Arigatos: Obiwankatie, Gia, Ruka-chan, Star Princess Meesa, Drak, E.B., Ashley-chan, Fabi-chan, dreamyblue, Yoko, Randi, Jurei, sana, moonstiger2000, *dying from the cliffhanger*, Sara, Katie Marie, Anachia, Yuki Akuma, ., DoubleOevin~*, black_tiger, springblossom_tears, Ultimate CCS fan, Volcan of Dragonfire, and Crystal. THANK YOU!!! *Hugs*
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Suppi*chan ^^ Arigato for giving me encouragement for both this and my koishii (*Joeru-kun*) during the chat we had on MSN. I deeply appreciate it! I hope things go well for you at the dance, and well…this is dedicated to you!
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I only borrow the characters to write fanfiction.
Alone in the Woods Chapter 2: A Fateful Quarrel
Syaoran shot out of his shelter like a bullet, dashing toward his blossom's terrified screams. When he reached the opening of her wooden-roofed bed, her screams had ceased and lowered to a soft sobbing noise.
"Sakura?" he questioned softly, "Daijoubu? What happened?"
"Sy-Syaoran?" she choked out in a whisper.
"Hai, it's me." he answered, entering her little shelter, "Nothing to be afraid of."
Silent, glittering tears streaked down her smooth face, making her cheeks shine in the pale moonlight. "I-I saw a ghost." she sobbed, pulling the blanket more tightly around herself for extra warmth.
"There are no ghosts out here, Sakura. You're safe." he assured.
Sakura suddenly flung herself into him, still breathing in short gasps entangled in the muffled sobs. "I was so scared."
Syaoran's eyes broadened as she cried endlessly against the fabric of his nightshirt. In an awkward gesture, he nervously enfolded her in his strong arms. His attempt to comfort the frightened Clow Mistress was not in vain. Her sobs slowly died away, leaving her clutching to the warrior's shirt. Syaoran soothed her tension as best he could, gently rubbing the small of her back and smoothing out the hair on the back of her head.
"Feeling better?" he asked softly.
Receiving no reply, he looked down on her questioningly; only to find her asleep. He shook his head and smiled. 'Out like a light.'
He made a move to lay her back on the ground, but her hand reached out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt desperately. "Don't go." she mumbled, her jade/emerald eyes pleading with him silently, "Please, just stay with me."
He sighed, giving into her quiet begging, and leaned his back against the tree for better comfort. She in turn leaned her head against his chest, snuggling so close him that a hot blush promptly engulfed his face.
After she found a suitable position and settled down, Syaoran leaned his head ontop of hers, letting her sweet scent intoxicate his senses until sleep came over him.~
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The rays of early morning light danced through forest, shedding tidbits of light here and there. Tiny forest creatures scurried about in an early morning frenzy, gathering berries and nuts for their breakfast.
The coming of day can be radiant and refreshing to some, while intruding, agitative and annoying to others. However, on this particular summer dawn, morning was both a welcome and unwelcome sight.
Young Kinomoto Sakura sighed and struggled to open her eyes into the luminance that was slowly dominating the dense area of trees. Something strong and warm was wrapped around her slim waist, pressing her firmly to the rising and falling chest of another living being.
She almost gasped in shock at the remembrance of the previous night. That being holding her ever so gently yet protectively, was none other than the Li Clan's top soldier and future leader Li Syaoran. A bright red shade immediately washed over her face, covering it in a hot, embarrassed blush.
But she didn't dare move. It felt so perfect to be held by him like this; she had often dreamt of it many times before. She repositioned her head on the cottony fabric of his shirt and squirmed slightly at the feel of his slow and steady breaths caressing the back of her neck.
Sakura was glad it was morning, that much she couldn't deny. The promising beams of sunshine alleviated all her anxiousness from the dark of the night before. She was safe now...in the little wolf's arms.
That's why she regretted that it was morning. It obviously meant that the male warrior and Card Captor would awaken soon, thus ending the seemingly endless moment. But she wouldn't let go yet. She would embrace this feeling until the very last second she could. Besides, she was kind of, well...stuck for the moment.
How was she supposed to get to her feet when he was holding her so near to himself, so strongly, so possessively?
She had to smile. 'That sounds like a good enough excuse for me.'
Inhaling his rich, sweet chocolate and cinnamon scent, she quietly drifted back into the comfort of her dreams.~
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The unwelcome white shine attacked his face with a fierce purpose, lancing his eyelids with sharp spears of brightness. Yet its strength couldn't hide the gentleness that resided within its motive. It calmly coaxed him, warming his face in a gentle motion and soothing all his negative thoughts away. Giving in, the once-cold amber eyes of the young Li Clan sorcerer opened into the light.
He blinked once, letting his eyes focus on his surroundings, and yawned widely.
Remembrance jolted him like a bolt of crackling lightning. His tired arms were enveloped around the lithe figure of an auburn-haired angel.
"Sakura..." he realized.
She mumbled something incoherent in her slumber, and snuggled closer to him, nuzzling the front of his shirt with her cheek.
That alone abstained him from moving an inch. To disturb such a simply elegant beauty was unimaginable, thoroughly unthinkable. From the smile she displayed so openly, her dream must have been good. He couldn't bring himself to interrupt such a personification of peace.
He smirked at the word that popped into his head suddenly. Honor. 'It would be dishonorable to wake the sleeping goddess.' his mind mused, making sport of a word his heritage held at great importance.
No matter how much the sweet rays of morning sunshine begged and pleaded with him to stay awake, he ignored their subtle arguments and closed his eyes once again.
Just as his conscience was reaching a dormant state, the petite Clow Mistress woke again, stretching her arms out on impulse. The sudden movement immediately alerted the Chinese youth back into reality. He quickly disengaged his arms from around her and stood up faster than she could say "hoe".
Sakura sat on the plush, dewy earth, completely dumbfounded about what had just taken place within the past few moments. She squinted into the bright light that showered her eyes, using her right hand as a cover. "Syaoran?" she questioned, blinking into the flickering beams of white sunlight.
"Hai?"
She yawned and sluggishly stood on her feet. "Is it morning already?'
He nodded to affirm her theory.
She groaned at the azure dome of sky and promptly went back inside her shelter, throwing the covers back over her head.
Syaoran frowned and crossed his arms. "Y'know Sakura, it wouldn't hurt for you to get up early for once."
She peeked out from beneath the layers of blankets and simply replied, "It's against my personal morals to get up before noon." before pulling the bulky bedsheets over her face once again.
Syaoran growled in frustration, pulling the sleeves of his shirt up above his elbows. "If you don't get up Sakura, I'll be forced to take action." he warned.
A muffled, incomprehensible reply came through the stacks of blankets. But to Syaoran it sounded like, "Don't even think about it."
Striding to where she laid, a smirk spread across his face, he whipped the blanket off of her with one swift tug.
She opened her eyes at the sudden loss of warmth and glared up at him. "Mou, Syaoran! Give that back!" she demanded.
He dangled the horde of cloth in front of himself. "If you want it so bad, come and get it."
"Iie. Nevermind. I don't need it." She asserted stubbornly, wrapping her small hands around her shoulders and turning away from him.
Syaoran sighed, discarding the pile of blankets on the ground. "So, you're going to be difficult, huh?"
She didn't give him the pleasure of a reply. She merely lay motionless, facing the tree in her shelter.
In an arousing, audacious move, Syaoran swept Sakura right off the ground. Only giving her time for a small gasp of astonishment, he sprinted toward the river.
Sakura began pounding his back with her fists while screeching, "Put me down, Li-kun! What do you think you're doing? I said PUT ME DOWN NOW!!!"
"Whatever you say." came his simple reply, discarding her into the river.
"AAAIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! SYAORAN, YOU JER-"
*SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH*
After a few moments of silence and a few air bubbles surfacing, Syaoran was overtaken by slight worry. 'Is she alright?' he wondered, peering over the edge of the calm, uncorrupted river.
All too suddenly, Sakura's soaked figure erupted from the water's surface, quickly snagging the front of Syaoran's shirt, and pulling his now off-balance body into the chilly waters.
*SPLLLLLLLAAAAAAASSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH*
Two heads now protruded from the water's clear surface, each smirking at the other with some kind of inside joke. Then Syaoran began to badger Sakura, splishing/splashing little flicks of water at her.
Sakura held up her right hand, to prevent the tidbits of water from getting any closer. "I never knew you could be so annoying, Li-kun!"
"Well, you're awake now, ne?"
She mock-frowned at him. "Maybe."
"I guess I'd better make sure."
"Nani?!"
*KERPLUNK*
"You *gasp* jerk! *gasp gasp* That was really *gasp* MEAN!"
The drenched and dripping Card Mistress languidly made her way out of the river, a soggy Syaoran following close behind. Upon reaching the bank, she climbed out of the icy liquid and tramped off into the woods.
"Where do you think you're going?" Syaoran called from a few feet behind her, "You're soaked to the bone!"
She spun around on her heels, giving him a glare that rivaled his own. "And just WHOSE fault is that?" she challenged, hastily veering back the opposite way and stomping off in the direction of a towering mountain.
"OI!! Wait up!" Syaoran voiced, trying to catch up with her, "Where are you going?"
Sakura paused and looked over her shoulder, spite present in her eyes. "I'm going for a walk, got a problem with that?" she spat.
"Well I'm coming-"
"No, you're not." she interrupted, none-too-nicely, "I'd rather not get flung into the river again, especially by such a jerk."
Syaoran sighed again, rolling his eyes. "Look, I'm sorry about the river incident. I didn't think you'd take it so…harshly."
"Was I supposed to like it?!"
"No, I just-"
"JA NE. Just toss rocks in the water for a few hours, I'm sure you'll have a ball."
And with that, the young female Card Captor stalked off into the woods, faint mumbles of, "jerk" escaping her lips here and there.
Syaoran ceased pursuit and perched himself on the ground by the glimmering river, staring into its crystal, lucid depths. 'She can do whatever she wants.' he determined, crossing his arms defiantly, 'I don't care.'
He chucked a stone into the river, cracking its glass-like surface. He would just reside here until she returned, despite the profanities his heart was yelling at him.~
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Sakura grasped onto the next ledge, hauling herself a little higher up the mountainside. Despite how damp and sodden she was, her petite form was ample enough for this pushover of a mountain.
It was a lofty mountain, and steep in some places, but there were enough protrusions within the rocky side to make your way to the top with relative ease. Sakura was scaling the mountain for the sole purpose of keeping her mind off of the handsome Chinese warrior.
But her escapade up the slope was only causing her to think more of Li Syaoran.
'Maybe I was too harsh on him…' she thought, unconsciously biting her lower lip, 'I'd better apologize to him when I get back.'
Just now realizing how elevated she was, Sakura looked down below, swallowing hard. The sight of her altitude made her dizzy.
"Hoe…" she spoke aloud, her diminutive voice echoing softly around her.
'I was so irritated with Syaoran that I forgot just how much I hate heights!'
************************************************
The once transparent river was now littered with numerous objects, obscuring its reflective surface. Grass lay scattered across the glossy surface, along with weeds, flowers, leaves, twigs, and bits of dusty earth.
Another stone is quickly discarded, rippling the face of the river. Li Syaoran sits on the bank, legs dangling over the edge as he discards nature's possessions into the now-murky liquid.
'I wonder what Sakura's up to…' he thought, picturing her dazzling smile upon a still-untouched part of the water's surface.
He threw another stone in, annihilating the mental imprint of her face on impact. 'I should apologize to her as soon as she decides to come back here…IF she even does…'
He gazed off in the direction of the monumental peak, furrowing his brows slightly at a sudden odd thought. 'She wouldn't be trying to climb that thing, would she?'
He leaned forward a little more and squinted his amber eyes, almost as if he could see her from where he sat. 'She wouldn't be that crazed, would she? I mean, she hates heights for kami's sake!'
Still staring in the same area, he rose to his feet. 'She wasn't thinking straight.' he thought, 'There's no telling what she might be doing.'
Brushing his pants off, he began to make his way toward the mountain. 'She's been gone for five of six hours already. She should have been back long ago, that is, if she was planning on returning. Otherwise, she could be in trouble.'
Heeding to his last thought, he broke into a run. 'Please, Kami-sama, don't let anything have happened to her.' he prayed.
*************************************************
'Hoe…getting up here was easy, but how do I get down?'
Sakura was hugging the side of the mountain for dear life, squeezing her eyes shut to block the panorama she could clearly see from where she stood. She didn't need to be reminded how high up she was.
'I should have let Syaoran come with.' she thought, her usually high spirits replaced by fear, 'I don't know how I'm going to get down from here.'
Daring a peek down the mountain, she gasped. Surprisingly not because of the altitude, but because of a familiar, unforgettable aura. Green in color, strong and demanding, yet gentle, soothing to the senses…just perfect.
Li Syaoran, her knight in shining armor, was coming to her rescue!
She silently thanked Kami for stilling her uneasiness and bringing her dashing warrior to her.
Momentarily forgetting her current situation, her whole body relaxed in relief. This caused her still-sleek shoe to slip, and the chunk of jumbled rock and minerals beneath it.
Everything following happened much too quickly for her to register. The sudden loss of footing caught her dangerously off-balance, and her hands dissociated themselves from their protective hold to fix the mistake.
But it was too late. Clow Card Mistress, Kinomoto Sakura, toppled backward and descended toward the ground…
There's chapter 2. Another cliffhanger! I know, I know, it's evil of me, but I had to do it. Sorry about the shortness, I promise my next chapter will be longer. So, will Syaoran make it in time? You'll have to wait and see. ^.^ I still have to decide what I want to happen. Arigato for the encouragement! I guess I don't really have a lot of self-confidence (and it doesn't help when my brothers break into my private folders and laugh their arses off at my fics…). So…until next time (probably next weekend)! Please continue to review, the encouragement and comments REALLY help! Arigato for your time, please drop me a line sometime (whoa…lots of rhymes…gomen):