Author notes: A number of you wanted to be notified of my updates so I have a list now. It is listed at ccs... and I hope there aren't more of those. ^.^;;; (http://members.notifylist.com/edit/joinlist) If you have any problems, email me at cherrypie_ksk@yahoo.com Here's a nice long chapter of nothingness... ^.^;; enjoy.
Chapter 5
Sakura yawned, stretching her arms above her head, grazing the small hands against the head-board. The room was bathed in a soft light from the rising sun outside. Her normally closed window stood open, allowing the gentle breeze of morning to filter through the room. She gently rubbed her emerald eyes, stifling a small yawn. She brushed a few strands of hair from her face and groggily glanced around her room.
The room was devoid of clutter as well as possessions. A dresser made of oak stood against the wall in front of her bed. A mirror was upon it, showing the waking young girl in a pink shift. Her ivory colored wash basin was set upon the smooth oak surface of the dresser with a small rag and bar of soap placed beside it. A small vanity chair stationed in front of the dresser held a larger towel for drying. To her right was a door that held her fairly extensive wardrobe, courtesy of Tomoyo. To her left was her small circular window about the size of a large dinner platter, though it went unnoticed by the girl that the window was ajar. There were no curtains, for her room was on the third floor of the palace. Several mounds of books were found upon the rounded bay window seat. Then there was the bed, she currently sat in, which was covered in a pink blanket. There were no posts or curtains for they were used strictly for the upper nobles. The room, overall, was barely better than some of the upper servants, whom usually had dirt floors and lived on the first floor, but Sakura loved it anyway.
Sakura pulled off the warm pink blanket and stepped into the cool air of the room. The stone floor was cold upon her bare feet, and again she wished she had a rug like Tomoyo had in her room. She shivered slightly, the cool breeze drifting in from the open window, as she stepped towards the water basin. She reached her hands into the water and quickly splashed some water on her face. A screech of surprise followed. "Itai! Atsui! Atsui!" The water was hot, which it never was when she woke up. "Hoe?! I must have slept in really late if they changed out the water!"
She reluctantly sat down and more carefully cleaned herself with the hot water, rag, and soap. "Kero-chan's going to be angry at me for sleeping in this late." She scrubbed her face, her voice muffled by the rag as she mimicked the guardian beast's tirades. Little did the sorceress realize that the sun was barely over the horizon. It was just after the crack of dawn and for Sakura to be up was something unheard of.
Sakura smiled as she dried her face, reflecting on last night's festivities. Tomoyo had looked ready to burst with happiness. It was her part of her birthday celebration, but Sakura suspected that the radiant personality of her best friend was mostly due to Sir Hiiragazawa. Sakura giggled at the thought of Tomoyo pawning about because of two dances with the foreign knight. Well, at least it was two while she had been there to monitor her friend. After the second dance with Prince Li, Sakura bid her company good night and disappeared out of the room posthaste. Needless to say the two men were highly surprised considering that it was only half past ten o'clock.
Sakura, however, needed time to herself before going to bed. Okay so she really only wanted to escape the tension filled ballroom. It also didn't help that her brother looked like he would kill her if she decided to stick around another hour. Sometimes he was too overprotective of her. After all, last night she avoided the horrible baron without his help. A triumphant smirk crossed her features as she pondered how to use that tidbit against her brother. He couldn't save her all the time, and she proved to him last night that she didn't need his help. She decided to ignore the fact that Tomoyo played a role in her rescue, and she especially tried to forget about her 'rescuer', Prince Li. She realized too late, however, that is was very difficult to get the pair of amber eyes out of her head.
She sighed and traveled over to her closet. She had a difficult time trying to figure out the prince during her short time with him. He seemed to have many faces, but tended to remain in his cold, emotionless mask. "Though, he did have a hard time trying to remain that way whenever I was around," Sakura grinned at the thought. She sighed longingly. If only there was a man like that within her grasp, but alas she had to enjoy the company of a prince. It must have been fate's way of getting even. Give power, take away love.
She pulled open the door and stepped into a miniature room draped in clothing. There were several racks inside the wardrobe coordinated by usage. Ball and court dresses to the far right, ceremonial clothes after that, some clothes from her card captor days, dresses and everyday clothing, and lastly robes and 'male' clothing closest to the door. Sadly, this room was only half of the clothing that Tomoyo had made for her. Sakura dragged a finder along the rack of robes. She pulled out an electric blue robe from the closet and closed the door behind her. A slight shudder ran down her spine at all the clothing in there. She would have been glad if Queen Sonomi banned Tomoyo from her sewing, but since Sonomi was so fond of her cousin, she was out of luck. She pulled out of her shift, her thoughts still focused on the prince.
He had appeared to be somewhat interested in her, but that was most likely due to the fact that she had magic. It's not everyday you meet another mage at a court function, especially one so close to the royal family. Then again magic wasn't a rarity in his home land so that wouldn't make him that interested. There was something she was missing that would explain why his eyes burned into hers demanding her life story. Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating a bit... a lot, but she really wanted to know what made him talk to her. Maybe it had do with meeting a sorceress outside the bounds of his kingdom. "That must be it," she thought.
She pulled her robes on over her head. There was a large silver star embroidered on the back, below a small hood. Small stars decorated the edges of the large downy sleeves, the hem of the robes, and the hood. She carefully opened the closet door again, pulling out matching felt-tip boots, and then placing them on her small feet. She took a seat in front of her mirror, and carefully made two small pig-tails in her short honey-brown hair, each tied off with matching blue ribbons. What would she do without Tomoyo around making her outfits and accessories? Probably dressed in men's clothing, which she thought were the next most comfortable attire to robes. The whole castle would be scandalized if they saw her dressed like that.
She yawned taking a quick once-over look at her attire. Today she had been slower than her usual hustle and bustle, but what was the point when she was this late anyway. No doubt Cerberous would be having a fit at her tardiness, and would soon send out the guards to see if the card mistress still lived. Then a thought struck her. She had a meeting this morning with several other important wizards, and her father expected her to be on time. "Hoe?! Mou..." Sakura slid her star back on its original chain and raced out of her room. She was going to be in so much trouble this time.
She moved quickly, not noticing that the halls of the palace were vacant of life. Out of breath she burst into the first room of the north tower. No one was there and no light was lit in the room. "Hoe? Where is everyone?" She groaned, thinking she was so late that they had already left. She sighed and moved out of the room. "Now what?" she mumbled. Her eyes suddenly glowed with an idea. "The training facility!"
She made her way down the vacant hallway, eventually realizing that no one was around. A sharp chill cascaded down her spine as she stopped to look around. There was only the deafening silence that surrounded her being. She shuddered and began to walk again, her steps quickened to a fast trot. She was afraid of ghosts and it didn't help that Tomoyo once told her how they loved to wander the halls during the hours no one was about. Sounds to her right scared her to death and Sakura fled out of the palace, into the back gardens.
She took a few cleansing breaths, thankful for her reprieve, in the cool morning air. She hated ghosts and being alone did nothing to ease her suffering. It took several minutes before her breathing was back under control and she was able to take a look at her surroundings. The sun was barely over the horizon to the east, and a gentle fog was beginning to lift. Dew was sprinkled on the plants, revealing the fact that it was still early in the morning. The sweet scented air proclaimed the opening of the flowers, and the soft twittering sounds of the birds announced dawn.
Sakura took a moment to digest what she was seeing. She was up at dawn? She never woke this early! Her eyes glazed over as her mouth hung open trying to comprehend how she was awake this early. Sure she was well rested, for once, and the morning was very pretty, but this seemed to be a bad omen to her. She was not an early bird, thus something in the world had gone off kilter. Maybe she was still dreaming. She pinched her arm to make sure. The sharp pain told her she was not dreaming.
A sound to her left, drew her attention at once. Someone was up and insane enough to be outside at this hour. She didn't give any thought to what kind of person could be up at this hour when she started to make her way towards the sound. She weaved quickly out of the garden, listening like a deer. At the rise in the hill that overlooked the training fields just beyond the gardens, she paused to get her bearings. A little distance from her stood a young man practicing with a sword.
She could tell that this was not one of the palace guards, for the all practiced inside the building to the distant right of the field before her. This one, however, practiced near the western edge of the gardens just on the edge of the training area. His white shirt hung open, showing off his nicely formed chest and stomach which appeared to be tanned from this distance. This meant that he normally trained without a shirt in the sunlight, another reason he was not in the royal guard. He wore dark green pants and matching boots, that seemed well weathered from training.
At a slight turn in his movements, Sakura's breath caught. Chestnut brown hair, matted down slightly from practice, and soul searching amber eyes told her clearly who she was seeing. Prince Li?! Sakura was in a state of shock and wonder. What was he doing up so early? She had come to the conclusion that most royals were late risers, or at least never left their room till breakfast. Even most of the Daidouji kingdom were late risers, though Sakura still topped the list as latest riser.
Sakura panicked, her eyes wide with something akin to fear. She had never interrupted anyone in their training and she wasn't about to start. To her dismay, she continued to stare wide-eyed at the prince, her legs refusing to budge. Her mind screamed for her to run before he realized she was there, but the signal never passed to her legs. A moment later those amber eyes looked up to lock with her own. "Too late," muttered Sakura, her voice a mere growl.
~~ ~~
Syaoran sensed the aura long before the person appeared. He knew who it was, and his brows furrowed with annoyance. He had a slight taste of the aura yesterday evening in a more dampened form, but apparently the owner didn't care about it at this time. Not surprising since most people in the palace were asleep, but still highly unorthodox. Thus, the aura could belong to none other than the sorceress. Princess Tomoyo had been all too eager to tell him that her name was Sakura Kinomoto, the daughter of the vizier Fujitaka Kinomoto.
Syaoran barely recalled Mr. Kinomoto teaching him magic, since he was only six at the time. He did remember that he continuously ditched classes, and that was how he met a girl around his age wandering in the gardens. Apparently, she was avoiding the same person he was and they became fast friends. It turned out to be a very short lived friendship, much to his frustration. He still remembered that one spring day he went to meet her and she never showed up. She had just disappeared. After that, Syaoran buried himself into books and training, deciding that ditching wasn't worth the punishments anymore.
He shook his head from the thoughts. He shouldn't think of that anymore. It was in the past. He turned his mind back to the current situation of how to deal with his 'guest.' He seriously hoped that she would go away, but after a minute of her presence he couldn't take it anymore. He paused in his training, lowering his sword, then shot a glare to the sorceress. He swiftly caught her gaze and attempted to ascertain what was going through her head. In short, he determined that she looked guilty similar to one who had been caught sticking her hand into the cookie jar. He sighed. She looked too paralyzed to move, which meant he would have to talk to her so he could get rid of her. After she was gone then and only then would he get back to his training.
He had never liked spectators. His cousin Meiling had turned him off from it and made a great note to practice alone, away from others. He preferred his solitude anyway, so he made sure he was always alone. He noted that Sakura still hadn't moved a muscle, her jaw dropped slightly in surprise.
He broke eye contract, sighed in annoyance, and laid down his sword in the soft grass. He picked up a small brown cloak that was on the ground next to his sword. He pulled it on, hooking the small clasp securely around his neck area. He didn't want to wear it since he was over warm from training, but he didn't need to further fluster the paralyzed girl. He left his practice sword and water flask on the ground there, and then carefully made his way over to the frozen sorceress.
~~ ~~
Sakura's eyes widened. "He's coming! What do I do?! What do I say?! 'Yeah, gomen nasai for disturbing you. I was looking for my father and running from ghosts.'" Sakura groaned. "As if that would work." Less than ten feet away from her, Sakura did what she did best... "Ohayo gozaimasu, Prince Li," she called as she smiled and waved her hand in greeting. She had small sweat beads upon her forehead and was now mentally kicking herself. "Genius," mumbled her brain.
Syaoran faltered in his steps. "Ohayo," he muttered in reply, before continuing on his path to Sakura.
Sakura bowed her head. "Gomen nasai. I didn't mean to disturb you."
Syaoran stopped a few feet away from the sorceress. He glanced back down at his stuff before turning back to Sakura and shrugging his shoulders slightly. "It's okay. What are you doing up so early?"
Sakura shrugged, her hands behind her back, fidgeting nervously. "No idea. This is the first morning I've been up before noon, from my own accord."
Syaoran couldn't help but smile a little. The sorceress had a very naive, innocent, and blunt nature. If that comment had come from anyone else, he would have thought they were brain dead.
"Ne, Li-sama? How was training going?"
"Fine."
"Are you normally up this early?"
"Aa."
"Well, I better go then so you can continue unhindered by my presence. Good-"
"What do you have planned for the morning?" Syaoran wanted to kill himself there. What in the world was he thinking? He wanted to get rid of her not keep her.
"Eh?" Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Umm... I have a meeting later around the tenth hour, I think."
"That's four hours away," he said, his voice thoughtful for a moment as he tried to comprehend what he wanted to ask.
"Soka... ne, you want to take a walk then, Li-sama?"
Syaoran looked at her in surprise. Did she read minds? He had no idea what to say to that. Should he go walk or train? Better yet, should he go with her or stay and be found easily by family members?
Sakura looked a little crestfallen when there was a hesitation from the prince. "It's okay if you don't-" she stated, hurriedly only to be cut off again by Syaoran.
"No, I would like to talk with you... more. A walk sounds... nice."
"Eh? Really?"
"Aa."
Sakura jumped for joy. She reached out and grabbed the prince's hand, much to his surprise and slight discomfort. It took her a moment to realize what she had done and she quickly let go. "Gomen!" Her face was scarlet with embarrassment.
He decided to ignore the incident and moved to walk along the path with her. The air grew thick with tension, drawing both persona into silence. Finally, he had to break it or go mad. "Have you always lived here?" asked Syaoran.
Sakura was slightly surprised at the random comment, but took it in stride to cover up the awkward start. "I don't think so. My father once told me of where we used to live before my mother died. I vaguely remember things, but I was only five at the time. Touya, my brother, would remember. He's almost nine years older than I am."
"Did your father teach you magic?"
"Hai, though I'm not a very good student, I'm afraid." She frowned slightly. "I can't seem to to do any spells higher than the primary stage. I fear I've become a disappointment to him, as well as a frustrating enigma."'
"Do you know why you can't get passed the early stages?" Syaoran was confused beyond comprehension. The power of her aura had told Eriol and himself that she had to be very powerful, but how could she not use any of it? There must be something sealing off her powers, but what? A curse might have this effect, but he sensed no decrease of her power which was a typical side effect. Possibly a seal on her magic to dampen her magical output might do the trick, but here again there were discrepancies. Lack of training? A good possibility since only her father taught her.
"I'm not entirely sure. I have the potential to do higher magic, but otou-san says that they are locked up somehow. Also, my aura shouldn't be as big as it is, if it's sealed like everyone says." She sighed looking over at the lavender bushes, the purple bushels of flowers in full bloom. "You have a strong green aura, Li-sama. Your friend from last night had a stronger blue one, and he was suppressing it a lot too."
"You can see my aura?" Syaoran asked surprised. Syaoran dragged his gaze from the roses to his left to look at the vacant, thoughtful expression of the sorceress. "Not many people can see the particular colors of the auras. Hiiragazawa and myself are one of the few people in Maho who can. Even the elders are not very well trained in the art. Elemental mirrors are used most of the time to see the different colors."
Sakura nodded her head. "I know. Otou-san told me that only a few mages can sense the presence of a magical aura and even fewer can tell the color. Supposedly, my greatest strength lies in the stars because of my pink color. What power is your's based on?"
"Earth," he muttered. "She's smarter than she lets on," he thought, glancing back towards the gardens.
"That's pretty powerful," she mumbled in response.
"I am surprised that the elders do not know about you. Your potential magic would be enough to disrupt them in their scryings," Syaoran grumbled, pulling the attention away from himself. As a future king with magical powers, he was expected to do a lot because of the elders. Eriol was in a worse state then himself because he was the partial reincarnation of Clow Reed, Syaoran's ancestor. Clow Reed was known as the most powerful of all wizards in all of time, and thus Eriol was expected to carry on that legacy, much to his distaste. This stress caused Eriol to create two of his own guardians to get rid of the elders. It worked... kind of.
The real question was why the elders didn't know about Sakura? Or maybe they did, but kept it quiet. So what were they hiding? They had gone out of their way to tell his mother that there was no powerful sorceress around to make a suitable wife for him. This had been the main reason why he was getting pushed into marring his cousin, Meiling. However, Meiling had barely any magical powers at all. Syaoran suspected that the elders wanted his cousin because she was easy to control to their whims. He didn't trust the elders much and here proved one of these instances: walking beside a potentially powerful, female mage, and the elders never mentioned her. Why?
It took him a moment before he realized that Sakura had her hands in front of Syaoran's face trying to get his attention again. "Nan de?"
"I was asking you if the Elders were bad people. You seem slightly annoyed whenever they are mentioned," Sakura stated, her emerald eyes brimming with concern.
Syaoran paused in mid-step wondering how to describe the elders. "They are not bad, per say, just persistent, annoying, non-conformable, pessimistic, controlling, haughty..." Syaoran stopped in his tirade hearing a loud noise erupt beside him. He soon realized that the young sorceress was laughing, her melodious voice rising into the air. "You think this is funny?" he snapped.
Sakura shook her head, trying to hold in her laughter. She couldn't trust herself to talk with her body still shaking with suppressed giggles.
"What?" he demanded, his voice changing to one of high authority.
"It's just... your face... so angry..." she gasped. She wasn't making much sense at all as she struggled to overcome her laughter. "And... you... looked... want... kill... elders."
Syaoran's mouth twitched as he stood there watching her. He refused to laugh, but was having a very difficult time. Her face was slightly red from lack of air, and small tears welled up in her eyes. He had a vague idea why she was laughing, but her random words were jumbled up. "I would," he said, his voice serious.
It was like a bucket of ice cold water was tossed on her. Her laughter died as did her smile. He sounded serious about that and she had no doubt he probably meant what he said. "Why?" she breathed.
"The Elders were established into political control when my father passed away. The people did not believe that my mother would do the job justice being a woman. Needless to say, they are tyrannical in nature, but too many respect them. They have so much respect, that they have more power than they should." Syaoran's tone of voice was harsh and cold. He was very bitter towards the council in many ways. One main reason was how they went out of their way to exploit other magical users, just for entertainment. The other main reason was for how they treated his mother.
"Gomen," Sakura whispered. She had never seen such cold hate from a person, and here she stood with a fellow mage, who held more conviction in those words than in her entire being. She nodded sadly. "That's not a fair way to live. It's not easy always having to consult to a group in order to make decisions. It must be difficult."
"It is," mumbled Syaoran. He hadn't meant to snap at the poor girl, after all she was only trying to keep him company. He turned his direction towards the path ahead, where he noticed that it forked off into several directions.
"Would you like to see the orchards?" prompted Sakura, back to her lively self, throwing Syaoran for a loop. "Or more of the gardens?"
He wanted more time away from the palace before being stuck with shrill courtesans, an annoying 'friend,' and a glowering mother.
"The orchards are a bit of a walk from here," started Sakura. She actually really loved the orchards, but not all of the nobility shared her views. They preferred the gentle rise and falling path through the wide arrangement of flowers. The gardens were also a lot more beautiful to look at too, but right now most of the trees were in full bloom, especially the cherry trees, making it a petal wonderland.
"The orchards," Syaoran said quickly. A bit of a walk, meant more time to be killed.
Sakura smiled and motioned to a path to their left. There they continued in a light conversation with Sakura pointing out specific plants and landmarks. Occasionally, Syaoran stepped in to correct anything she said wrong.
Chapter 5
Sakura yawned, stretching her arms above her head, grazing the small hands against the head-board. The room was bathed in a soft light from the rising sun outside. Her normally closed window stood open, allowing the gentle breeze of morning to filter through the room. She gently rubbed her emerald eyes, stifling a small yawn. She brushed a few strands of hair from her face and groggily glanced around her room.
The room was devoid of clutter as well as possessions. A dresser made of oak stood against the wall in front of her bed. A mirror was upon it, showing the waking young girl in a pink shift. Her ivory colored wash basin was set upon the smooth oak surface of the dresser with a small rag and bar of soap placed beside it. A small vanity chair stationed in front of the dresser held a larger towel for drying. To her right was a door that held her fairly extensive wardrobe, courtesy of Tomoyo. To her left was her small circular window about the size of a large dinner platter, though it went unnoticed by the girl that the window was ajar. There were no curtains, for her room was on the third floor of the palace. Several mounds of books were found upon the rounded bay window seat. Then there was the bed, she currently sat in, which was covered in a pink blanket. There were no posts or curtains for they were used strictly for the upper nobles. The room, overall, was barely better than some of the upper servants, whom usually had dirt floors and lived on the first floor, but Sakura loved it anyway.
Sakura pulled off the warm pink blanket and stepped into the cool air of the room. The stone floor was cold upon her bare feet, and again she wished she had a rug like Tomoyo had in her room. She shivered slightly, the cool breeze drifting in from the open window, as she stepped towards the water basin. She reached her hands into the water and quickly splashed some water on her face. A screech of surprise followed. "Itai! Atsui! Atsui!" The water was hot, which it never was when she woke up. "Hoe?! I must have slept in really late if they changed out the water!"
She reluctantly sat down and more carefully cleaned herself with the hot water, rag, and soap. "Kero-chan's going to be angry at me for sleeping in this late." She scrubbed her face, her voice muffled by the rag as she mimicked the guardian beast's tirades. Little did the sorceress realize that the sun was barely over the horizon. It was just after the crack of dawn and for Sakura to be up was something unheard of.
Sakura smiled as she dried her face, reflecting on last night's festivities. Tomoyo had looked ready to burst with happiness. It was her part of her birthday celebration, but Sakura suspected that the radiant personality of her best friend was mostly due to Sir Hiiragazawa. Sakura giggled at the thought of Tomoyo pawning about because of two dances with the foreign knight. Well, at least it was two while she had been there to monitor her friend. After the second dance with Prince Li, Sakura bid her company good night and disappeared out of the room posthaste. Needless to say the two men were highly surprised considering that it was only half past ten o'clock.
Sakura, however, needed time to herself before going to bed. Okay so she really only wanted to escape the tension filled ballroom. It also didn't help that her brother looked like he would kill her if she decided to stick around another hour. Sometimes he was too overprotective of her. After all, last night she avoided the horrible baron without his help. A triumphant smirk crossed her features as she pondered how to use that tidbit against her brother. He couldn't save her all the time, and she proved to him last night that she didn't need his help. She decided to ignore the fact that Tomoyo played a role in her rescue, and she especially tried to forget about her 'rescuer', Prince Li. She realized too late, however, that is was very difficult to get the pair of amber eyes out of her head.
She sighed and traveled over to her closet. She had a difficult time trying to figure out the prince during her short time with him. He seemed to have many faces, but tended to remain in his cold, emotionless mask. "Though, he did have a hard time trying to remain that way whenever I was around," Sakura grinned at the thought. She sighed longingly. If only there was a man like that within her grasp, but alas she had to enjoy the company of a prince. It must have been fate's way of getting even. Give power, take away love.
She pulled open the door and stepped into a miniature room draped in clothing. There were several racks inside the wardrobe coordinated by usage. Ball and court dresses to the far right, ceremonial clothes after that, some clothes from her card captor days, dresses and everyday clothing, and lastly robes and 'male' clothing closest to the door. Sadly, this room was only half of the clothing that Tomoyo had made for her. Sakura dragged a finder along the rack of robes. She pulled out an electric blue robe from the closet and closed the door behind her. A slight shudder ran down her spine at all the clothing in there. She would have been glad if Queen Sonomi banned Tomoyo from her sewing, but since Sonomi was so fond of her cousin, she was out of luck. She pulled out of her shift, her thoughts still focused on the prince.
He had appeared to be somewhat interested in her, but that was most likely due to the fact that she had magic. It's not everyday you meet another mage at a court function, especially one so close to the royal family. Then again magic wasn't a rarity in his home land so that wouldn't make him that interested. There was something she was missing that would explain why his eyes burned into hers demanding her life story. Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating a bit... a lot, but she really wanted to know what made him talk to her. Maybe it had do with meeting a sorceress outside the bounds of his kingdom. "That must be it," she thought.
She pulled her robes on over her head. There was a large silver star embroidered on the back, below a small hood. Small stars decorated the edges of the large downy sleeves, the hem of the robes, and the hood. She carefully opened the closet door again, pulling out matching felt-tip boots, and then placing them on her small feet. She took a seat in front of her mirror, and carefully made two small pig-tails in her short honey-brown hair, each tied off with matching blue ribbons. What would she do without Tomoyo around making her outfits and accessories? Probably dressed in men's clothing, which she thought were the next most comfortable attire to robes. The whole castle would be scandalized if they saw her dressed like that.
She yawned taking a quick once-over look at her attire. Today she had been slower than her usual hustle and bustle, but what was the point when she was this late anyway. No doubt Cerberous would be having a fit at her tardiness, and would soon send out the guards to see if the card mistress still lived. Then a thought struck her. She had a meeting this morning with several other important wizards, and her father expected her to be on time. "Hoe?! Mou..." Sakura slid her star back on its original chain and raced out of her room. She was going to be in so much trouble this time.
She moved quickly, not noticing that the halls of the palace were vacant of life. Out of breath she burst into the first room of the north tower. No one was there and no light was lit in the room. "Hoe? Where is everyone?" She groaned, thinking she was so late that they had already left. She sighed and moved out of the room. "Now what?" she mumbled. Her eyes suddenly glowed with an idea. "The training facility!"
She made her way down the vacant hallway, eventually realizing that no one was around. A sharp chill cascaded down her spine as she stopped to look around. There was only the deafening silence that surrounded her being. She shuddered and began to walk again, her steps quickened to a fast trot. She was afraid of ghosts and it didn't help that Tomoyo once told her how they loved to wander the halls during the hours no one was about. Sounds to her right scared her to death and Sakura fled out of the palace, into the back gardens.
She took a few cleansing breaths, thankful for her reprieve, in the cool morning air. She hated ghosts and being alone did nothing to ease her suffering. It took several minutes before her breathing was back under control and she was able to take a look at her surroundings. The sun was barely over the horizon to the east, and a gentle fog was beginning to lift. Dew was sprinkled on the plants, revealing the fact that it was still early in the morning. The sweet scented air proclaimed the opening of the flowers, and the soft twittering sounds of the birds announced dawn.
Sakura took a moment to digest what she was seeing. She was up at dawn? She never woke this early! Her eyes glazed over as her mouth hung open trying to comprehend how she was awake this early. Sure she was well rested, for once, and the morning was very pretty, but this seemed to be a bad omen to her. She was not an early bird, thus something in the world had gone off kilter. Maybe she was still dreaming. She pinched her arm to make sure. The sharp pain told her she was not dreaming.
A sound to her left, drew her attention at once. Someone was up and insane enough to be outside at this hour. She didn't give any thought to what kind of person could be up at this hour when she started to make her way towards the sound. She weaved quickly out of the garden, listening like a deer. At the rise in the hill that overlooked the training fields just beyond the gardens, she paused to get her bearings. A little distance from her stood a young man practicing with a sword.
She could tell that this was not one of the palace guards, for the all practiced inside the building to the distant right of the field before her. This one, however, practiced near the western edge of the gardens just on the edge of the training area. His white shirt hung open, showing off his nicely formed chest and stomach which appeared to be tanned from this distance. This meant that he normally trained without a shirt in the sunlight, another reason he was not in the royal guard. He wore dark green pants and matching boots, that seemed well weathered from training.
At a slight turn in his movements, Sakura's breath caught. Chestnut brown hair, matted down slightly from practice, and soul searching amber eyes told her clearly who she was seeing. Prince Li?! Sakura was in a state of shock and wonder. What was he doing up so early? She had come to the conclusion that most royals were late risers, or at least never left their room till breakfast. Even most of the Daidouji kingdom were late risers, though Sakura still topped the list as latest riser.
Sakura panicked, her eyes wide with something akin to fear. She had never interrupted anyone in their training and she wasn't about to start. To her dismay, she continued to stare wide-eyed at the prince, her legs refusing to budge. Her mind screamed for her to run before he realized she was there, but the signal never passed to her legs. A moment later those amber eyes looked up to lock with her own. "Too late," muttered Sakura, her voice a mere growl.
~~ ~~
Syaoran sensed the aura long before the person appeared. He knew who it was, and his brows furrowed with annoyance. He had a slight taste of the aura yesterday evening in a more dampened form, but apparently the owner didn't care about it at this time. Not surprising since most people in the palace were asleep, but still highly unorthodox. Thus, the aura could belong to none other than the sorceress. Princess Tomoyo had been all too eager to tell him that her name was Sakura Kinomoto, the daughter of the vizier Fujitaka Kinomoto.
Syaoran barely recalled Mr. Kinomoto teaching him magic, since he was only six at the time. He did remember that he continuously ditched classes, and that was how he met a girl around his age wandering in the gardens. Apparently, she was avoiding the same person he was and they became fast friends. It turned out to be a very short lived friendship, much to his frustration. He still remembered that one spring day he went to meet her and she never showed up. She had just disappeared. After that, Syaoran buried himself into books and training, deciding that ditching wasn't worth the punishments anymore.
He shook his head from the thoughts. He shouldn't think of that anymore. It was in the past. He turned his mind back to the current situation of how to deal with his 'guest.' He seriously hoped that she would go away, but after a minute of her presence he couldn't take it anymore. He paused in his training, lowering his sword, then shot a glare to the sorceress. He swiftly caught her gaze and attempted to ascertain what was going through her head. In short, he determined that she looked guilty similar to one who had been caught sticking her hand into the cookie jar. He sighed. She looked too paralyzed to move, which meant he would have to talk to her so he could get rid of her. After she was gone then and only then would he get back to his training.
He had never liked spectators. His cousin Meiling had turned him off from it and made a great note to practice alone, away from others. He preferred his solitude anyway, so he made sure he was always alone. He noted that Sakura still hadn't moved a muscle, her jaw dropped slightly in surprise.
He broke eye contract, sighed in annoyance, and laid down his sword in the soft grass. He picked up a small brown cloak that was on the ground next to his sword. He pulled it on, hooking the small clasp securely around his neck area. He didn't want to wear it since he was over warm from training, but he didn't need to further fluster the paralyzed girl. He left his practice sword and water flask on the ground there, and then carefully made his way over to the frozen sorceress.
~~ ~~
Sakura's eyes widened. "He's coming! What do I do?! What do I say?! 'Yeah, gomen nasai for disturbing you. I was looking for my father and running from ghosts.'" Sakura groaned. "As if that would work." Less than ten feet away from her, Sakura did what she did best... "Ohayo gozaimasu, Prince Li," she called as she smiled and waved her hand in greeting. She had small sweat beads upon her forehead and was now mentally kicking herself. "Genius," mumbled her brain.
Syaoran faltered in his steps. "Ohayo," he muttered in reply, before continuing on his path to Sakura.
Sakura bowed her head. "Gomen nasai. I didn't mean to disturb you."
Syaoran stopped a few feet away from the sorceress. He glanced back down at his stuff before turning back to Sakura and shrugging his shoulders slightly. "It's okay. What are you doing up so early?"
Sakura shrugged, her hands behind her back, fidgeting nervously. "No idea. This is the first morning I've been up before noon, from my own accord."
Syaoran couldn't help but smile a little. The sorceress had a very naive, innocent, and blunt nature. If that comment had come from anyone else, he would have thought they were brain dead.
"Ne, Li-sama? How was training going?"
"Fine."
"Are you normally up this early?"
"Aa."
"Well, I better go then so you can continue unhindered by my presence. Good-"
"What do you have planned for the morning?" Syaoran wanted to kill himself there. What in the world was he thinking? He wanted to get rid of her not keep her.
"Eh?" Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Umm... I have a meeting later around the tenth hour, I think."
"That's four hours away," he said, his voice thoughtful for a moment as he tried to comprehend what he wanted to ask.
"Soka... ne, you want to take a walk then, Li-sama?"
Syaoran looked at her in surprise. Did she read minds? He had no idea what to say to that. Should he go walk or train? Better yet, should he go with her or stay and be found easily by family members?
Sakura looked a little crestfallen when there was a hesitation from the prince. "It's okay if you don't-" she stated, hurriedly only to be cut off again by Syaoran.
"No, I would like to talk with you... more. A walk sounds... nice."
"Eh? Really?"
"Aa."
Sakura jumped for joy. She reached out and grabbed the prince's hand, much to his surprise and slight discomfort. It took her a moment to realize what she had done and she quickly let go. "Gomen!" Her face was scarlet with embarrassment.
He decided to ignore the incident and moved to walk along the path with her. The air grew thick with tension, drawing both persona into silence. Finally, he had to break it or go mad. "Have you always lived here?" asked Syaoran.
Sakura was slightly surprised at the random comment, but took it in stride to cover up the awkward start. "I don't think so. My father once told me of where we used to live before my mother died. I vaguely remember things, but I was only five at the time. Touya, my brother, would remember. He's almost nine years older than I am."
"Did your father teach you magic?"
"Hai, though I'm not a very good student, I'm afraid." She frowned slightly. "I can't seem to to do any spells higher than the primary stage. I fear I've become a disappointment to him, as well as a frustrating enigma."'
"Do you know why you can't get passed the early stages?" Syaoran was confused beyond comprehension. The power of her aura had told Eriol and himself that she had to be very powerful, but how could she not use any of it? There must be something sealing off her powers, but what? A curse might have this effect, but he sensed no decrease of her power which was a typical side effect. Possibly a seal on her magic to dampen her magical output might do the trick, but here again there were discrepancies. Lack of training? A good possibility since only her father taught her.
"I'm not entirely sure. I have the potential to do higher magic, but otou-san says that they are locked up somehow. Also, my aura shouldn't be as big as it is, if it's sealed like everyone says." She sighed looking over at the lavender bushes, the purple bushels of flowers in full bloom. "You have a strong green aura, Li-sama. Your friend from last night had a stronger blue one, and he was suppressing it a lot too."
"You can see my aura?" Syaoran asked surprised. Syaoran dragged his gaze from the roses to his left to look at the vacant, thoughtful expression of the sorceress. "Not many people can see the particular colors of the auras. Hiiragazawa and myself are one of the few people in Maho who can. Even the elders are not very well trained in the art. Elemental mirrors are used most of the time to see the different colors."
Sakura nodded her head. "I know. Otou-san told me that only a few mages can sense the presence of a magical aura and even fewer can tell the color. Supposedly, my greatest strength lies in the stars because of my pink color. What power is your's based on?"
"Earth," he muttered. "She's smarter than she lets on," he thought, glancing back towards the gardens.
"That's pretty powerful," she mumbled in response.
"I am surprised that the elders do not know about you. Your potential magic would be enough to disrupt them in their scryings," Syaoran grumbled, pulling the attention away from himself. As a future king with magical powers, he was expected to do a lot because of the elders. Eriol was in a worse state then himself because he was the partial reincarnation of Clow Reed, Syaoran's ancestor. Clow Reed was known as the most powerful of all wizards in all of time, and thus Eriol was expected to carry on that legacy, much to his distaste. This stress caused Eriol to create two of his own guardians to get rid of the elders. It worked... kind of.
The real question was why the elders didn't know about Sakura? Or maybe they did, but kept it quiet. So what were they hiding? They had gone out of their way to tell his mother that there was no powerful sorceress around to make a suitable wife for him. This had been the main reason why he was getting pushed into marring his cousin, Meiling. However, Meiling had barely any magical powers at all. Syaoran suspected that the elders wanted his cousin because she was easy to control to their whims. He didn't trust the elders much and here proved one of these instances: walking beside a potentially powerful, female mage, and the elders never mentioned her. Why?
It took him a moment before he realized that Sakura had her hands in front of Syaoran's face trying to get his attention again. "Nan de?"
"I was asking you if the Elders were bad people. You seem slightly annoyed whenever they are mentioned," Sakura stated, her emerald eyes brimming with concern.
Syaoran paused in mid-step wondering how to describe the elders. "They are not bad, per say, just persistent, annoying, non-conformable, pessimistic, controlling, haughty..." Syaoran stopped in his tirade hearing a loud noise erupt beside him. He soon realized that the young sorceress was laughing, her melodious voice rising into the air. "You think this is funny?" he snapped.
Sakura shook her head, trying to hold in her laughter. She couldn't trust herself to talk with her body still shaking with suppressed giggles.
"What?" he demanded, his voice changing to one of high authority.
"It's just... your face... so angry..." she gasped. She wasn't making much sense at all as she struggled to overcome her laughter. "And... you... looked... want... kill... elders."
Syaoran's mouth twitched as he stood there watching her. He refused to laugh, but was having a very difficult time. Her face was slightly red from lack of air, and small tears welled up in her eyes. He had a vague idea why she was laughing, but her random words were jumbled up. "I would," he said, his voice serious.
It was like a bucket of ice cold water was tossed on her. Her laughter died as did her smile. He sounded serious about that and she had no doubt he probably meant what he said. "Why?" she breathed.
"The Elders were established into political control when my father passed away. The people did not believe that my mother would do the job justice being a woman. Needless to say, they are tyrannical in nature, but too many respect them. They have so much respect, that they have more power than they should." Syaoran's tone of voice was harsh and cold. He was very bitter towards the council in many ways. One main reason was how they went out of their way to exploit other magical users, just for entertainment. The other main reason was for how they treated his mother.
"Gomen," Sakura whispered. She had never seen such cold hate from a person, and here she stood with a fellow mage, who held more conviction in those words than in her entire being. She nodded sadly. "That's not a fair way to live. It's not easy always having to consult to a group in order to make decisions. It must be difficult."
"It is," mumbled Syaoran. He hadn't meant to snap at the poor girl, after all she was only trying to keep him company. He turned his direction towards the path ahead, where he noticed that it forked off into several directions.
"Would you like to see the orchards?" prompted Sakura, back to her lively self, throwing Syaoran for a loop. "Or more of the gardens?"
He wanted more time away from the palace before being stuck with shrill courtesans, an annoying 'friend,' and a glowering mother.
"The orchards are a bit of a walk from here," started Sakura. She actually really loved the orchards, but not all of the nobility shared her views. They preferred the gentle rise and falling path through the wide arrangement of flowers. The gardens were also a lot more beautiful to look at too, but right now most of the trees were in full bloom, especially the cherry trees, making it a petal wonderland.
"The orchards," Syaoran said quickly. A bit of a walk, meant more time to be killed.
Sakura smiled and motioned to a path to their left. There they continued in a light conversation with Sakura pointing out specific plants and landmarks. Occasionally, Syaoran stepped in to correct anything she said wrong.
