Well im gonna try 2 make this chap longer. Hope ya like it. Oh n I had some trouble or sumthing so my shoutout came out wrong. I wanna do this again.

Thanx all who reviewed -

Charlene Cherry Tenshi Alice ???

n even u 2 sarah. See u at school.

N I forgot 2 answer ur ? earlier alice, sorry. Um. t side syaoran's dad is on lost. I did say his troops were t best. N they would lose t heart 2 fight if sumthing happened 2 him. I no I wasn't really clear on which side lost. Sorry 4 any confusion I caused. Thanx 4 ur support every1. u ppl make me so happy. :_)

Thanx 2 all who reviewed t last chap -

Moon Star Goddess Geneveive Sorrow starjade - ill try 2 take ur advice.

Chapter 3

"Escape"

"My name's Sakura Kinomoto. Thank-you for helping me."

"I didn't ask," Syaoran told her rudely.

"If you're mad about me trying to kill you, then I'm really sorry, though I've said it twice before. But if you're angry I got you soaked, then I've got nothing to say. After all, you did throw me in first."

He gave her a cold glare, cold as the water. She shivered, partly from his glare, and partly from the water that was now seeping into her. Then he began picking up dead small branches and twigs. Sakura stood watching him wonderingly.

"May I ask what you're doing?" she inquired.

"What do you think? I'm getting wood to start a fire so we'd warm up." Syaoran said matter-of-factly.

"Can I help?" she offered.

"I don't need your help."

"Why am I being so mean to her?" he pondered, "I'm not mad at her or anything. am I? I can't blame her for trying to kill me. She was scared and out of her wits. And I don't mind getting wet, I'm used to it. In fact, I can use a little cooling down (A/N: a little???) after that fight. Is it because I'm mad at myself for being caught unexpectedly by her and she was able to pull me down? Well if I am I shouldn't take it out on her."

Sakura was starting to get agitated. "Who does he think he is, talking to me like that? He's so rude. I said I was sorry. I even sounded like a broken record apologizing to him. He's got no reason to stay mad." Nevertheless, she remained quiet and helped him gather wood anyways.

He saw her out of the corner of his eye but pretended not to notice. Pretty soon, he got the fire started and they sat down next to it to warm up, on the opposite ends of the fire, facing each other. Sakura was wringing the water out of her hair and clothes. The night was cold, and that did not help them stay warm. Sakura edged closer to the fire. If she was any closer, her hair would be burning. Close as she was, she was still shivering. She glanced over at Syaoran and saw that he showed no visible signs of being cold whatsoever. He sat perfectly still, tense, as if expecting something to happen, not even shivering one bit. It was as if he had forgotten he had been drenched and didn't even notice. She stared at him quizzically, while at the same time pretending to look elsewhere.

"What do you want?" Syaoran inquired without even glancing at her direction.

"M-me? N-n-nothing," she answered, her teeth chattering.

"Then why are you staring at me?"

"H-h-how did you. n-never m-mind." she trailed off.

"I've trained vigorously everyday, mentally as well as physically. So if you think I don't notice you staring at me, you're dead wrong. In fact, even a beginner can notice hundreds of feet away. Now clamp your teeth shut and get to the point."

"H-how - how can you stand the cold? It's like swimming in ice. Yet you're not even shaking just a little." She was trying really hard to keep from chattering. Her jaws ached from the effort.

"Swimming in that is part of my training."

"You swim; actually swim, in that everyday?"

He gave a slight nod. Thinking about having to swim in that freezing water chilled her to the bones. or maybe in was the water.

"I meant it when I said I threw you down there so you could down." His lips twitched and his eyes twinkled with amusement, which was really rare, but Sakura didn't notice.

"Why do you train so hard?" she asked curiously.

His dark eyes suddenly turned cold and distant. There seemed to be some hatred in them. Sakura decided to drop the subject.

"Umm. so what are we going to do about him?" she nodded towards the leader.

"Nothing," he replied, the anger in his eyes gone, replaced by his usual calmness.

"What?! Why?!" she inquired sharply, shocked.

"Because we can't."

"What do you mean we can't?!"

"Just look at where he's laying."

She twirled her head briskly, her damp hair whipping her face and sticking to face but she was too distracted to care.

"Wh-where is he?" she breathed, confused.

"He ran away after he regained consciousness."

"You knew and didn't bother stopping him?!"

"Hey, I have nothing against him. It's not my fault you fail to notice things."

"Well pardon me for not being obsessed with training like you are Mr.- I-Know-Martial-Arts-And-You-Don't-So-I-Don't-Have-To-Be-Nice-You," she stopped short, realizing what she had just said. Embarrassed, she said meekly, "I-I apologize. It's just that I'm so tired and frustrated with everything that's been going on. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken it out on you like that."

He just started at her unblinkingly, not the least surprised. His calm composure was unruffled. Nothing seemed to surprise him. He looked at her quizzical intense emerald eyes, eyes that were glimmering with embarrassment, eyes that shone in the dark. Her wet hair combed around her innocent face that was flushing.

Sakura looked at his chestnut hair and amber eyes, flickering by the fire. Those eyes seemed to draw you in and bore into you, reading your every thought and secrets. His rigid face with sharp angels was drawn into a tight and serious appearance, how it typically looked most of the time. "That's what years of training probably does to you, turn your features into stone, inside and out," she thought. She couldn't bear his dark brown penetrating eyes and longer and looked away, at her surroundings. For the first time Sakura finally noticed how dark her surroundings were. She felt a little frightened and a chill ran down her back, this time not from the cold or the wetness of her clothes, which were now a little damp. It wasn't that she was afraid of the dark, more like the things in it. At night spooky shadows seemed to appear everywhere. Things lurked in them, hidden things that seemed to be ready to strike out at any moment. Things like ghosts for instant. At the thought of ghosts Sakura whimpered slightly, the hair on her body stood up, and she was starting to get goose bumps.

"Why are you whimpering like a dog for?" Syaoran asked suddenly.

Sakura faced him, her cherry lips trembling. "I. I."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark?" he asked knowingly.

"No." she answered in a tiny voice, "Just the things in it."

"Like what?"

She hesitated, then, with her head down, answered meekly, "Ghosts." She braced herself, ready for a laugh. But the expected laugh never came. Surprised, she looked up. "Why aren't you laughing?" she asked rather stupidly. (A/N: not that shes stupid, just dense)

"What's there to laugh at?"

"You mean. you don't find it amusing, me being afraid of ghosts, like everyone else?"

He shook his head slightly. "Everyone's got to be afraid of something."

She smiled gratefully, comforted by what he said. "Umm. I was wondering, what were you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

Syaoran's eyes had that distant look again. "That's none of your business."

Sakura recoiled, as if slapped. Looking at the ground, she decided to never speak of that subject again. She yawned, and then remembered she hadn't much sleep and was walking half the night. It began to get a little warm so she moved away from the fire and settled on the ground next to a fallen tree. Her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep. *~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*

Fujitaka woke up with a groan. His head hurt and it seemed as if there were drums pounding inside. He was tied up once again, except with more ropes and more secure this time. At a glance, he saw that dawn was approaching and the guards keeping watch had fell asleep. Memories came flooding back to him. He remembered Sakura running and being chased by him while he distracted the other members of the gang. What did they call themselves again? Oh yes, the Black Fox. (A/N: sorry, Im not good at making up names. or titles either if you've been noticing.) Touya was wide- eyed and shouting. The next instant he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head then all was black. "Sakura," he said softly, "please be alright." He began thinking of a way to escape. Looking around, he saw a boulder with jagged edges. He slowly crawled over and leaned against it. Then he began rubbing the ropes against it. The ropes snapped away in no time, it being so old and brittle. Rubbing his hands, which had scratches on them, he noticed Touya and the rest were still sleeping. He unbounded his legs and stood up wobbly, stretching. Silently, he crept over to them and untied Touya, waking him up.

"Father?" Touya asked drowsily.

"Shh." Fujitaka nudged him and gestured at his own guards.

Touya nodded, understanding. Then they undid the ropes as the seven guards woke up, one by one. Afterwards, using the ropes, they then tied up the criminals and gagged them. (there were only 10 or so. T rest was at the hideout.) Then gang woke up surprised, then surprise turned to anger, then nervousness once they saw Fujitaka and the rest had regained they're weapons. *~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*

Sakura rubbed her eyes, yawning and stretching, and woke up to the morning. All was still, even the birds were not awake yet, hence the missing sound of the birds merry singing. The fire had died out, leaving ashes as remains. Syaoran was nowhere to be seen, so she figured he had woken up earlier and had gone somewhere, perhaps for a morning swim. She shivered and rubbed her arms briskly at the thought. Nearby some dead leaves on the ground rustled, catching her attention. She turned to the direction of the noise, expecting to see an animal, a squirrel perhaps, looking for breakfast. She gave a start when she saw two figures emerging from behind the trees. They came into the clearing, where they could be seen clearly, and she gasped. It was Fujitaka and Touya, grinning broadly. Her keen eyes caught more movement behind them. He was dressed on black and had his face covered. She gasped again as she recognized the figure. It was the leader. He had a sword in his hands and began rising it slowly. Fujitaka and Touya gave her a puzzled look, wondering why she looked so terrified. Sakura, wide-eyed with terror, cried out, "Daddy, Touya, look out! Behind you!" The sword came down swiftly as they quickly spun around.

"No!!!" She shrieked, her arms outstretched.

Ooh, cliffhanger! Hehe, I left ya at a cliffy! Don't u just hate me? ^-^ well at least t chap is longer. So whatcha think, should I kill them off this early in t story? Or should I give them mercy n let them live? But im not that mean enough 2 kill them. am i? well now u hafta read t next chap 2 find out. N in order 4 me 2 put up t next chap, ur gonna hafta review. If ya don't, then adios 2 t story. Haha, jk. Im having 2 much fun w/ this. But seriously, please review. Bye! ^-^