Sakura was roughly brought into the throne room and made to bow in front of a throne occupying a person. The person was hidden in the shadow so it was hard for Sakura to tell anything about him. Suddenly Alanna spoke.
"My Lady, here is the girl like you requested." Alanna said as she bowed low before the figure.
'My Lady? It's a girl?' She thought as she was roughly forced into a bow.
"Ahh. My young captive." The woman said as she stared at Sakura. Shaking off the hands of the guards, Sakura stood up.
"Who are you? And what do you want with me?" she demanded.
The woman looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I really don't think that you're in any position to demand anything of me." She said regally.
Turning to look at Alanna she addressed her "You are sure that Ryo really loves this thing?" she said gesturing at Sakura.
Sakura narrowed her eyes as she glared at the woman. Then a thought struck her, how did this woman know of Ryo? Sakura was defiantly sure that she had never seen her before and she was positive that she knew all of his friends. But then again maybe this was a new enemy. Either way she was going to get some answers.
"Yes, M'Lady." Alanna said bowing nervously. "Faust has brought us scenes of them. Remember? I could show you…"
"Silence!" The woman yelled. Alanna shrank back in fear.
"Who are you and how do you know of Ryo?" Sakura demanded again.
The woman smirked as she turned to look at Sakura again. "You have no right to question your captor, but I will answer your question. I am Aria, the queen of this domain." She said gesturing around her.
"And what is the name of this domain?" Sakura asked.
"The Shadow lands. I'm sure you of all people have heard of them." Aria said with a smirk. Sakura's eyes widened with shock.
"What!" Sakura screeched. "The shadow lands are not yours! My father owned them and when he died they rightfully reverted to me!" Sakura said defiantly.
"Impossible!" Aria argued. "For these to be your lands, your father would have to be the great Talpa himself."
"He is!" Sakura said straightening her back.
Aria's eyes widened in shock. "Impossible, I would have known about it."
"I doubt that," Sakura shot back. "He didn't spread the news that he had a daughter around. Only a few people knew about it."
"You're lying!" Aria shouted. She finally had a place to rule and extract her revenge on Ryo and now the Shadow lands might not be as available as she originally thought.
"I can prove it." Sakura stated.
Aria's eyes narrowed. "How?"
Sakura took out her mother's necklace and held it in her hand concentrating on it till it glowed blue. Then she held it up in the air and started drawing a symbol in the air. A symbol that only the descendants of Talpa could draw. It was a magic spell that was placed on the design. Every one knew what it looked like, but only direct descendents could draw it. Aria's eyes widened in shock then narrowed to tiny slits. 'This girl really is the daughter of Talpa as she claims. But no matter, she won't ruin my plans. In fact, this could be useful to me.' She thought as an evil smile graced her red lips. Sakura finished drawing the symbol and smiled smugly.
"Fine, so you are who you claim to be. But one must wonder why you of all people are with the Ronin warriors?" Aria asked. She already knew the answer to that; it was because she had grown a conscious. That and the attractive leader of the Ronins, Ryo. Thinking of Ryo made her blood boil. 'That jerk!' she would make him pay for what he did to her.
"That is none of your business." Sakura said haughtily. "But what do you want with Ryo, how do you even know of him?"
"I have known of you beloved Ryo a long time. Longer than even you, little princess." Aria said to her as though talking to a little child. "In fact, we used to be…quite close." She said enjoying the look on Sakura's face. "But I don't need to explain my self or reasons to the likes of you. Take her back to her cell!" she commanded. She gestured to Alanna and the two men that had escorted Sakura to take her away.
"Wait! I'm not done talking to you!" Sakura yelled. All of her questions didn't have answers and she wanted to know about her and Ryo. Sakura was dragged struggling back to her cell and thrown in. Kero and Talon woke up and moved as close to her as her chains would allow. She petted them absently as she thought about all she had learned. She took the crystal out of her pocket, amazed she still had it. Looking at it she wondered if Aria had been responsible for the robberies on the jewelry stores. She had a sinking suspicion that she did, but why?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryo and the others ran to the spot that Yulie was leading them. The ended up at the spot where Sakura had been sitting next to the tree looking at the crystal. Yulie pointed to the spot where she had been sitting.
"Look, there are some footprints and there are some paw prints right next to it."
"Look, there are some prints that look like a bird here and there are some prints leading of that direction that are different than these." Cye noticed.
"Those right there must be Kero's and Talon's prints. And I bet they were sitting next to Sakura." Dais said.
"Those other prints surrounding hers must be her attacker. And it looks like she was outnumbered, seven to one." Rowen said.
"Even with Kero and Talon helping, I'm not sure that even Sakura could win with odds like that. Especially if she didn't have a weapon." Cale noted.
Without a word Ryo spun on his heels and turned and strode back to the house. He needed White Blaze and he was at the house.
"Ryo, where are you going?" Sekhmet called after him.
Ryo didn't answer, just increased his pace until he broke out into a run. 'Sakura…' he thought desperately. 'I'm coming!'
