The Goddess of Light & The God of Earth
Chapter 19: Seperated
By: Azure Rosas



-You have everything under control. . . right?-
"Yes, Master."
-Good. Just make sure you don't fail.-
"I won't, Master."
-Destroy those meddlesome brats but bring the Little Wolf and Cherry Blossom to me.-
"I know, m'lord."
-You know the consequences if you fail, ne?-
"I do."
-Keep that in mind before you come back to me empty handed.-
The connection was then cut off.
"I won't fail you, Master. . ." He muttered, a smirk crossing his face.
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"Iie. . ."
She stirred.
"Syaoran. . ."
Her eye brows furrowed.
"Where are you?"
Her hands clawed the air, as if trying to reach out for someone.
"Don't leave me. . ."
Tears leaked from her tightly shut eyes.
"Someone. . .Help. . ."
Opening his amber eyes, the chestunt haired teen awoke and sat up. He fixed a worried gaze on the sleeping auburn haired girl. Her cheeks were tear stained and she moved and thrashed about restlessly in her sleep. Crawling towards her, he gripped her by the shoulders and gently shook her.
"Sakura! Wake up!!"
"Iie!"
"Sakura!!!"
Her eyes suddenly snapped open to reveal a pair of frightened emerald eyes that glistened from her freely flowing tears. She breathed heavily, pale faced as beads of sweat trickled down her brow.
"Syaoran!"
She sat up and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing in relief. "I'm so glad that you're alright!"
A confused, and almost scared look was on his face as he embraced her back and gently stroked her hair. He soothed and shushed her as best he could. "Shh, Sakura, it's alright. I'm right here." What could've scared her like that?
"I was so scared. . ." she whispered as she buried her face in his chest and gripped his shirt tightly.
"What happened?" he muttered softly.
"I can't say," Sakura said in return.
"I understand," Syaoran replied. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Her sobs subsided to hiccups. Strands of auburn hair stuck to her damp face as she closed her eyes and breathed softly. He held her closer to him, not about to let go of her at the moment. A serious and grim look was on his face.
-What could've scared her like that?- he wondered in his mind. -What did she dream about that made her cry?-
Sakura was now sleeping peacefully, a content look on her face. Wiping away the tears with his sleeve, he stared down at her with a soft look. A pair of blue eyes watched them from where he lied.
-Soon. . .-
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They were all ready to mount their horses, but the problem was: Briar didn't have one.
"What are we gonna do?" Sakura questioned aloud, half to herself and half to the others.
"Don't worry," Briar assured, a smile on his face. "I can get my own."
"How?" Gem questioned, tilting her head to the side in bewilderment.
Putting his index and middle fingers in his mouth, he let out a long, loud whistle that made their eardrums want to burst. Once he stopped, the sound of hooves hitting against dirty ground approached their ears. It came closer and closer and in no time at all, a black mare came to an abrupt halt in front of the smiling Briar. It was a strong looking fellow as it snorted and pawed his hooves against the ground. It glared at each and every one of them with bright green eyes. Putting a hand on the mare's forehead, Briar turned and grinned at the group.
"This is Rex," Briar said as he stroked the mane of his horse. "He belongs to me." (A/N: ._. Who'd name their horse. . . Rex!?!?)
"Enough of the stall, let's get going," Syaoran stated in a gruff voice as he mounted SilverFox.
Rage and the others followed suit and mounted their own horses. Clicking their heels against their sides, the stallions and mares rode at a fast trot. An hour or so went by and dark clouds started to brew over head, covering the sky and the eclipse. Thunder rumbled in the sky and the gang knew it was going to sooner or later rain. Rage steered his horse to the side of Syaoran's.
"Master Xiaolang! We MUST find shelter from this rain!" Rage cried out over the loud grumbles of thunder from up above.
"I know that. But where are we going to find shelter?" Syaoran questioned back, having to shout loudly just to be heard.
He was right. WHERE were they going to find shelter? There wasn't even a single rock around to hide under, let alone a tree. Everywhere was barren; much more deserted than before. They would usually see leafless black trees and a few boulders, but this was different: It was completely empty. Sakura pulled Syaoran's cloak tighter around her as she shivered. She felt guilty now, wearing his cloak. He was going to get wet if it started raining and he might end up catching a cold. Removing it, she set Jade at a faster run so she could catch up to SilverFox. Once they were neck-to-neck, Sakura held out the bundle.
"Take it Syaoran!"
He gave her a bewildered look. "Why?"
"Because! It's yours!" Sakura answered. "And I don't want you catching a cold when it starts raining."
Syaoran blinked, then eyed her. "Iie. I'm NOT taking it. I gave it to you for you to wear."
She tossed it in his face and he had to grab it so it wouldn't go flying anywhere. Then she tugged gently at the reins as she steered Jade away from Syaoran and SilverFox.
"Stubborn woman," the God of Earth muttered.
The chestnut haired sorcerer let out a sigh of defeat as he then put it on. Looking up at the sky, he felt something wet land on his forehead. More started to come and soon, it started raining. It wasn't hail, nor a drizzle, but it rained hard enough for them to get soaked to the bone almost in 2 minutes. The water mingled with the dirty ground, creating mud. As the horses ran, mud flew everywhere and hit their fur. Up to their knees, the mares and stallions were covered in mud. Wipping away a spot of mud that whipped against her face, Sakura squinted through the rain as she tried to see the others. It was hard to see Briar and Rex through the darkness, considering the fact that they look nearly camoflouged. She somehow manged to make out Syaoran, Rage, Crystallight, and Gem through the blankets of water. But still. . . she couldn't see Briar nor his mare.
-Where are they?- Sakura wondered to herself.
She shivered inside and out as she stared forward at the vast darkness spread out before them. Her heart beated quite heavily, and for some reason, she felt. . . scared. Shaking her head to remove the feeling of dread, her grip on Jade's reins tightened so that her knuckles turned white. Jade snorted as she shook her head in discomfort. She felt just as frightened as Sakura did. Narrowing her eyes, the Goddess of Light felt a dark presence slowly approaching her. Turning her head to the right, she noticed a dark figure mounted on a dark horse. Who they were, she couldn't make out through the darkness and rain. The person held out a hand where a dark blue glow floated just inches above the figure's hand. Then at a fast rate, it came at Jade and rammed itself into her side. She neighed and whinned as she stood on her hind legs, pawing the air with her front hooves. Jade's eyes were wide in fright and pain as she suddenly shot forward like a flash of white light.
The others saw this but failed to notice the dark figure as he/she lowered his/her horse's pace to a slower trot.
"SAKURA!!" Syaoran shouted over the loud grumble of a thunder bolt that crashed over head.
She didn't hear him though. The wind roared loudly in her ears as she tightly shut her eyes and held onto the reins for dear life.
"JADE!! SLOW DOWN!" Sakura cried out.
This only made the female horse run even faster. What felt seemingly like an eternity, Sakura kept her eyes closed, never knowing where Jade was bringing her to. She could feel her grasp on the reins slowly slipping away for the rain made the reins and her hands wet and slippery. She fought madly though to keep herself balanced.
-Jade. . . Onegai. . . Calm yourself!- Sakura exclaimed wildly in her mind.
That's when she felt herself no longer gripping onto anything. Her grasp slipped and she found herself falling off of the white stallion. Only air and gravity was between herself and the ground. She felt herself pause and float in mid-air, then she came crashing and landed into the muddy ground.
"Itai!"
Sakura lied on her back, silent. All she could hear was the rushing rain and the sound of Jade's faint hooves. Then she couldn't hear anything but pelting water. How far away did Jade take her from the others? And where was the horse going to? What could've scared her to run so fast as she just did? The Card Mistress propped herself up onto her elbows as she wipped water away from her eyes.
-What am I going to do now?- she moaned. -I don't even know where the others are, and let alone, where I am!-
Standing up, she ignored how muddy and drenched her clothes were. Which way was she to go? Sighing to herself, she allowed herself to trust her instincts as she walked to the right.
________________

Syaoran came to a halt and signaled the others to halt also. With a spell done by Crystallight, they all rested in a shield that protected them from the outside. Syaoran balled his hands into fists as he stared out in the unknown.
-Sakura. . .Where are you?-
"Don't worry, Master," Gem spoke up as she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "She'll show up eventually. . . She didn't loose faith when I was gone, and I'm not about to loose faith in her either. We have to prey and hope for the best."
"I just can't stand this," Syaoran muttered as he racked his hands through his hair. "She's out there, all alone. And who knows what kinda trouble she could run into!"
"Sakura-sama is strong," Gem said, "she'll make it."
"Hai. You must learn to trust in her," Crystallight inquired.
"She'll end up loosing hope if you don't have more faith in her," Rage remarked.
Heaving a sigh, Syaoran bowed his head. He hated though to admit when someone else was right. Briar sat apart from the rest; silent and deep in his own thoughts as he stroked Rex's mane. Everyone remained quiet; rain pounding against the shield. It sounded like any ordinary rainy day; Just imagine yourself sitting on your bed and staring out the window as the sound of rain beated against the roof. Well, that's what it sounded like in there ears: like any other rainy day. But this wasn't like those regular days. Instead they were protected in a shield where the land outside was vast and barren. Unknown battles awaited them, and unknown mysteries waited to be told.
Syaoran stood up and paced about restlessly. He couldn't help but wonder what drove Jade to go and run off like that. Something MUST have scared her off. But what?
"Did anyone see anything?"
They looked up at him questioningly.
"I mean. . .did you see anything happen before Jade ran off?"
All four were deep in thought, pondering on whether or not they did.
"You know what? I think I saw a figure fire something at Jade. . ." Gem offered.
"Now that I think about it. . . I think I saw that happen also!" Rage exclaimed.
"Did you see who it was?" the future Leader of the Li Clan asked them, eagerly.
". . . .Er. . . No," they replied at the same time, their faces falling.
Crystallight, meanwhile, had her arms crossed as she eyed Briar with suspiscion. He still sat away from the others, a calm look on his face. Grinding her teeth, she said to him in annoyance, "You! Briar! Did YOU see anything?"
Opening one eye, he spoke in an almost bored tone, "No. Why would I have seen anything? It was to dark."
Growling, she stomped up to him and roughly shook him by the collar of his cloak. "Don't lie to me!! It was probably you who caused this to happen!"
"Why would I be lying?"
"I don't know!! You could be working for Hades and Zero for all I care!"
Gem ran up to them and removed the Goddess of Water's grasp from the Angel's cloak. She set Crystallight with a firm look, keeping herself in between them.
"Crystallight! Stop this at once!! It doesn't do us any good if you go accussing people like that. And it surely won't help Sakura-sama!"
Looking at the ground, her shoulders slumped. "Gomen nasi."
The God of Earth and the God of Fire stood next to each other, both boys eyeing the Angel of Honor with a look that clearly stated they didn't trust him.
"He can't be trusted," Syaoran said in a low voice.
"I know that," Rage replied back in the same tone. "But we can't do anything if Gem continues to defend him!"
"Just make sure you watch him," the amber eyed boy said. "Who knows. . . he probably COULD have been the cause for Jade's sudden run away."
Rage flexed his fingers. "If only I could get that guy alone. . . I'd teach him a lesson!"
"Hai. That does sound nice," Syaoran agreed, "but he hasn't done anything yet. So, like Gem said, we can't go accussing people."
Crossing his arms, Rage looked down at the ground in an almost disappointed and grumpy way. "Alright, Master, whatever you say. . . "
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Sakura continued to wander on aimlessly through the rain. She hugged herself as she shivered violently from the harsh wind and rain that beated against her skin. She was cold; scared; frightened out of her wits. And worse of all, she felt alone and lost. Where was she and where was she going to? Where were the others? Oh how she hated being seperated from them. Fighting the tears that threatened to fall, she continued to treck on.

She just preyed that she would find them. . . or at least they would hopefully find her.

-End of Chapter-

Azure Rosas: 0_0 Bah!! SHORT CHAPTER!! -bowing vigorously- I know!! GOMEN NASI ABOUT THAT!! ^^;;; It's like. . . 12:11 A.M. so cut me some slack. . -,- Anyways, arigatou to the people that reviewed the last chapter. . . -starting to nod off- I'm gonna leave. . . -yawns- now before I. . .before I. . . -knocked out cold-
Kero: ._.;;; Well. .. it seems as though she's currently disposed at the moment so I'll just make the announcement for her: PLEASE REVIEW!!! IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!