Ryo made it to the house and burst through the door.
"White Blaze!" he called as he ran through the house. The huge white tiger appeared with a growl behind him.
"Come on, I need you to help me find Sakura." The tiger roared his agreement as the two headed out the door crashing into the others.
"Ryo where are you going now?" asked Sage.
"To find her!" Ryo said.
"How? The footprints don't go very far before disappearing." Anubis asked.
"That's why I got White Blaze, he can follow the scent." Ryo said energetically.
"Well, we better do it fast." Sage said as he ran after Ryo. "There's a storm coming."
Ryo stopped dead in his tracks. "What!" he asked looking at the sky. Sure enough there were dark clouds approaching. 'CRAP!' Ryo thought as he looked at them.
"Then let's get moving, there's no time to waste." The others followed the desperate Ryo as they headed toward the spot where Yulie had seen the prints.
It was still clear when they got there, but it was starting to get dark. A sure sign of rain. Pointing to the spot where the prints were he turned to White Blaze.
"Can you pick out Sakura's scent?" White Blaze sniffed around the area and took off running in the direction that the scent had gone. The others followed with White Blaze stopping every now and then to refresh the scent. It soon started to drizzle and the white tiger was starting to lose the scent. The drizzle soon turned into a downpour and White Blaze lost the scent completely.
"Come on Ryo," protested a shivering Kento. "He lost the scent, there isn't anything else we can do."
"No!" Ryo protested. "I was so close." He said as he sank to his knees. White Blaze rubbed his arm with his head.
"Don't worry Ryo," Dais said helping him up. "We'll find her, I know it." Ryo looked at him and slowly smiled.
"Yeah, we will." He said as they headed back to the house.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sakura stared miserably out at the pouring rain. There just had to be a way out the stupid cell. There just had to be. She heard a noise as she saw Alanna approaching with Faust on her shoulders. She held out a plate between the bars of the cell.
"I thought that you might be hungry." Alanna said meekly.
Sakura took the food gratefully. "Thank you," she said as she gave some to Talon and Kero. She then sat on the bunk and looked at Alanna.
"So can you tell me why you're working for a witch like Aria?" Sakura wondered. She had seen the way Aria treated anyone she considered lower than her and she didn't understand why Alanna seemed to be so faithful to her.
"Well, she is my aunt." She said simply.
Sakura looked at her. "Really? I never would have guessed." She said looking shocked. "Well…then… why does she treat you like you are one of her servants?"
Alanna looked down at the floor. "She feels like I owe her."
"Owe her?" came Sakura's puzzled reply.
"Yes, well you see, my parents died in some kind of accident when I was little, the only other relative I had was my aunt Aria. She took me in, and I think she blames some of her problems on me."
"How old were you when your parents died?" Sakura asked curious.
"I was seven, she was fifteen" Came the quiet reply.
"So what was her relationship to Ryo?" Sakura asked hoping she would answer. It was killing her that that witch had been with Ryo.
"Well… it was about the time that I came to live with her. She had met Ryo… somewhere I really don't know, and they had been dating for a long time. Even though they were fifteen things were getting really serious and everyone thought that they were going to get married. But then one day, he broke it off. Just dropped her cold turkey, left her a note saying that things were over. Aria was devastated. She had it bad for him. She kept to herself for like a week, then she got really angry and spiteful. She said that she would get revenge on Ryo for breaking her heart if it was the last thing she did. She's been planning it ever since."
Alanna sat back when she had finished her story.
"That seems like a petty reason if you ask me." Sakura said crossing her arms.
"To be truthful I agree and she knows I think that, but there really isn't much I can do. I do owe her a lot." Alanna said weakly.
"So what does she intend to do with me?" Sakura asked.
"Again I don't know, but I doubt it's good." Alanna said sadly.
"Why do you stay with her?" Sakura asked. "I mean your old enough to make a living for yourself."
"I can't" Alanna said with fear in her eyes. "Aria had powerful magic and if I left, who knows what she would do to me." Taking Sakura's empty plate she stood up to leave. "I must go now. I am sorry for all the trouble my aunt has put you through."
"Don't worry about it, and thank you." Sakura said.
Alanna smiled sweetly as she turned and left, Faust flying next to her.
