Sorry 4 t delay but I have some trouble w/ my internet connection. I still do. ~_~ N I had 2 take care of my registration at school. -_- Took so long. Enjoy!

Thanx all who reviewed -

Charlene Cherry Tenshi Alice ???

n even u 2 sarah. See u at school.

Chapter 2

"Little Wolf"

Under the darkness of the night, the prisoners were forced to go on. Red- eyed and yawning, they dragged their feet wearily, while the gang got to ride horses. Eventually, the leader allowed them to rest, for only about ten minutes, but only because they might die from exhaustion and he wanted to capture as much as possible so he can get more ransom money. (A/N: does that even make sense???) Sakura sat back-to-back with Fujitaka. He took a small knife out from his sleeve and cut Sakura's ropes. Then he cut away his.

"Daddy?" Sakura asked with a quizzical look.

"Run away," he whispered. "Quickly, I'll distract them."

"No, Daddy, I can't go and leave everyone!"

"You're the one that's in danger, more than any of us, now go!"

"I can't. I won't. I won't leave you and Touya!"

"We'll be fine. Once we tell him we don't have any relatives to pay the ransom money, he'll let us go."

"Daddy, I may be your little girl, but I'm not a child anymore. You can't lie to me. I know they'll kill you and Touya and everyone else once they get the ransom money. And if they don't, they'll torture you, but they won't let you die. You can't die even if you wanted to. It's their punishment for not receiving payment after they went through the trouble of capturing you. And besides, we do have relatives."

"How do you know all this?"

"I listen around."

"Listen to me then! If you don't run away now, you'll never get another chance. We can escape later."

"But. I don't want to leave you! Please."

"Since when have you disobeyed me?! If you don't go now, I'll. I'll. I'll disown you!" (A/N: yea, yea, its stupid, I no)

"Alright, I'll go. I know you'll never disown me, you're just worried. But. I'll come back for you, I promise."

"Hey! Quiet down over there!" a member of the gang shouted, making his way towards them.

"Hurry! Keep running and don't stop until you lose them!"

Lips trembling, she nodded and took off, after taking one last look back. She heard some shouting then saw the leader running after her and then heard a horse galloping. Frightened, she ran blindly as fast as she could. Without turning back, she knew he was still hot on her trail, and riding hard. Luckily for her, he rode too fast and the horse died of exhaustion when he was just three feet away. He fell down hard, using his hands to cushion the fall. Bruised and grumbling, he stood up and looked at Sakura getting away. He angrily kicked the dead mare and ran after her, slower than normal because of his bruises. Sakura got more and more tired by the second. Within a few minutes, he caught up to her.

A couple feet away, a teenage boy laid high up in a tree, between two branches, looking admiringly up at the stars. He often did this every night. And since tomorrow was his birthday, (A/N: hint hint ^-^) he knew he couldn't sleep under the stars since he was sure his mom and sisters would want to spend some time with him. He heard some people running. One sounded frightened by the sound of the feet running, as if whoever that person was wanted to get away from whoever was chasing him/her. He stood up on the branches, and saw indeed two figures running. One was a girl, a "damsel in distress". Her face looked scared and tired. The other a man, angry and weary of chasing her. He could tell she could not run any longer and would be in trouble when the man catches her, so he decided to help out. He jumped down from the tree smoothly, in one swift motion. From behind, he drop-kicked the leader quickly an easily. His kicked landed on the head. The impact from the hard blow knocked him out instantaneously, without him knowing what hit him.

Sakura used up all of what was left of her energy and was too tired to go on. Her knees gave away and she fell down. Sitting there, she recalled all that had happened. She thought of her dad and brother and all the pain and humiliation he had caused her. Her anger boiled up and hot angry tears streamed down her cheeks. Her teeth and hands were clenched tight, her knuckles white and shaking with fury. Slowly she took out a small knife, the blade no longer than her forefinger. The anger boiling up inside her seemed to give her new strength. No longer conscious of her weariness, she turned around and ran towards whom she thought was the leader, the knife in her hand held up, aimed at his heart. The tears blinded her and she couldn't clearly see who it actually was. He dodged and barely got away. She attempted to strike him again and they begin fighting. (Sakura had learned a little bit of martial arts from Fujitaka.) But alas he exceeded her and managed to hold her in an arm lock. Sakura, still not knowing who e is, struggled to break free. Getting tired of her, he picked her up as if she was as light as a feather, all the while her kicking and screaming, and threw her in a pond nearby. The shock of the numbing cold water almost knocked her senseless. She struggled to stay afloat and gasped for air.

"Why'd you do that for?!" she demanded angrily, still gasping. Finally she got a good look at him and gave a start. He was not who she expected to see. She couldn't see him clearly under all the darkness, with the moon providing a little light. But she could tell that he had short dark hair, ruffled from the fight. or was it always like that? She glimpsed behind him and saw a laying figure - the leader. He was still breathing so she knew he was still very much alive. She felt somewhat disappointed with that knowledge. "I. uh. I'm sorry. I just thought you were him.heh.ahem.sorry, again." By now her face was crimson.

"So you'd cool down and feel refreshed," he replied in a cold tone.

"What? Oh, thanks. I think." she flushed, "Um. well. could you help me out of here, please?"

He gave an agitated sigh and held out a hand. She took it and gave a hard pull, dragging him down into the water with her. It was so fast and unexpected he didn't have time to react.

"Are you crazy?! Why'd you pull me down here for?!" he practically screamed. He seemed surprised at his outburst and regained his calmness once again.

"Same reason you threw me down here," she giggled.

He gave a growl and got out of the pond, her following after him. Now they were both dripping wet, with no spare clothes to change into. Sakura trailed behind him timidly, her shoes making soft squishy noises with each step she took.

"I wonder if he's mad at me, not that he doesn't have any reason to. I mean, I did try to kill him. and dragged him into the pond. Why did I do that for? But I wish he would stop looking like that. Does he always look like that?" she thought wonderingly while walking behind him. "Oh, I forgot to ask you, what's your name?"

"Li, Syaoran Li," he replied coldly, as cold as they were right now.

Syaoran's here! So whatcha think bout t story so far? Good, bad? Please review, I really wanna no. I no t chap is short, like t others, n its going a lil slow, but please b patient, these r just t beginning chaps. N I will try 2 make t chaps longer. Oh, I no I have long paragraphs but I just cant help it. Remember, ideas n flames r welcomed, well, maybe not welcomed 4 flames. Lets just say theyre accepted. Till next time! ~-^