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Escaping
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By: Brat-Girl

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On a stormy night over the city of Tomoeda, our view concentrates on a huge building surrounded by a huge coulter, a lightning that strikes on the horizon illuminates the big and rusty sign placed over the portal of the coulter. It reads "Orphanage".

On the solitary halls, only illuminated by the little light coming from outside of the building, you can't just hear more than the sounds of the raindrops falling on the windows.

"STOP HIM!!! NOW!!!" A man on black clothes screams suddenly toward two guards that stand at his sides. Both man nods and star running behind a kid.

At the order of the man, the kid looks back and sees the two guards after him, so he speeds up his pace. - Oh, no... no way I'm letting them catch me and putting me into those dammed cells again!!! - The kid keeps running, amazingly the guards can't keep his pace.

The child, who's not older then eleven or twelve years old, is determined to escape from the clutches of those guys, and so he kept a steady pace, until he turns on a corner and found himself front to front with a wall. He has no escape.

The child looks behind him to find the guy with black clothes looking at him with a mocking smirk on his face. His small eyes gleaming behind the little glasses posed over his thin and arched nose. Behind the guy, the two big mans, dressed completely in white, are waiting for the order o grab the kid.

"Child, oh, child..." The man in black begin. "Why must you do this every week, my dear child? You know that your life in here is for the best. We care for you. We feed you. We give you a roof to protect yourself. Why are you so ungrateful with us while trying to run away?" The guy spoke with a mocking tone, trying to sound hurt.

"I wouldn't have to run away if you, father Leon, weren't such a filthy bastard." The child said while glaring at the guy.

The priest frowned, he wasn't pleased by the answer of the child. "Syaoran, you must pay respect to you elders" this time his tone was serious and angered.

"I won't pay respect to anyone on this so-called 'orphanage', and specially to you, bastard" Syaoran's eyes were determined.

Father Leon pushed up his glasses over his nose. "You must learn a lesson" he snorted. "Crabbe, Goyle, get him."

At the order, the two men in white went to grab the kid; Syaoran backed up, and when the guy on the right reached at him, Syaoran jumped and kicked the guy on the left straight on the face, while the guy on the right fell to the floor. Syaoran landed like a cat and immediately started to run past the priest, who was quite surprised of the child's abilities.

"DON'T LET HIM SCAPE AGAIN!!!" The priest yelled again and the persecution resumed.

- I'm getting out of this place today, and no one is going to stop me!!! - Syaoran though as he ran on the opposite direction this time, speeding more and more, but this time, he tripped and fell flat on his face.

This, of course, gave the two guards enough time to catch him and immobilize him. "Let me go!!!" He screamed while one of the guards held him by his two arms and lifted him of the floor. Now it was impossible for Syaoran to escape, because the guy was much bigger than him, and no matter how much he kicked him, he couldn't get free.

His screams echoed on the halls, awakening the sleeping kids, who now peeked trough the little window on their doors, curious about this kid who dared to try to escape from the Tomoeda orphanage and was now going to be punished by his acts.

"He's going to be tortured!" "I heard that the last time a boy tried to escape from here he was locked on a room with nothing more than a bowl with water and a piece of bread from the size of a fist for a whole month!" Rumors ran between the kids. It was certainly something new to find a kid that tried to escape from the clutches of Father Leon, who had been keeping Syaoran's failed escapes on secret. All the kids murmured between them as the Syaoran was transported in front of the cells.

Father Leon, who leaded the way, stopped at the end of the hall, right in front of a rusty and old door that was locked with a heavy padlock. "Now, Syaoran, I didn't want to come to this, but since you have awakened all the other kids with your screams, I think the best is to you to give the example to them: No one tries to escape from me. You heard that child? NO ONE!" Father Leon took out an old key that hanged like a pendant from his neck, he trusted the key on the padlock and the door opened with a screech.

They went up a long and thin stair until they reached another hall. This one without a single window, and only three cells. But this were different kind of doors, these looked heavier and didn't have a window to peek trough.

"Now, where to put you? I know, why don't you make company to the little Kinomoto wench? I know you'll like her, after all, both of you are such a pair of criminals..." Father Leon said while looking with disgust at the door in the middle. "Put him there." He ordered the two guards. The one who wasn't holding Syaoran, opened the door, while the other tossed the kid inside like a bag of potatoes. The door closed and the priest voice could be heard from outside. "Now, Syaoran, as punishment, you are not going to receive any food for a week, and like we can't risk to have Kinomoto share her food with you so I'm afraid that she isn't going to get any food either. Now, behave, and maybe I'll let you out sooner." Said the priest putting an end to his lecture.

From inside the cell, Syaoran could hear the father and the guard going.

"Dammit... DAMMIT! LET ME OUT!!! LET ME OUT!!!" Syaoran yelled while punching the door.

"Uh? What was that?" A sleepy voice wondered out loud from behind him. This startled Syaoran, who now quieted up. Slowly, he looked behind him.

The room was very small, like three meter from the door to the bed, and a 1 meter space next to the bed. There was only one window, or what it could be called a window. It wasn't more than a little hole, and it was too high to be even able to look outside.

On the bed, something shifted on the darkness. Syaoran positioned to battle. Maybe this Kinomoto person was someone to be worried about.

"Is too dark, Sakura-chan!" Came a high pitched voice from the shadows.

Syaoran blinked. Were there two persons with him?

"Calm down, Kero-chan, let me turn on the candle." Came the first voice. It was a girls voice.

The scratch of a match over a stone was heard and the faint light of a candle came to life. Right in front of him was the owner of the first voice, a beautiful girl no older than him with short honey-colored hair, and the brightest green eyes that he had ever seen in his life. She wore an old and ragged pink dress and was quite thin and pale, obviously from the lack of food and the life conditions she had.

"Oh, hello. And who are you?" The girl's voice was surprised. Obviously she didn't expected company.

Syaoran let down his guard, this girl didn't look like an enemy. "I'm Li Syaoran, who are you?" Syaoran asked hastily while crossing his arms.

"Oh, hi Li-san. I'm Kinomoto Sakura, but you can call me Sakura." She said with a sweet smile.

"Very well, Kinomoto, I heard another voice a minute ago, what was that?" he asked while frowning.

Sakura was a little hurt because of this his tone of voice and the refusal of her offer, but still, she kept her friendly smile. "Oh, that one is Kero-chan" She turned her head and spoke. "Kero, come out." She said with a smile.

"OI! Brat! How dare you talk to Sakura-chan in that way!?!?" came the same high pitched voice from before, but this time Syaoran was able to see the owner of the voice, as the same floated in front of him glaring at him.

Syaoran was speechless, while a yellow creature that looked like a plush toy, floated of front of him glaring at him.

Kero was getting annoyed. "WELL, SAY SOMETHING, WILL YA?!" Screamed Kero into Syaoran's face.

"Kero-chan!!!" Sakura scolded him before running in front of Syaoran so protect him from Kero's screams. "Don't yell like that to Li-san! You are giving him the wrong impression about us!" She turned around and apologized to Syaoran. "I'm very sorry for my partner's behavior, Li-san. Please, excuse him, he's very overprotective when it comes to me." She said sweetly.

"Humph!" Kero complained behind her while crossing his paws.

Syaoran, who was still shocked, managed to stutter something. "W-what...?" he murmured while pointing a trembling finger to Kero.

Sakura blinked confused at him for a second, then smiled again. "Oh! Right. I'm sorry, This is Kerberos, a magical being, but you can call him Kero-chan for short." She said while gesturing with her hand towards Kero.

"Oh no! for you, brat, I'm Kerberos, guardian beast of the seal!" Said Kero annoyed.

"Kero!" Sakura scolded again.

"This plush toy is a guardian beast!?" Said Syaoran amazed while still pointing to Kero while Sakura sweatdropped and laughed nervously

Kero, who was really annoyed by now, took revenge from "the brat" in the only way he could. He bit Syaoran's finger.

"ACK! Let go! Let go! Let go you stupid stuffed animal!" Yelled Syaoran while waving his hand frantically trying to free his finger.

"Kero-chan! Let go Li-san's finger right now!" Yelled Sakura with her hands on her hips. Kero let go of Syaoran's finger right after that.

"I'm so sorry, Li-san, here, let me see your finger." She said while taking Syaoran's hand and looking at his finger. "Oh, you're bleeding! I'm so sorry... here, let me help you." She then ripped a little strip from her clothes and wrapped it around Syaoran's finger. "There you go. This should do." She said smiling. "As for you..." She said while looking at Kero. "I want you to apologize to Li-san right now!"

"WHAT!?" Kero said, not wanting to believe his ears. "YOU WANT ME TO APOLOGIZE TO THE BRAT!?" He said, shocked.

"Yes, and that's what you are going to do. You are going to apologize for biting his finger AND for calling him brat." The look on her eyes said to him that she was serious, and when she was mad, she was scary...

For once, Kero swallowed his pride and floated in front of Syaoran's face again. "Fine, well, brat..." Another glare of Sakura. "Okay, okay, I apologize for calling you brat and I apologize for bit your finger..." He said not looking to Syaoran's eyes.

Syaoran was still a little surprised. Is not every day when you get caught in a cell with a flying creature who obeys every command from a girl. "Err... apology accepted..." he said absently.

Sakura's frown immediately changed back to her smile as she clapped her hands together. "Okay! See Kero? It wasn't that hard!"

"That's easy for you to say..." Kero muttered. Sakura yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" Kero asked worried. "Oh yeah, you were sleeping when the kid awoke you with his screaming." Kero shot Syaoran a little glare. "You should go back to sleep. Is not good for you health to lost sleep." He said gently.

"That's okay, Kero-chan, besides, there's only one bed, and Li-san must be tired too." She turned to Syaoran. "Li-san, you can use the bed." She said while gesturing to the bed.

Syaoran, for some reason that he couldn't identify, felt his face go hot and suddenly his heart rhythm speed up while he was feeling quite nervous. "Ehhhh... it isn't necessary, you can use the bed." He said looking away.

"Oh, but, Li-san..." She said a little worried.

"Don't worry, besides, I'm not tired." He said still blushing.

"Better take the kid's offer, Sakura-chan. Besides, you are too pale, you must get some sleep, you know." You could easily say that Kero was really worried for Sakura.

"Well, okay, Li-san..." she yawned again. "But if you feel tired, just tell me, and you can use the bed." She said while laying on the bed, falling asleep immediately.

Syaoran saw that she shivered from the cold wind filling the little room. He then noticed that they weren't any blankets. He turned to Kero. "Hey, you, don't you have blankets here?"

Kero looked at him. "No, we don't, that's why Sakura is like this. The cold wind isn't good for her health, but that bastard of Father Leon refuses to give her blankets or something to protect herself."

Well, this sure was new to Syaoran. True, the orphanage was a cruel place, but at least on the other cells the kids had blankets, beds for everyone and everything they needed. But here was a girl who lived on the smallest room he had ever been. Without been able to see the sunlight and who, judging by her looks, hadn't eat a decent meal on years. "How long have you been here?" Syaoran asked not taking his eyes from the shivering girl.

"Seven years." Answered Kero.

"Seven years...?" Syaoran couldn't believe him. "But..."

"How is she still alive even under this kind of life?" Finished Kero. Syaoran nodded. "I've asked myself the same thing ever since I've known her. She is the strongest girl I've never known in my life..." He said also looking to Sakura, who had stopped shivering, but still looked quite pale.

That was something in which Syaoran agreed with Kero. He would have to know this girl better...

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Brat-Girl: Well, here goes the first chapter of my first ficcy... ^_^ Special Thanks to:

Yakumo-chan: My first reviewer ;_; thank yoooouuu!!!! I'll have the next chapter soon!!!

lildragungurl28-san: Write more of your fanfics soon!!!

Sapphie-chan: I want to see more of your fanfics soon too!!!

Minna-san, please R&R!!! And be nice, this is my first fic!!!

~ Brat-Girl ~