Author's Note: This is sort of long but good (I think). Not much to say, so read.
*~*
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.
*~*
*~* Chapter Eight *~*
Discoveries and Conspiracies
Touya, Yukito and Kero arrived just before the pizzas did. Once the food arrived, they plopped down in front of the television and began to eat.
"Let's watch the soccer game!" cried Kero. He managed to somehow drag a whole box of pizza onto the floor without making a mess and was tearing apart the fist slice.
Touya nodded and found the channel it was on. "It's just started!"
Sakura and Syaoran sat together apart from them. Sakura held the chest in her hands. "Can I open it NOW?"
Syaoran sighed. "I guess so."
Sakura happily flipped open the lid and pulled out two old books. Their covers were of dark leather and their pages an old yellow. She carefully opened one of the books.
"It looks like a diary," she told him.
"It must be Nyoko's diary," said Syaoran.
Sakura nodded. She began to read it softly aloud to him.
April 22
Dear diary,
I am in a strange place called Chiyo-Takura, which I have learned means 'eternal treasure'. Chiyo-Takura is very beautiful, so I can understand how it is called that.
From my understanding, this place is ruled solely by Yukio, although I'm not sure how. He lives in a huge, old castle full of servants. It looks like I've gone back in history. The whole place looks like Medieval Europe.
So far, I've been here for two days. Yesterday, I was unconscious. Today, I have been confined to this room where I am writing in this diary. I have decided to record anything that happens here so that if someone else is taken here, they will somehow have a way home.
The only way I can be released from this room is if I get permission from Yukio. That shouldn't be too hard- after all, he is besotted with me. Then I plan to search the grounds, ask the servants questions and find the library.
I have so many things to find out. Am I on another planet? The two suns suggest that. How come Yukio is in control here? What does he have planned for me?
Hopefully my quest will start tomorrow. For now I will sit here in my room, gazing out the window, contemplating my next move.
Sakura raised her eyes. "So Yukio was- and probably still is- the leader of this place! Who knew he had such power!" She turned the page gently and began to read the next entry.
April 23
Dear diary,
It is late at night as I write this. All day I have been wondering around, getting as much information from people as I can. They were not eager to talk. It was very difficult to get anything from them at all.
What I did get was indeed helpful.
It turns out that Yukio has some sort of mark on him that is the same as the mark described in an ancient prophecy. That is why the people took him in as their leader. Before him there was no order in this place. There were no laws. I guess Yukio reformed this place.
I also discovered that not all of the people were willing to let Yukio lead them. A large group of people that live just behind the mountains are still searching for their leader. This mysterious person is supposed to be their savior from Yukio. These people obviously know of Yukio's lees than gracious personality.
I, however, have no hope of going there. It is said that anyone under Yukio's rule who goes past the mountains will be executed. Besides, the place is heavily guarded. But there must be some way over there. That is my next mission- to speak with someone who lives past the mountains.
Meanwhile, I am copying spells that may become useful to someone in the future from a book I stole from the library. Hopefully there is something in there that will help me home.
Syaoran looked at the second leather book. "So that must be the spells."
Sakura nodded. She flipped the pages of the diary until she stopped at an entry.
July 23
Dear Diary,
While walking in the marketplace today, I encountered a strange woman. Much to my excitement, I discovered that the old woman was from the other side of the mountains! I eagerly followed her to a secluded place in the woods and listened to her tales.
She told me that the people who lived beyond the mountains in a place called Maiya all had special powers. The people there are sorcerers of some sort. Most of them can easily judge another's personality just by looking at them. They've all seen Yukio and saw the evil hidden inside him. That's why they never accepted Yukio as their lord.
And then the old woman told me this- that she could sense a strong sort of power within me. She said that, if used the right way, that my powers could destroy Yukio and prevent his evil plans from being carried out.
But what can I do? I don't know how to control my powers. I told her this and she said that tomorrow, the people of Maiya would revolt. They would spring a surprise attack on Yukio. She said that her people would help me defeat him, since they know all about magic.
I will trust this old woman. It is the only hope that I have.
So, whoever's reading this probably knows the outcome of the battle. All I can hope is that the results turn out to be in my favor.
Sakura flipped the page. It was blank. "Wow," she whispered.
Syaoran nodded. "Interesting. We've learned a lot just by reading a few pages."
Sakura looked up at Syaoran. "Your great-great-grandmother must have been one powerful woman. Do you think we have what it takes to defeat Yukio?"
"Of course we do." Syaoran was just about to kiss her when . . .
"YO! What are yall doin' over there? Havin' a deep conversation?" bellowed Kero, a pepperoni hanging out of his mouth.
The two looked up to see all of the boys staring at them.
Touya glared at Syaoran. "You weren't about to kiss her, were you?"
"N-NO!" muttered Syaoran.
Yukito smiled at the two of them. "Aww, Touya, give them a break! They look so cute together!"
"Cute, my . . ."
Kero shook his head in horror. "Don't ever say that! I probably have gaki-itis from all of the gaki's germs floating around here!"
Syaoran glared at Kero. "Hey! You're eating the pizza I paid for!"
Sakura stared at Yukito, then Kero. "Hey! Wait a minute! How do you know about Kero, Yukito?"
Touya flushed. "Umm, that's my fault."
Kero turned to Sakura's brother. "That's right! He was yelling at me for eating in his bed-"
"BECAUSE YOU WERE LEAVING NASTY COOKIE CRUMBS IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!"
"- and Yukito walked in on us having a little argument," finished Kero, ignoring Touya.
"When we get home, I'm going to make you get up each and EVERY crumb! Or else I'll . . ." growled Touya.
"You'll what?"
"I'll bash your face in! I'll rip those little wings form your back!! I'll swing you by your little tail! I'll-"
Kero began to glow. "LITTLE?!! You haven't seen me in my larger form. Wait till I-"
Syaoran and Sakura jumped out of their seats and cried, "NO!" in unison.
Everyone stared at them.
Sakura shook her finger at Kero. "You'd totally destroy Syaoran's apartment if you do that."
Kero grinned evilly. "I know . . ."
Before Sakura could reply, the phone rang.
"Don't answer it," groaned Syaoran. "You know what happened last time . . ." He glanced at the boys sitting on the floor.
Sakura picked up the phone anyway. "Hello?"
"Oh, Sakura! I didn't know you were over Syaoran's place!"
"We were just doing some research, Sanori," said Sakura. She turned her back to Touya and Kero who were fighting in the living room over who'd eaten all of the sweats Fujitaka had made earlier.
"Oh, that's nice. Look, I'm having a dinner party tomorrow. I'd like for you to come with Syaoran. Please bring as many guests as you like."
CRASH! BANG!
"Yeah, well who ate all of the cookies in MY BED?!" shrieked Touya, throwing a pillow at Kero.
He dogged it. "YOU ate all of the fudge. And so did your boyfriend! He also ate the brownies, the pie, the cake, and the ICE CREAM!!!"
Yukito flushed. "Leave me out of this!"
Touya picked up a vase and tossed it at Kero.
Syaoran caught it and placed it on the couch. "Do you know how much that costs?! Stop throwing stuff!!"
CRASH! BANG!
"Oh . . . what is going ON?" wondered Sanori.
"We just have some . . . friends over! SOOOOO, what time is this party?"
There was a pause. "It's at seven, dear. And don't invite any immature friends, please."
A sweat drop appeared at the back of her head. "Yes, ma'am."
"Alright. I'll let you get back to your little . . .party."
Sakura and Sanori said their good-byes and hung up the phone.
KA-SPLAT!!
"ARGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Sakura whirled around and gasped. "Oh, my GOD! Syaoran!"
Syaoran lay flat on his back with a pizza covering his face.
Touya paled. "I-I was a-aiming for Kero, not him!"
"I'm suffocating!" Syaoran cried from underneath the pizza. "My face is burning!"
Sakura lifted the pizza off his face. "Are you alright?"
Syaoran peeled some cheese off of his cheek. "I don't know . . ."
Kero snickered. "Maybe there was some brain damage. He was under that pizza for a long time without air . . ."
A slice of pizza hit Kero right in the chest, causing him to fall backwards.
*~*
The next morning, Syaoran picked Sakura up for school. This time Mei-lin was not in the car.
Sakura eyed Syaoran as he began to drive. "I think you have some cheese in your ear . . ."
Syaoran paled and began to pull over. "WHERE? WHERE? GET IT OUT!!!"
Sakura giggled. "I was only joking! Calm down!"
Syaoran glared at her. "Don't do that again."
*~*
Sakura and Syaoran entered the classroom together. Sakura eyed the class and spotted their friends.
"Hey guys!" said Sakura.
"Hi," they all replied.
Sakura remembered the party. "I want to invite you guys to a dinner party tonight at seven. If you guys want to come."
Chiharu's eyes widened. "Is it at Syaoran's mansion? I heard that it's even bigger than Tomoyo's house!"
Tomoyo bristled. "My mother and I looked at that mansion. It only has one more room than ours."
Eriol smiled. "Of course I'd like to come! I assume that it's formal, knowing the Li's."
Sakura nodded. She handed them to her friends. "Here's the address and phone number. You all need to RSVP by five this afternoon."
Sakura looked up to see Sumitomo enter the classroom. She left her group, who was discussing what they would wear, and went up to him.
She smiled at him. "Good morning."
"Good morning," he replied.
"I want to invite you to a party tonight," she told him.
"The one at the Li mansion?"
Sakura nodded.
"Mei-lin already invited me. Thanks, anyway."
She nodded again. "Yes, well, I can't wait to see you there."
*~*
"I am coming, kaijuu! And that's final!"
Sakura frowned and stomped her foot. "NO! I don't want you to come if you're going to act like a jerk!"
Fujitaka smiled at his daughter. "I think Touya should come. He IS your brother and the Li's will be like family to him."
Touya stuck out his tongue. "HA!"
Sakura plopped down on the couch in her living room. "Fine. A limo will be by to pick us up around six-thirty. So be ready. Speaking of ready, I should go prepare."
Sakura had decided to wear the gown she had on when Syaoran had proposed to her. The yellowish-gold gown hung in her closet. She took a long, relaxing bubble bath and then slipped into her gown. She curled her hair and did a little make-up.
"Come downstairs, Sakura!" called her father. "I want to get a picture of you."
Sakura smiled at her reflection and then went down the steps.
Fujitaka began to take pictures as she walked.
Touya grinned. "Well, you're one pretty kaijuu, Sakura."
She glared at him. "And you're a handsome ape."
Both her father and brother wore black tuxes.
There was a knock on the door. Sakura quickly made her way over to it and opened it.
"Syaoran! Oh, is that for me?" she asked, pointing to the yellow flower in his hand.
"Who else would it be for, Sakura?" growled Touya.
Syaoran ignored him. "Of course. It's for your hair. Something told me that you were going to wear that dress so I got it for you."
Sakura gently took it from his hands and pinned it in her hair. "It's lovely."
"THAT IS SOOOO KAWAII!"
Sakura turned to see Tomoyo's head sticking out of the window of a limo, her camera stuck in front of her face. The faces of her other friends also appeared out of the windows of other limos lined up on the street.
"I got some limos for our friends. We have one to ourselves," whispered Syaoran.
Touya frowned. "Wait a minute-"
Fujitaka smiled. "Just show us to our limo so we can be on our way."
*~*
"OHHHHH, WOW!" exclaimed Chiharu.
"It sooo big . . ." muttered Rika.
"Nice place you've got here," said Takashi.
Nyoko grabbed Takashi's arm. "Naturally! Only the best for Syaoran!"
Fujitaka and Touya stared in awe.
Tomoyo said nothing.
They entered the house. It took them twenty minutes to make it to the dinning room because everyone kept stopping in the halls to ask about various objects.
Sanori, the rest of clan that had come to Japan and select families from Tomoeda already stood there, socializing.
After brief intros, everyone was sat at the long dinning table, with Sanori at one end and Syaoran at the other. Sakura naturally sat to his right, Mei-lin to his left. Sumitomo sat next to Mei-lin and Tomoyo was seated next to Sakura. The adults sat at the other end with Sanori.
The meal began as waiters began to bring out large brass plates of food. Sakura's friends gasped.
"I've never seen so much food in my life!" cried Nyoko, her eyes wide.
Everyone laughed.
Unnoticed to everyone, Mei-lin slipped out of the dinning room.
*~*
"I can't live like this!" Yukio clenched his palms. "I'm too weak to do anything! I need more power."
Mei-lin nodded. "I know. But where-"
"I must drain some magical power from someone. I do not have the strength to bring my lovely Nyoko to my home. I don't want to wait much longer!"
Mei-lin paced around the small room in which she and Dio had resurrected Yukio's spirit and body and kept him for all this time. "There are plenty of guests at the party downstairs. Have your pick. Sakura, I hear, is quite strong . . ."
Yukio glared at Mei-lin. "Nyoko, or Sakura, if that's what she wants to be called now, will wait for later. With her magic, I will be able to successfully conquer both my world and this one." He eyed Mei-lin. "And you and Dio, for your help, will earn a rightful place in my dynasty."
Mei-lin smiled. And I will have Syaoran, too. "Thank you, Lord Yukio."
*~*
The dinner ended in about an hour and a half. The group moved into the ballroom for some dancing.
Once there, Dio took Mei-lin's hand. "Syaoran! Won't you dance with Mei-lin?"
Syaoran looked down at Sakura who stood at his side. "Go ahead. It's okay."
Sakura watched the other dancers whirl around the floor.
"Would you dance with me, Sakura?"
She turned around and smiled kindly at Sumitomo. "Of course."
She let him take her onto the dance floor. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her.
Neither of them said anything for a long time. Sakura wondered what he was thinking. She knew, although her head was lowered, that he was staring at her.
She looked up at him. "I-is something wrong?"
He blinked several times. "Oh, no. I-I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Sumitomo hesitated. "Syaoran . . . you love him a lot, don't you? A-and he loves you back?"
Sakura nodded. "Of course. Why would you ask that?"
He let out a huge sigh and averted his gaze. "I-I love you, Sakura."
She just looked up at him in confusion. "But we haven't know each other long enough. H-how can you . . .?"
"We've know each other longer than you think," he whispered.
Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "I now know that whatever I do, you will never come to love me the way you do Syaoran. I can see the love you have for him in your eyes every time you look at him, the love in your voice when you speak to him. And there is no way that I can compete with that. I was wrong to try to take you from him."
"But you haven't. I don't understand."
He stopped dancing and placed his hands gently on her arms. "That's alright. It would be best if you forgot that you met me."
"W-why?" stammered Sakura.
"I must leave now," he whispered as if he were in a daze. "It's clear to me now- I don't belong here . . . or anywhere . . ."
Sakura stared at him. "What a-"
"Neither the light nor the dark side will embrace me . . . I am an outcast . . ."
He was scaring Sakura. She looked around at the other guests for help.
"I will go to a world of emptiness . . . the only place I truly belong . . ."
Oh, God . . . is he talking about suicide? I've got to stop him.
Sumitomo chuckled softly and stroked her cheek. "No, I'm not talking about suicide. Your heart is so pure. Please cherish it."
"Stop, Sumitomo! Please . . . I don't like this . . ."
He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry about me. I'm leaving now and I won't interfere in your life anymore . . . Goodbye . . ."
"No!"
He took one last look at her and walked away.
*~*
Syaoran watched Sumitomo dance with his fiancée, feeling the jealousy heat his body. He pushed back the feeling, but felt it explode when Sumitomo leaned forward to kiss Sakura's forehead.
Syaoran immediately pushed Mei-lin away and went over to Sakura.
"What was that all about?" he demanded.
He saw the worried look in Sakura's eyes. "He was saying some strange things. About how he didn't belong here, how he was going away and never coming back . . . It sounded like he was going to kill himself. But he assured me he wouldn't. Still . . ."
Syaoran placed his arms around her. "I'm sure it'll be alright," he murmured into her hair.
Xiefa approached them. "Is everything alright, Sakura?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I-I'm fine. I just don't think I can stay for the rest of the party. I'm sorry."
Xiefa smiled and nodded. "It's okay. Syaoran can take you home. We'll just tell your family you weren't feeling well."
Sakura smiled gratefully and let Syaoran lead her out of the ballroom.
*~*
Syaoran made sure Sakura was conformably in bed before he left later that night.
Sakura snuggled into her blankets, looking around the room. She eyed every shadow and anything strange that caught her eye. The chilling silence was almost unbearable. A flash of fear ran through her body as the room went pitch black. Sakura closed her eyes tightly and when she opened them, she was no longer in her bed.
Instead she stood in a long hallway illuminated by the slowly setting moon. A young girl was wondering along it.
Xiefa?
"Xiefa! Where am I?" she cried.
Yet Syaoran's sister ignored her and kept walking.
Sakura watched in horror as a man stepped out of the shadows and wrapped his hands around Xiefa's neck. She let out a piercing scream.
Sakura ran over to them and tried to grab the man's hands but she went straight through them. So she could do nothing but watch as purple mist rose from her body.
Xiefa fell to the floor.
*~*
Sakura sat up in her bed, taking deep breaths.
She looked out of her bedroom window. The moon was just setting.
Xiefa. I'm coming . . .
Author's Note: I had fun writing this one. Please R+R.
