" " Speaking
' ' Thoughts
Chapter 4 –From Hate to Love
"Syaoran, aren't you tired yet?" Touya asked, as he blocked another one of his attacks.
"No," was all that Syaoran answered as he swung at him again with his sword.
"Eriol, don't you think you can calm down your cousin or something!" Touya yelled, as he saw the tip of Syaoran's sword pointing at him. "I give."
"I guess it's my turn," Eriol said, taking Touya's spot for hand-to-hand combat.
"…"
'If he thinks that by doing this, he's getting her out of his mind, its not going to work,' Eriol thought as he made his attack first.
In all the lands, Prince Syaoran and Prince Eriol were the best fighters. Since they were cousins, they trained together and with the best fighters in the lands. Their best skills came in sword and hand-to-hand combat techniques that no one was a match for. Of course, while Syaoran worked on strength and skill, Eriol worked on strategic plans and skills. Even though they might not look like it, they feared going to war. They did not like the idea of a war starting and them being called and having to leave their loved ones behind with no protection.
After a few hours or so of going at it, they called it quits and left to go get cleaned up. On their way to the palace, Syaoran sensed an aura that was a light pink and knew who it belonged to immediately.
"Syaoran, why don't you go check it out?" Eriol said, looking at him.
"…"
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Come on Touya, we have to go get cleaned up for supper soon," Eriol said, walking side by side with Touya and talking about how their kingdoms were progressing.
'I hate it when he does that to me,' Syaoran said as he turned to the left and walked towards the aura.
"What should I do? I don't think I can go through with my plan of being mean and cruel to him. For some reason, I just can't think of myself being mean to him," Sakura thought out loud, not realizing that someone was following her.
She saw a bench and walked over to it and sat down. While trying to think about what to do, she stared up at a cherry blossom tree that was hovering above her. She smiled as some petals fell around her, reminding her of home. She closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep till she heard a 'snap' behind her.
"Whose there?" she said, standing up and looking all around her.
"So, you must be the Cherry Blossom that the boss was talking about," said a cold voice behind some bushes that were to her left.
"Who are you?" she said again, stepping further away from the voice.
"Just a fellow servant that wants to please my master and you happen to be what he wants right now," said the voice again as the bushes rustled.
Sakura reached for her necklace, but realized that she didn't have it with her. It calmed her and made her think clearly when she was a nervous wreck like right now.
"Why don't you be a good little princess and let me take you to him," said the voice, but it wasn't to the left side anymore…it was right in front her.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Sakura yelled, as she turned around and started to run for her life.
"Oohh, a chase," said the voice as he ran after her.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh!"
"Sakura!" Syaoran yelled as he ran off in the direction of the yell.
'If anything hurts her, I'll…?! Stop it Syaoran!'
"You're a pretty good fighter, Cherry Blossom," said the monster.
"I've learned from the best!" Sakura said as she launched another attack at him.
Sakura was only able to run for a few yards until the voice finally caught up to her. When she saw the 'voice', she saw that it was an ugly looking thing with sharp teeth, one red and blue eye, and green skin. Fortunately for her, she took some defense lessons from her brother and his friend, Yukito.
They traded punches and kicks and Sakura was starting to tire out already and the monster noticed it. He looked for an open and took it. She went flying backwards towards a nearby tree and was knocked out by the impact.
"You sure are a feisty little thing for being a cherry blossom," he said as he picked her up and started to walk away.
"Put her down!"
'No! I can feel her aura getting weaker by the minute. Hold on Sakura!' Syaoran said as he increased his speed to where he hoped she was.
He ran for a few more yards till he came to a clearing and saw Sakura on the ground, beaten up badly. He then noticed a green ugly looking monster walking towards her.
"You sure are a feisty little thing for being a cherry blossom," was what he heard the monster say as he picked her up and started to walk away.
"Put her down!" Syaoran yelled as he ran up to him and did a high kick to his back.
Because of the impact, the monster dropped Sakura and fell to the ground. When he got back up, he dusted himself off and glared at him.
"Who are you, you little brat?!" yelled the monster as he took a swing at him.
Syaoran ducked and punched him with all his might in the gut. The monster doubled over and fell to his knees, gasping for breath.
"What do you want with her?" Syaoran asked as he reached up to his pendant and said an incantation that made his sword appear.
"I'm not going to tell you!" said the monster as he spat at Syaoran.
"Tell me now!" Syaoran said as he raised his sword.
"Never!"
"Very well then, you leave me no choice," Syaoran said as he brought the sword down on him.
~*~ Two Weeks Later ~*~
"Syaoran, wake up," Eriol said as he walked into the room and saw his cousin sleeping in a chair.
"What?" Syaoran said, getting up and stretching.
"You've been in here ever since you brought her back here. You haven't even told us what happened to her and Touya, along with everyone else is worried about her," Eriol said as he starred at Syaoran with understanding in his eyes.
"…"
"Syaoran, I don't know how you feel, but I can imagine it. You can't keep on doing this to yourself," Eriol said, hoping to get him to talk to him.
"…"
"I know you might not know it yet, and if you do, you are in self-denial, but you are falling in love with her if you're not already," Eriol said as he looked at Sakura's sleeping form.
"…She was attacked in the garden by an ugly looking monster that was going to take her away from here and to his master. For once in my life, I was scared for someone that I don't even know yet. From the moment I saw her, I felt something inside of me that I've never felt before," Syaoran said as he starred at her.
'He actually admitted this! To me no less!' Eriol thought as he starred at Syaoran in disbelief. "Are you going to tell her that when she wakes up?"
"…No, I'm not," Syaoran said as he started to walk towards the door.
"Syaoran, you need to tell her!" Eriol said as he put a hand on his shoulder.
"Eriol, I'm not like you and Tomoyo and I never will be. I don't want to love anyone and I don't want for her to get close to me," Syaoran said as he looked at her one last time and left.
Eriol sighed as he heard what his cousin had just finish telling him. 'Sakura, I'm sorry.'
~*~ One Month Later ~*~
"Happy Birthday, Syaoran!" said Sakura as she saw him just ahead of her.
"Whatever," was all that he said as he entered their room and slammed it shut.
'I wonder whats his problem? He's been so mean to me lately that I don't know what to think of him,' Sakura thought as she turned around and went to the garden.
It's been a month since the incident happened and Sakura seems to not remember a thing that happened that day. Syaoran kept to his words and has been cold to her every chance he gets.
"Princess Sakura?" said a voice from behind her.
Startled, she jumped and tripped over her dress again and fell.
"Are you alright, princess?"
"Yes, I'm just a bit startled is all. Please call me Sakura, Philip," she said as she accepted the hand that he gave to her.
"Yes Princ…Sakura. Her Majesty, Queen Yelan, wishes to see you in her study," Philip said as he bowed and walked away.
"Thank you, Philip!" Sakura said as she changed her course and walked towards the study.
"I understand that you must leave right away, Eriol. Please, send us letters of anything that changes over there? I have a bad feeling about his war," Queen Yelan said as she looked at Eriol.
"Yes ma'am, I will," Eriol said as he bowed and gave her a hug.
"Don't forget to say good-bye to Princess Tomoyo, Princess Sakura, and your cousin Eriol," Queen Yelan said as she let go of him.
"Of course. Take care and I will try to send word here as quickly as possible," Eriol said as he walked out of the door.
'Soon, Syaoran and him will be called to go to war,' Queen Yelan thought as she felt another presence in the room.
"You wanted to see me, Queen Yelan?" Sakura asked as she curtsied and sat in a chair.
"Yes dear, I wanted to ask you how Syaoran was treating you in your and out of your alls room. Is he treating you well?" she asked, seeing how Sakura blushed at what she had said.
"Well, he's been distant of me and we have little arguments here and there. He sleeps on the floor or in a chair while I sleep in the bed even though I tell him not to. I told him a 'Happy Birthday', but he just said, "Whatever," and slammed the door to our room," Sakura said as she started to remember their 'little' arguments that they had.
"Hmm, it seems that I need to talk to my son about this matter," Queen Yelan said as she looked out of her window and at the cherry blossom trees.
"No, please don't do that! I'm sure everything will turn out to be okay in the end," Sakura said, not wanting to get Syaoran into trouble with his mother.
"Very well then, that will be all then dear," Queen Yelan said as she smiled at her and turned her back on her again.
"Thank you."
'Syaoran, what will I do with you?'
As Sakura was walking back to 'their' room, she saw Syaoran walking her way. She tried to turn into another hallway, but he saw her and just looked at her. She stood there, not doing anything, but was starting to get tired of this, so she broke the silence between them.
"What are you starring at, Syaoran?" Sakura asked, not wanting to sound harsh, but he was the one that was doing this to her.
"Nothing that's worth looking at," Syaoran said as he looked away and kept on walking.
"What is that suppose to mean, Syaoran!" Sakura said as she turned around and walked right in front of him.
"Whatever you want it to mean!" Syaoran yelled back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Why do you have to be such a cruel and cold hearted person, Syao!" Sakura yelled back, knowing that he hated that name that she had given him.
"Don't call me that, Princess!" Syaoran said, knowing that she hated to be called that as well.
"Syao!"
"Princess!"
"Ice cube!"
"Ditz!"
"Jerk!"
"Airhead!"
"Why don't you go crawl up a tree, Syao!" Sakura said as she shoved him and walked away.
"Sure, but after you walk into a wall!" Syaoran said as he walked away in the direction he was going before he 'bumped' into her.
"Don't worry about a thing, Tomoyo," Eriol said as he held her in his arms.
"But there are rumors that are going around saying that there is going to be another war soon and those rumors are around your kingdom!" Tomoyo said as she cried into his arms.
"Tomoyo, I promise to write you everyday while I am away," Eriol said as he wiped away her tears.
"No! I want to go with you!" Tomoyo cried again as she looked up at his gray blue eyes.
"No, I don't want you to come and then for you to get hurt because of me. You need to stay here and…"
"Prince Eriol, we need to get going!" said one of the servants on the carriage.
"Yes, of course," Eriol said as he tilted her head up and gave her a light kiss on her lips. "I promise to write to you everyday and that I'll come back to you."
"…Al…alright…E…Eriol," Tomoyo said, trying to gain her composure.
With one last hug and one last kiss, she said good-bye to him and cried.
"Eriol, you promised." Tomoyo said as she walked back inside the palace to go to her room and cry.
Next chapter up! Thanks you guys! -Bluepiper