Disclaimer: I don't own CCS/CC or
its characters, they belong to CLAMP.
By ~Xiaoling~
Chapter 6: Banished
Sakura felt a head ache come to her. She had been in this dungeon for hours now, and she was still thinking about XueLian and her imposter.
*Who are they...?* She thought, her mind frustrated and confusd.
Then she heard footsteps echoeing down the hall, and nearing her cell. The flickering of a torch's shadow could be seen against the wall, and Sakura looked up to see who was coming.
A guard unlocked the door and pushed her out of the dungeon and she was lead to the back of the castle. A rusty old carriage was waiting there, and in the cart were many other girls.
"Get in," The guard said roughly.
"Why?!" Sakura asked.
The guard smirked, "Because your majesty has ordered you to be banished from this kingdom. And so we must send you off to another kingdom and you will become a slave there."
"What?!" Sakura couldn't believe this was happening. She knew her father wouldn't do such a thing, but then, she knew her father was possessed right now.
She was pushed into the carriage with all the other girls in the carriage and soon it drove off to who knows where.
"Excuse me...you're stepping on my foot..."
"Oh! Gomen!" Sakura hadn't notice that her foot was on a young girl's foot. "What's your name?"
The girl smiled slightly. "I'm Rika, and this is Chiharu." She pointed to a girl next to her. "We are being sent away because are family were thought to have been selling illegal things...but it's not true!"
"Oh dear.." Sakura felt sorry for the girls, yet, she was in a worst situation herself.
"Why are you here?" Chiharu asked with a raised eyebrow. "By looking at your style of dress, you don't look like a bad person, or a poor person either."
Sakura frowned and sighed, "It's a long story..."
"It's alright...it's along journey to wherever we are going. So it'll be fun to hear," Rika said.
Sakura nodded and begun her story.
Syaoran, Kero, and Meiling who had to follow them, crept into the castle without anyone knowing.
"We don't want to cause suspicion. I think there's something wrong with the king and the prince..." Kero noted.
Syaoran nodded, "Ok stuff animal, do you know where Sakura is?"
"She's not in her room the last time I saw her."
"We should go check anyways," Meiling suggested. "She might have come back."
They all nodded and crept up the red velvet carpeted stairs towards Sakura's room when they heard someone singing.
"That's not Sakura's voice..." Syaoran whispered.
Meiling nodded, "That voice is haunting..."
They crept towards the door which was open a tiny bit, and they peeked in and saw Celeste twirling around in the room pinning clips into her hair.
"Who the heck is that?!" Meiling whispered.
Kero shrugged, "I have no idea...and why is she in Sakura's room! Wait! That girl over there is Sakura's personal maid!" Kero poited towards XueLian who sat on Sakura's bed.
"Be quiet! Let's just listen and see if we can catch anything!" Syaoran whispered back.
XueLian was smiling at Celeste. "Your plan has worked perfectly mistress."
"I know! Now I am the princess of the Kinomoto Kingdom, and the king and prince are just my pawns." Celeste giggled. "And the card mistress has been banished from this kingdom! What joy!"
"What?!" Meiling nearly yelled, and Syaoran clamped his hand over her mouth. Meiling shot him an annoyed look, and he removed his hand.
Syaoran was urgent to here more. Sakura, banished?
"But how are we going to get the cards?" XueLian asked. "We've checked her entire room, and the book isn't here."
Celeste frowned, "She might have it with her...yet she can't do anything with them."
"Yes, because we have this," XueLian raised the Clow Key infront of her face.
Kero gasped, "The key!"
"Who's there?!" Celeste yelped.
Syaoran, Kero, and Meiling gasped and quickly ran back down the stairs and out to the courtyard. They stopped when they made sure no one was following them.
"So King Fujitaka and Prince Touya are under that girl's control?" Meiling panted.
Kero nodded, "That's what we heard."
"Ok, so they think the book is with Sakura, but it's with us," Syaoran said. "And they have the Clow Key...so where is Sakura?!"
Meiling crossed her arms. "It's time for the mistress of plans to do her stuff."
Kero raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You'll see. This might take some time, but it's worth it," Meiling walked away with a wink. "Meet me tonight right here in the courtyard and I should have the correct information." And with that she left.
"What does she think she's doing?!" Syaoran exclaimed.
Kero shrugged, "We never know. Maybe the little girl does have something up her sleeves."
"Believe me, she doesn't have a clue of what she's doing," Syaoran sighed. "But I guess we have no choice, for Sakura's sake."
"...At least we know that Sakura's imposter wants the Clow Cards...but why?" Kero pondered.
Syaoran frowned, he was worried for
Sakura. *...You better be ok Sakura. You have to be ok...just wait for
me, I'm coming.*
Meiling walked down the hallways of the castle with a tray of tea and cookies. She had a small smile on her lips, and she was dressed in what a normal servant girl would wear.
She walked into the dining room, and saw Fujitaka and Touya sitting there like statues. She placed the tea on the table, and noticed that they didn't even move. She waved her hand infront of their eyes, and they didn't stir.
"What the..." Meiling poked Touya on the shoulder, and he didn't do anything. "Erm, hello?"
"Hello," He replied simply.
Meiling placed her hands on her hips. "What the heck is wrong with you?"
"Nothing," He replied.
*Hmm...he seems to answer my questions...* Meiling leaned over a bit. "Who is that crazy girl that thinks that she is Sakura?"
"Sakura."
Meiling sweatdropped, "Ok...where is the REAL Sakura."
"In her room."
Meiling fell onto the floor anime style. *Ok...let me just get things straight. Touya thinks that the real Sakura is the girl in her room...so I have to ask things...backwards!* Meiling stood up again. "Where is the FAKE Sakura?"
"Gone."
"Gone to where?" Meiling asked hopeful now.
"Hiiragizawa Kingdom."
Meiling smiled in triumphant and she quickly left to tell Syaoran the good news that she knew where Sakura was. She wondered where the Hiiragizawa Kingdom was, since she had never heard of the place.
*At least I got the information!*
Meiling thought happily.
Sakura, Rika, and Chiharu yawned. They were tired from the long ride, and their feet seemed to be asleep, and there bodies ached from being cramped in such a small room with so much people.
"Do you know where we're going?" Sakura asked.
"No your highness," Rika answered.
Sakura sweatdropped, "Don't call me that here...it feels so weird."
"Alright Sakura-chan," Rika smiled.
They were interuppted when the carriage stopped in a sudden halt. Everyone was ordered out of the carriage, and everyone was handed a set of work clothes.
"You are now at the Hiiragizawa Kingdom. You will all be assigned a position of work in the Hiiragizawa Palace, and you will respect the royal family there." A guard said.
Sakura noticed that they were in front of castle, with enormous towers. They were led into the castle, and to the lower floors where they had changed into their work clothes are were being assigned to their jobs.
"You." A guard pointed at Sakura. "Are going to work at the library. You will be cleaning."
Sakura frowned since she wasn't use to this. She had never done any cleaning or housework, and she had no idea how to mop floors, but nonetheless she had to do this.
*Someone come save me quick...* Sakura thought distressfully as she entered the large library. She groaned at the dusty shelves, and the somewhat dirty floors. "Talk about dusty..."
She had a mop in her hands, and a bucket of water in the other. She dipped the mop into the water, and ran it back and forth on the floor carefully.
She ran up and down the floor with her mop, her gaze averted to the floor at all times.
"Ah!" Sakura collided into someone and she fell back. "Gomen!" She quickly got up and met a boy around her age, with dark eyes and dark blue hair and glasses.
He smiled, "It's alright miss."
Sakura smiled back, and she noticed that the boy wore very rich looking clothing. *He must be part of the royal family!!* She was so shocked that she had knocked a prince down that she didn't notice the boy staring at her oddly.
"My..my name is Eriol Hiiragizawa." He introduced and shook her hand.
"The prince?" Sakura said shocked.
Eriol nodded. *I sense...an aura from this girl...could she be?* Eriol eyed her a few more seconds.
"Is something the matter?" Sakura asked uneasily.
"Nothing...I guess I will be seeing you around because I like to go here. The library is a wonderful place to be, except that it only seems that I go here."
Sakura nodded and said good bye to him as he disappeared out the doors.
*Could she be...the card mistress?*
Eriol thought as he walked down the hallways, admist in his own thoughts.
AN: Whoa ~.~ Eriol is now in the
story ;) Will Syaoran, Kero, and Meiling find Sakura? Will Celeste and
XueLian get the cards?! Stay tooned to find out! Review onegai!
