested us meeting in public?" Hikaru leaned back in his seat comfortable while watching her expression closely. Sakura took a sip of her double expresso and explained: "First I miss the smell of a real cup of coffee and second I can't risk being seen going to your residence. I'm famous now, you know." She put her cup down: "Now let's get to the point, shall we? What the fuck have you been doing? Eriol is here! It's a trap especially prepared for me so I can't butt in but you can! So what are you doing? Waiting for one miraculous day when you can just suddenly find his cold body hanging in front of your house?"
"Ouch, that's hurt! You forgot one important thing, Princess. We don't know where he is being locked up and in this critical time I can't run around wasting my men on something I'm not sure of. You said it was a trap, and yes, so it seems. They are waiting for you to come rushing at every safe houses they have, blindly finding your friend without caring about the consequences like you're asking me to do right now!" Sakura almost wanted to choke the man to death if he wasn't an ally. She slapped both her hands on the table: "You just don't get it, do you?" Realizing all the attention she had just drawn, Sakura sat back and whispered through her gritted teeth: "You're also a leader, you have to know better than anybody else. Like you told me, you can't waste your men on Eriol at the time since you are not sure of his location. So is Yukito! He lost his right man, all he has left is Lily and this is the time when he's most vulnerable. He wouldn't spread his people everywhere just to catch me. So he's gonna keep Eriol somewhere heavily guarded, somewhere that can guarantee both his safety and me being captured, somewhere like his HQ."
"And you're telling me to walk to his well-prapared hideout? Have you gone mad?" Hikaru snapped. He messed his hair up with his hand and frowned deeply. Sakura sighed and flopped back into her seat: "What kind of leader are you? Your friend is in trouble! If it isn't because I have something really important to do these few days, I would have gone and rescued him on my own!"
Hikaru stirred his cup round and round: "You asked me what kind of leader I am huh? I'm the kind of leader who put his gang above all else! Do I have to smack some sense into you? He uses Eriol to lure you out so until you show up, they won't kill him!"
"Even if he is beaten to the point of being paralyzed forever, that surely still what you call alive huh? I'll take care of things myself. Give me a call if you change your mind." She pulled the cap down enough to cast shadow on her face: "One more thing: you know how reckless Syaoran can be when it comes to his people so don't you dare slip a word of what I told you today to him or I'm gonna kick your ass!" she then quietly left the place.
Being left alone, Hikaru just shook his head in distress: "She drives me crazy whenever we meet. Tsk tsk, what you said is true though. I wonder what I should do for you."
~oOo~
Syaoran was going through the files he had of places Yukito had used to keep his hostages before when he heard a knock on the door: "Li? It's me, Tomoyo Daidouji." He stopped and shoved the bunch of paper in front of him into his desk drawer: "Come in!"
Tomoyo walked inside, closed the door behind her and stepped closer to him. She sat down on the chair opposite his: "You found any hint of where he might be? It's been almost five days you know." He casted a glance upon her and raised a brow: "Why do you bother? Even Meilin hasn't asked me a thing about him, what make you think you have the right to ask me that?" He leaned forward, his eyes sparked with fire: "And you know what? I have been asking the same question over and over. How did they know he was gonna be there on that day? More importantly, how did they know where you were? Eriol isn't a fool, he clearly couldn't be followed without knowing! Somehow to me, you seem too eager to know about him. Is there anything you want to confess?"
Tomoyo closed her eyes, said in a frustrated tone: "Li, please. I know you blame me for what happened to Eriol but I swear on my life I didn't, I couldn't hurt him. He was such a precious friend to me! All I did was trying to know if my friend was ok, is that a crime? Meilin hasn't asked because she knows you're gonna tell her as soon as you find him but I, I know you don't like me so it's not likely you would tell me anything. Believe me, when he first got abducted, I got thousand of theories in my head but if I say them now, it's just gonna look like an excuse to you! I care about him as much as you all do. So please, let me know if you have any lead on him."
"She's right, leader. Stop taking it out on her! You was there! You found the trail they left behind which proves they did follow him there!" Rika stood at the door with her arms crossed. Syaoran groaned: "Maybe I'll consider replace this door with another soundproof one."
Rika walked over to him: "You were practically shouting at her face! It's not that hard for anyone happened to pass by to hear! Anyway, we got a call from Hikaru, saying The Lions were bragging about their little victory and words on the street that they're keeping him in their HQ!" Syaoran almost sprang out of his chair: "What do you mean?" She pointed at the phone: "You might want to call him yourself. C'mon Daidouji, let's go! We'll let you know the second we find Eriol."
As soon as the girls shut the door, Syaoran picked up his phone and pressed the button hard as if he was punching onto them and waited for the line to connect while tapping his fingers on the desk impatiently.
"I figure you'd call!" Hikaru was pretty cheerful, which made Syaoran wished he could just punch the guy: "I heard you have information about my guy! Spill!"
Hikaru laughed playfully: "Wow, hold the horse, dude! I dont have much to tell but seems like your Princess is not the traitor after all!"
~oOo~
In a luxurious mansion in Russia, Main bedroom
"What do you mean? Such a ridicule that I've never heard of that plan before! I have no idea she was sent to spy on you! Alright, I know. I'll board the nearest flight back to Japan." Wolf hung up angrily. How dare Syaoran kept his plan from him. He was one of Syaoran's right men after all. He must stop all his work over here and ask Syaoran directly about it and see if the man was still hiding anything from him. First thing first, he needed a ticket ASAP.
Wolf was about to get off his bed to get his laptop when a cold pistol pressed against his mouth, followed by a deadly beautiful voice: "So you've finally heard about me? Syaoran was right when he said me being a spy must stay hidden from as many people as we could help, that including you. Someone he sent abroad to handle the illegal arms trafficking into the gang. If it wasn't for the files I stole from the Lions, who would have thought you're the rat he's been raising? Oh, don't you move your lips like that, I might accidentally pull the trigger." Sakura was standing next to his bed, back facing the window, the night lamp only reached half her body, leaving the rest in darkness, providing a mysterious aura around the graceful yet dangerous woman.
"I'll be quick! I've looked through the papers, their members, their spies, even your name, profile and mission were written neatly, carefully in those documents so the question here is - ", she looked him in the eyes while applied more pressure on his cheek: "How come there isn't any detailed record on someone named Amelia?"
Wolf bursted out laughing as he pushed her gun down: "Next time when you want to talk to somebody, better not threaten them with a gun with its safety on. That's not gonna do the trick." He reached for the alarm button above his bed: "Amelia? You can never get your hands on her!" Sakura stepped back when the alarm gave off a shrill sound. Taking advantages of the moment, Wolf caught her off guard, kicked the gun away from her hand and went for her throat.
With an incredible fast reflex, she jumped back, avoided the critical hit and flung herself to the other corner of the room. She then heard the heavy footsteps of his security team running along the hall as Wolf snorted: "As expected of someone chosen by Li Syaoran. No wonder he had his eyes set on you right from the start. But a boy would always be just a boy. No matter how pathetically hard he struggle to have a stand in this world, he simply won't stand a chance against us Lions, too powerful for a shrimp like him to handle. And the funny thing is he thought he could." he chuckled when he room was swammed with armed men wearing bullet-proof vest.
Sakura merely formed a faint smile, she spoke in a low, soft voice: "Funny thing a traitor of the gang named himself after our symbol. Don't you ever dare to underestimate us."
From under their feet, a stream of smoke started gathering then quickly extended, covering the whole room. Almost immediately, the bodyguards began to kneel down on their knees from the fierce pain in their throats and noses, some were choking and panicking while other trying to put on their mask.
Wolf stood in the middle of his room, his left arm covered his nose and mouth, squinting through the smoke to try to figure where Sakura could be, his right hand held tight on a gun he just took out from the drawer. Judging from her behaviors before, he didn't think she was gonna escape from this chaos and left behind a golden opportunity to take him down when she had known she couldn't get the info she wanted out of him.
As he thought, something cold was pressing against the side of his mouth, a delicate scent lingered around him when a feminine voice whispered into his ears: "You move and the bullet pierces your flesh. This time it's fully loaded and ready to go off any moment. Now I need you to be a good boy, and freeze". Wolf spun around when he felt the needle plunged into his skin but a loud gunshot was heard through the heavy air as he fumbled onto the ground, holding his bleeding mouth. Knowing she has revealed herself and the smoke was about to fade away, she quickly injected him with her poison and kicked him to the window, using a little devide to mimic his voice: "She's getting away, get her!"
Wolf stared at his army in horror, unable to move his body at his free will due to the effect of the drug. The red light from those many guns flashed at once before a storm of bullet cut through the smoke toward his direction.
Meanwhile, Sakura secretly sneaked out of his room, quickly ran along the hallway while trying to imagine the blueprint of the mansion in her mind. She took the left turn twice then turned right at the next corner before halting to a stop in front of a wooden double door. She looked around carefully to make sure no one was watching while picked the lock then went inside.
There was nothing much on the desk of his study. Only a few reports on his jobs for both the Wolves and the Lions, an internal telephone, and a PC. Next to the phone was a stack of memo with nothing written on it. Running her fingers on the surface of the piece of paper, she grabbed a pencil nearby and started painting the whole memo black. Soon, a few lines appeared, faint but still clear enough to read.
'Call Yuki to inform the Wolves' newest weapon ranges
Call Amelia to discuss about the plan'
Eventhough Sakura didn't understand them both, she took the paper anyway and turned to look up in his computer on the desk. It required a password. Sakura clicked her tongue before putting her backpack on the floor and pulled out the same USB she used in the Secret Base. Plugging into the device, she pressed a small button on the side of the USB and type a code from the keyboard as a loading bar appeared on the screen, indicated that it was in the code-breaking process. Sakura tapped her fingers impatiently on the wooden surface while nervously stared at the door. She guessed the guards should have noticed their victim and started their search for her by now so she had to be quick.
A small sound came from the CP drew her attention back to it. She typed in a code that allowed her to see the hidden files and went checking for stuff have recently been looked into. There was something caught her eyes, 'Report on the Abduction of Hiragizawa Eriol'.
Just when Sakura was about to open it, she heard the door being slammed on, the security team was on the other side: 'She's here. Break down the door if you have to!'. Sakura pursed her lips into a thin line then clicked open the report. She felt the blood drained from her face as it went pale. Sakura was numbly looking at the screen when a loud bang woke her. Standing behind the now broken door was the guards. Pulling herself together, she bent down to unplugged the computer, causing it to shut down immediately and hid herself away under the desk. Though she had prepared for the situation, the feeling of being cornered still made her feel uneased. Sakura pressed a button on her belt as the electrical poles outside all exploded at the same time and the mansion fell in total darkness. Taking the advantage, she rushed out from her hideout and dived for the window to avoid the rain of bullets firing everywhere to prevent her from her escape.
Sakura crashed her body against the window to the balcony as she felt something hot and slippery rushed down from her right arm. Holding her gunshot wound, she frowned then flung herself into the night. The wound wasn't vital, it only made it harder for her to move, but even so, that was alright, nothing could compare to the horror she was having after seeing the document. She had to get back to Syaoran. She had to protect him before it was too late.

A/N: So? What do you think? I guess that no one would expect someone like Wolf could betray the Wolves, and he hasn't appeared anywhere in the story for a long long time, too.

Bah! Too much betrayers, you say? Just a little twist I put to the story, hope you guys like it!

Anyone curious about the secret Sakura's just learned? Well, if you are, you'll know soon ^^

Please R&R to let me know about your opinions and ideas

Love

Crystal Rose