Here's another chapter
A range of flowers in a variety of deep blues and purples had been arranged along the roofs of houses and shops with gold ribbons draping from one bundle to the next to honour the royal family throughout the entire city. The cake stores and bakeries were all making the traditional sweets and pastries and breads along with many other things, and anyone with artistic skill had helped decorate the city with realistic looking makings of flowers and butterflies and dragonflies made out of paper and placed them along the walls. Charms were being sold at stands outside stores and stuffed toys of Alastor were quite popular among the children and girls. There were groups of people playing music and others dancing to it along the street and in the city square-everyone was having a great time at the festival to celebrate the return of the princess.
Sakura walked through the excited and busy town with her friends, receiving a wave and a hello from nearly every person she walked by.
"Everyone's so excited." Sakura smiled.
"That's because it's like you're back from the dead; we're just so happy to see that you're alive." Anna smiled back.
Sakura noticed one of the bakery stands and was curious-she walked over and looked at the different types of freshly baked breads, able to identify each of the different ones that she could remember from her childhood. There was a particular type of bread that she really liked-a sweet bread-that had a thick syrup in the centre made from one of their native red fruits that was quite sweet-and happened to be Sakura's favourite.
"What ya drooling over?" Chii asked as she bobbed up and down beside her friend.
"Duck fruit bread…" Sakura replied with excitement.
"Duck fruit?" Chii repeated with a look of confusion.
"It's a fruit in the shape of a duck." Syaoran replied.
"And it tastes amazing…but they only grow in certain areas. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the plants above ground were killed by the fire. But if they were able to make this traditional bread then some of the fruit plants must still be growing well." Sakura replied cheerfully.
"You sound like you love the stuff." Chii laughed.
"It's only my favourite snack in the whole world!" The princess sang.
"Here, try one." Sakura bought a couple of the sweet breads, one for everyone.
Chii bit into the still warm bread, tasting the sweet syrup and vague taste of strawberries.
"Not bad." She said with her mouth full of bread. Sakura was rather satisfied as she cheerfully ate, rocking back and forth on her feet. Syaoran watched her for a moment then shook his head.
"What was that look for?" She asked as she nibbled her bread, walking over to one of the stalls that were selling plush toys and other things for children to play with.
"Just the look on your face as you were eating is all." He shrugged as he followed after her.
"What about the look on my face?" she asked innocently.
"I don't know how to explain it; you just looked cute." He laughed.
"Somehow you make me feel like a child when you say that." She pouted.
"I keep meaning to ask-did you get that outfit when you went out with Anna and Chii a few days ago?" he asked.
"Yes-and the jewellery." She answered.
She was wearing a pink and gold strapless top that stopped halfway down her waist, the gold part of the top being gold embroidery along the bottom hem and along the neckline. Her skirt was a light pink with a thick band around her hips that kept her skirt up in a darker shade of pink with gold embroidery along the top and bottom of the band. The skirt stopped just above her ankles showing off the gold anklet she wore that was decorated with pink topaz stones in the shape of hearts hanging from the delicate gold chain. She had gold bangles on her wrists-two on her right and two on her left. In her ears she had earrings to match her anklet-a gold stud with a pink topaz heart hanging from the stud in each ear. Chii and Anna had painted her nails the night before in a deep pink. It was a colour she didn't usually wear-she didn't like to stand out much. Syaoran however thought the colour suited her quite well and it was a nice change compared to the usual dark greens and blues she wore.
"It suits you." He smiled.
She blushed. "I was never really one to wear pink-it was always Rena who wore it. I preferred reds, greens, purples and blues…you know, those sorts of colours. But I did have the odd pink dress and garment." She smiled back.
"You still look beautiful." He said. She laughed and nudged him lightly in the arm, joining the others again.
They spent hours walking around and trying out different sweets and pastries and breads, picking out small charms of star signs as in elvish astrology the names and signs were different which Syaoran already knew, but Chii was having heaps of fun learning about the different star signs. They played all sorts of different festival games and before they knew it, it was five o'clock. They decided to eat something for dinner; it was a creamy pasta dish, carbonara or something similar.
It was as they were sitting down in the city square where a group of musicians were playing some music and others dancing to the music nearby where they sat that a couple of young girls came up to Sakura and pulled her over to join them. She laughed and joined them; they danced holding hands in a circle, a well known dance among all of them. When the song finished it changed to something different, similar to Irish river dance music but some of the notes were vastly different but the tune sounded mostly the same. The dance was similar too apart from a few minor extra steps-and Sakura was brilliant at it.
"Holy cow." Chii gaped.
"No kidding." Syaoran snorted.
"She's always been a skilled dancer. That happens to be on the dances she's most skilled at." Fai laughed.
"Ugh, I never learned…" Anna muttered as she watched the princess dance.
"Can you do that Syaoran?" Chii asked.
"Ha! No." He replied, laughing.
"We should dance too! When the next song comes on…" Anna laughed.
"Sure!" Chii agreed cheerfully.
Syaoran smiled as he watched Sakura dance; she was having an absolute ball of a time with her people, dancing with and around them. The song changed and Anna and Chii joined her and the other girls while Fai and Syaoran stayed sitting where they were, content with watching the girls have their fun.
"I've never seen them have this much fun before." Fai murmured, speaking about Sakura and Chii.
"Well with what we've been through, I'm not surprised. It's hard to kick back and have fun." Syaoran replied.
"You're right. I just hope nothing bad ruins their night." Fai half joked, smiling. But something was nagging at Syaoran-he felt as if something was going to happen…and he couldn't help but feel uneasy. They were supposed to be safe here.
"You have Sakura's sword, right?" Syaoran asked.
"Sure do." Fai replied.
"She might be wanting it soon…" he murmured as he watched her spin around on her toes.
"What makes you say that?" the blonde asked.
"I don't know yet." Syaoran muttered.
Sakura looked over and noticed a grim look on her fiancé's face, so she walked over to him and took his hand.
"What are you-?" He began to ask.
"Come on!" She giggled, starting a series of steps that somehow he knew.
"See? It's fun." She smiled.
He smiled back and span her around, pulling her back in for a kiss on the cheek on the cheek. "Is something wrong?" Sakura asked.
"No-why?" He asked.
"Because you're holding onto me tighter than usual." She smiled.
"Just…be careful tonight." He said.
"Ok…" she smiled softly and kissed him gently on the lips, continuing to sway with the music.
They danced well into the night, the crystals changing between deep purples, dark blues, deep green and deep pinks which indicated the night time. Believing that Sakura would take care of herself, Syaoran left the group early as he wanted to check something out above ground and also needed time to himself. Sakura understood this well and knew what it was like to need time alone to gather thoughts, so she didn't mind. She knew he could protect himself.
She watched as he walked away before deciding that she'd return to Yuuko's as she was quite exhausted, and considering the fact that he had asked her to anyway, she knew it was best and would put his mind at ease. She let the others know and was asked if she would like to be accompanied by Chii.
"No," she replied, "Alastor will be with me. I'll be fine; have fun alright?" she smiled, Alastor sitting beside her looking rather majestic.
"Alright, we'll be back later." Chii smiled.
"Thanks-I'll see you then if I'm not asleep." Sakura replied.
Chii nodded and went back to dancing with Anna and the other girls. Sakura and Alastor left the main square, finding that most of the streets had become empty of elves due to the time-it was nearly midnight.
"Come on Alastor." She murmured as she walked into the dark, no fire lights around the shops to light her pathway like during the festival and business hours. It would have been unsettling if it weren't for Alastor's presence.
As Syaoran headed for the stairs he felt a familiar presence behind him. "Hello Cain." Syaoran greeted rather unhappily, turning to face him.
"So, you're alone?" Cain smirked.
"My god, you have eyes." Syaoran responded sarcastically.
"Why isn't the Princess with you?" Cain asked curiously, walking past Syaoran so that he was standing slightly behind him.
"I'm on my own because I need my own time. Is that a problem for you?" Syaoran responded coolly.
"No. In fact…that's absolutely perfect." Cain replied as he smashed Syaoran over the back of the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking him unconscious. The brunette fell to the floor with a thud, and Cain walked off completely satisfied in completing the first task he had set out to do.
Lol, duck fruit bread. I had to! Review?