Ryo decided that he wouldn't be able to sleep for the rest of the night. At least not after that nightmare. Ryo headed downstairs and sat alone in front of the fire that they had going earlier. It was now just glowing embers as Ryo stared thoughtfully into it. He pondered the dream. 'It seemed so real' he thought as he shuddered. 'What could have happened to her? Where was she? Was she okay?' Ryo grew more and more worried about her as the night dragged on. He suddenly heard the creaking of floorboards and looked up to see Dais enter the room. 'Great!' he thought sarcastically to himself. 'It's my favorite person.' Even though the warlords had come to the Ronin side, Ryo still held Dais in dislike. He knew Dais still had a thing for Sakura and it never ceased to make him jealous. But he treated Dais no different from the others, for her sake.
"Can't sleep either I suppose?" Dais asked as he sat on the chair across from him.
Ryo shook his head. "Too worried." He said.
"I'm sure that she'll be home by tomorrow." Dais said trying to convince himself.
"I don't know about that." Ryo said softly thinking of their argument earlier that morning.
"Why do you say that?" Dais questioned.
Dais was the last person Ryo wanted to tell about his and Sakura's fight, but he needed to get it off his shoulders. "We fought, and I said some things that I now regret. I yelled at her, for…for something that wasn't even her fault."
"And you think that just because you two had a fight that she won't ever come back?" Dais asked stunned. "If you think that then you don't know her as well as I thought you did."
Ryo looked up at him shocked. "What?"
"You and I both know that she is the kind of person who doesn't hold a grudge. Just because you and her had a little disagreement doesn't mean that she's never going to come back." Dais said pointedly.
"You weren't there for it. You don't know how badly I hurt her feelings." Ryo said feeling sorry for himself.
"I didn't have to be." Dais answered. "It's obvious to me and everyone else around here how much that girl loves you. Every time she looks at you her eyes are filled with love. It doesn't matter how much you yelled at her, she'll always be there for you. Because she loves you."
Dais sat back in the chair his speech finished. Ryo thought about everything that Dais had just said to him.
"Dais," Ryo said softly.
"Hmm?" Dais replied.
"Thanks." Ryo said as he got up and walked back to his room. The next morning everyone was in the kitchen when Ryo addressed them.
"I think that it would be in Sakura's best interest if we went out to look for her today." Ryo said. "She's been gone a whole day and I think that we should at least make some kind of effort to find her." Everyone agreed and after eating they left to scout around and ask if anyone had seen her. They met back at the house around three; nobody had seen hide nor hair of Sakura. Just then Yulie, who had been alerted of the situation, ran in through the back door.
He stood in the doorway panting until he caught his breath, "Hey you guys, I think you better come see this."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sakura had tried all night to free Talon and Kero from the chains, but it was no use. They were just too strong. She sighed at she dropped the heavy chains on the floor.
"Well guys," she said addressing Talon and Kero. "Looks like we are stuck here for a while."
Just then the same woman who had been there yesterday, Alanna, walked in through the door. "It is time for you to meet my master." She said as two burly men following her opened the cell and escorted Sakura through the halls to the throne room. 'Good,' Sakura thought. 'Maybe now I can find out what's going on and who wants to see me so much.'
