DISCLAIMER: Do I even need to do this any more? What was that? Yes? *sigh* I don't own ccs. So there.
a/n: It's been a while since my last update....gomen!
They walked, well Sakura walked, the guards marched. "Hey!" she yelled. "I thought we were gonna go to Letith's house. What the hell is going on?"
The leader turned around and peered at Sakura. "We aren't going to Letith's house. We're going to the council hall."
Sakura got glares from some of the guardsmen and decided that she really needed to keep her mouth shut. They marched up the steps to the council hall, marched up more steps to the council room and then even more steps to Letith's office.
"Coucilman Letith isn't available right now," his secretary answered in a surprisingly rich voice for something that was blazing pink and purple all over. "Is there something I can help you with? Are you soldiers supposed to be in here?"
"The councilman wanted us to find this girl...I think. He wasn't too specific," the leader said, winking at the secretary.
She acted flustered. "Disgusting," Sakura muttered to herself, turning her back to the flirting pair. It was rather unsettling to be taken in my soldiers to see someone. Had she done anything against the law lately? If she did, she could always say that she wasn't aware of the law. What other possible reason could there be for Letith to see her?
Another problem popped into her head. How was she supposed to let Sobek know what happened? Chances were that he'd already found out what was going on, but still, what if he hadn't found out yet?
Sakura sighed and settle down in her chair. From the way the secretary was talking, this Letith man might not be back for a while. She was really quite tired now that she thought about it. Walking so much everyday took up energy. Worrying about Sobek took energy. Worrying about keeping up appearances took energy too. So much energy used up on so few things. Sakura yawned and closed her eyes. Maybe a short nap would be good.
Hours later, the secretary woke her up. The sun had set and the streets were lit by candles now. "I'm sorry, dear, Letith didn't come back today. I don't know when he'll be in again, since the council's not in session, but I left a note saying you were to see him. You should find a place to stay."
Sakura blinked. What just happened? How was it that she had fallen asleep? Who was this? "Huh?" was all she managed to mumble.
"Poor thing, you look so confused and lost. You can stay with me until we find out what Letith wants, how does that sound?" she cooed.
"Do I get food and a place to sleep?" she bluntly asked. The secretary nodded. "Ok."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Letith knocked on Rika's door. It was still very early in the morning; he didn't expect her to be up yet. Much to his surprise, the door was opened, but not by Rika, by one of her friends, the one with the silver hair. Yue.
Yue opened the door wider, allowing Letith too see everyone up, but still in their pajamas, congregated in Rika's room. They looked like they were in the middle of a conversation. "And I was afraid none of you would be up yet," Letith remarked inviting himself in.
Syaoran was glaring at Letith, suspicious that he should come calling so early in the morning. Nakuru noticed and slapped the back of his head. "What was that for?" he demanded.
"Play nice," she said. An innocent comment that could have had bearing on their conversation; Letith had no way of knowing that she was referring to him and Syaoran. Syaoran mummbled something about stupid guardians. "What did you say?" Nakuru and Kero said at the same time, each giving him their version of the evil eye, which Syaoran gladly returned.
"So, what brings you here so early, Letith?" Eriol asked.
"Is it about the key?" Rika added.
"Well, actually, yes," Letith replied jovially.
"That's a good thing," Suppi remarked lazily, enjoying the three way staring contest.
"Indeed. I was actually wondering though," he started, looking again at Rika, "if Rika could come with me to the council hall.."
"It's not here with you?" Rika was amazed. Somehow, it never occured to her that the key wouldn't be as close to Letith as possible.
Letith cleared his throat. "No, it's not here with me."
"Ok. I'll go."
"Rika," Kero called out, trying to remind her of what Syaoran was worrying about.
"Don't worry, Kero."
Letith helped Rika into the carraige waiting for them. His house was not that far from the Council hall, but he liked riding in the cabs. He felt almost guilty for taking her away from them, but they had that girl the secretary said was waiting for him. And it was asking for her. Why? Letith could guess, but he wasn't sure.
Letith really did have this "Key" Rika was looking for. He really was going to show it to her. But whether or not he was going to allow her to leave...His concience said that he should, but his heart said that he shouldn't.
The whole ride went in complete silence. Rika looked out the window or the cab. Letith admired her profile and wondered what she could be thinking. He noted, when they got out of the carraige, that she walked with more zest in her step. She must be cheerful, he thought, even though she has no expression on her face.
He led the way into the labyrinth of the building, making sure she would not be able to find her way out. He finally opened the door to a room with a glass case in the center. Rika cautiously walked in. "No wonder you had to look for it. It's buried inside the building!"
"Well, my predecessor had told me about this room, but I couldn't remember exactally where it was, so it did take a bit of looking," he lied.
Rika lifted the glass casing and delicately picked up the medalion. A beautifully carved red fire was on one side and the symbol for fire was on the other. She pulled a box out of her pocket and a little key that was on the chain she was wearing. She opened the box and put the key in. Then, Rika felt a slight pressure on her back, between her shoulder blades, and the world around her once again, dissolved into darkness.
Letith bent over and took Rika's pulse. When he was younger, he was taught about different pressure points. Many of them caused intense pain, but some could cause other effects, like what had happened to Rika. Letith hummed softly to himself and moved a panel on the wall. He picked up Rika and disappeared into the hole.
Letith walked slowly and cautiously along the pathway. It had been a long time since he had been down here and the path, he remembered correctly, was not very smooth at all.
He reached a doorway. It opened without his letting go of Rika. A ball of light swirled around excitedly. "Is she it?" Letith asked.
"If she can break my spell..." the light answered. It swirled faster and faster. Letith blocked his eyes as the room grew brighter and brighter.
"You said that the one who came for the key is going to her it!"
"Ahh, but the keys were just a formality. I can see everything. She is probably going to be the one, but my brother...my counterpart...never mind," the light stopped. Its voice grew hollow. "Her friends have helped me; she has many friends that are already claimed by me. Too bad for my opposite..."
"Things are finally coming to a head then?"
The light chuckled jovially. "Yes. They are." The light expanded and then dimmed all of a sudden; even though the room was still quite bright, Letith had to wait for his eyes to adjust again.
"How long will this take?"
"As long as it needs to."
"Will she eat?"
"Letith, Letith, the girl's in statis now. Everything is in her mind. She won't need to eat or anything."
Letith's face was blank. "You haven't developed the concept of statis yet," the light pointed out. "Just think of it as a long, long sleep. You don't need anything when you sleep do you?"
Letith shook his head. "I see." He turned around and started to leave. "Don't be too mean to her."
"You worry too much. Come and visit!"
Letith shook his head and closed the door. The room he was just in, and the room joining it had been under his house for centuries. They were connected to the Council hall; a relic of his country's violent past. The ball of light had only come to reside in those two rooms in the last few years. It was a useful thing to have around, helping Letith with sometimes difficult decisions, but it's real quest...well, it never really revealed it's intentions to him.
All Letith knew was that what ever the light thing wanted, it usually helped everybody immensly.
Letith walked up to his office and greeted his secretary. "Go and fetch the girl," he ordered her.
"Now?" she asked.
"Yes."
An hour later, she returned with a sullen looking girl, with green eyes and brown hair. "You must be Sakura," Letith greeted.
"Letith?" she questioned sharply.
"Come with me," he motioned. Thanking the secretary, he led Sakura out of the building. Sakura peered into the shadows under the carraige. Sobek's bauble was there. It was probably going to follow her wherever she went. It irritated her that Sobek kept such a close eye on her, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment.
The carraige stopped. "Wait here," Letith ordered her.
He went inside and checked on his guests. "Did Rika come back yet?"
Nakuru looked up. "Huh? She's not back with you?"
"No, she wanted to walk back," he blinked and preteneded to be clueless.
"You let her walk back?" Syaoran and Eriol demanded at the same time.
"Something came up and I had to be at the office for a while."
They looked nervously at each other. "If Rika's lost. I mean, if she doesn't come back," Suppi started.
"Don't even go there," Kero stopped him. "It's too depressing."
"If she doesn't come back by dusk, I promise I'll send people out looking for her," Letith said. "On a lighter note, I think I found who you were looking for."
Syaoran snapped to attention. "Did you? Where is she?"
"Outside, in the carraige-"
Before he could say anything else, Syaoran bolted out the door and outside by the carraige. Nakuru was about to follow.
"Don't," Eriol said gently, holding her back. "If it's Sakura, they'll want to be alone."
Yue looked out the window. Sakura had run out of the carraige as soon as she had seen Syaoran run out of the house and threw herself into his arms. Kero flew over to Yue. "What's wrong?" he asked the guardian of the moon.
Yue narrowed his eyes as he watched the two of them kiss. "I'm not sure," he shook his head.
Syaoran led Sakura into the house and to where everyone was gathered. Kero flew to Sakura and clamped on to her arm. "Wai! Wai! You're back!" he cried.
"Kero," Sakura laughed. "I missed you so very much," she said.
"Sakura," Eriol greeted. "It's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back."
Nakuru glomped Sakura. "I hope you don't mind, Syaoran, I'll have to steal Sakura and catch up with her."
Syaoran laughed good naturedly. "Sakura," Yue greeted, a smile touched his lips. "Mistress."
Sakura grinned at Yue. "Where's Rika?"
"She's lost," Syaoran said, glaring at Letith.
"Don't worry, we're sending people out to look for her," Letith assured.
For a split second, Sakura's grin faltered, but she put it right back on. No one noticed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"She's in?" Sobek asked the bauble.
In response, the bauble showed an image of Syaoran and Sakura kissing. Sobek laughed. "I'll have them all soon. I'll have them all."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sakura was frantic, but she showed no outward sign of her emotions. Everything was going according to Sobek's plan, except the Rika wasn't there. Where was she?! This was not good. Not good at all.
If only there was a way to tell Sobek that Rika had gone missing. The bauble would find out soon, but if she could tell him, he'd be able to think of something! She flashed a smile at Syaoran. For now, the only thing she would be able to do was pretend to love Syaoran; it would be easier to get to Rika eventually if she did this first.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As she walked around, exploring the castle, the servants ignored her and pretended not to see her. Sakura was grateful for this unexpected chance to stretch her legs. The magnitude of Sobek's castle was awe inspiring, and she couldn't find any kind of way out. During her jaunts through the house, Sakura pondered what Sobek possibly could want with a replica of her. It would help if she knew where he was going.
Sakura had a suspicion that he was going to find Rika, but with a replica of her? What for?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rika woke up slowly. Yoshiyuki Tereda's face peered anxiously above hers. She struggled to sit up. "No, no Rika, stay lying down," he insisted.
"Where am I?" she asked drowsily.
"You're still at Sakura's place remember?"
"Oh," she said lamely. There was something she was forgetting, she knew it.
"Everyone is still here. Waiting to see if you're ok."
"Have I been out long?"
"Just a few seconds."
"Rika! Oh my goodness," Chiharu exclaimed, "have you seen a doctor about this fainting issue?"
"Yeah. They can't figure it out."
"I should get you home, Rika," Tereda put his arm around her and helped her up.
As he led her out the door and said goodnight to everyone else, Rika leaned against his comforting arm. There was something missing. Something that was not right. But...
Rika yawned. "That can wait another day."
"What can wait another day?" Yoshiyuki asked humerously.
"Hmmm?"
"Nevermind. Get some sleep. I'm taking you home, darling."
a/n: OH MY GOSH! Are they falling apart or what?
