Disclaimer: CCS is not mine. It belongs to CLAMP.
A/N: I'm sorry if my last chapter was bad. I'll try to make this chapter more enjoyable to read!!! ^__^ And once more thank you for all my reviewers!! Keep reviewing!!
The Heir and the Priestess
Chapter 2 – Journey
~Dream~
There he was again, standing before the cherry blossom tree. This time, the voice that had been haunting him for weeks did not come. Instead, he saw a girl around his age walked towards a shrine. Her back was facing him, so he could not see her face. While the girl was walking, Syaoran decided to follow her.
Once they were inside the shrine, the girl entered a room where arrows and sword were kept. It didn't made sense for Syaoran. Why would arrows and shrine kept here? It was a shrine, after all. As long as he knew, shrine is place where people pray, not battling.
The girl before him kneeled and picked up dozens of arrows and threw it aside, revealing a dusty floor. Then she muttered something that he recognized as some kind of spell. The spot that the girl had cleaned slowly revealed a thing that looked like a knob. The girl pulled the knob and stepped down the stairs that slowly emerged from the pitch-black area below them. When the girl reached the bottom of the stairs, she flicked her hand and the light was suddenly turned up by itself.
He expected to see a room full of archery things and battling materials. Instead, he saw nothing but a blank-spaced room. What happened after that wasn't what he expected at all. The girl suddenly turned to face him. However, to his confusion, he still could not see her face.
"You shall not see further than this, Little Wolf. It is not for you to see this place. But continue your journey and finish your duty. You must find me before disaster occurred. Follow your heart. I trust you will find me in no time."
~End Dream~
Syaoran woke up with a jolt. What is the meaning of those dreams? He has been dreaming a lot of that shrine. And the girl, the voice that been haunting him every day and nights. He didn't know whether to follow his heart and go search for that shrine or obey the Elders' order to forget the dreams and keep going with his search.
He sat up and folded the sheet he had been sleeping on, and then he grabbed his bag and continued his walk. He couldn't find a house or an inn to stay in last night, since the Li Resident was hidden in the depth of a forest. Therefore, he decided to camp in a cave that he accidentally found. He walked to the highway and found a village a mile away from him. When he reached the village, it was still early in the morning. He found the village is still quite empty. He felt a flicker of aura, but decided to shrug it off. He stopped at the nearest shop and bought some supplies for his journey. After that, he walked off and headed outside the village. The Elders had vaguely mentioned that the last time the Priestess' aura flared was at the outside of Zhong City.
When he was about a mile away from the village, he saw the road branches off before him.. The first one, a forest. The second, he could only see a steep and slippery way ahead. And he knew it would be dangerous to go on that way, especially when he is alone. He could get lost or fell off a cliff. The third, he only saw a dead end far ahead, for he have a good sight, almost like an elf. He looked at his map, and saw there was no other way except the fork. Eventually, he must chose between the second way, or the first.
After a while of thinking, he decided to choose the forest way. He was reaching a quite spacing area when he felt something wrong with his surrounding. It felt darken somehow. He still felt that annoying flicker of an aura. He knew someone was following him. He stopped walking and concentrated to where the aura was coming from. It was from a tree about ten feet behind him.
"I will appreciate it if you stop following me and show yourself, Stalker," he said.
Syaoran heard a thud and footsteps coming towards him. He set an alert position just in case something was going to happen. Instead, he only heard an angry growl.
"I. Am. Not. A. Stalker!!!!!!!" an angry, boyish voice said behind him. Syaoran sweat dropped and turned around.
"A kid?" he said to himself.
"And what if I am?!?" replied the boy angrily.
"I just didn't expect a boy to stalk me like that. Then what are you doing, following me around like that?" Syaoran asked irritably. He had been learning to control his emotion. However, this boy was an exception.
"I'm not following you! I am just walking in the same direction as you!" replied the boy with the same tone.
"Then where are you going, Little Boy?"
"I-uh… I am going to go to my grandfather's house!" the boy answered.
"I don't believe you."
"NANI!!!!"
"You are a horrible liar. First, you said the direction you are going is the same as mine. But I know there is no resident or house for about ten miles away. Second, no parents are going to allow their children to go outside the city by themselves, let alone in the middle of a forest. Third, a good liar never stuttered when they are lying," Syaoran explained briefly.
The boy's face fell at his words. "I know I'm just not good at this kind of things," he growled and said, "All right, I admit I'm lying."
"Then, explain the reason why you were following me, boy," Syaoran asked. "Who are you, anyway?" His patience is starting to slipped away. It will only take a count of minutes and this boy will be completely beaten by him.
The boy smirked, "You don't need to know who I am. I was sent here by my master."
Syaoran frowned, "Master? Who is your master? What did he want?"
"He is the Shadow Master. The Ruler of Darkness. And you know what he wanted?" the boy asked. "He wants you dead."
The boy smiled naughtily and threw a ball of fire at Syaoran.
Syaoran easily dodged out of the way, He took out his sword and went into fighting stance. He started to attack the boy with a lightning bolt. However, the boy ducked away and suddenly vanished. Then the boy appeared again behind Syaoran at almost the same time and thrust a blade into his back. But before the boy could do that, Syaoran leapt away.
"You think you can simply trick me with that" Syaoran smirked. "Believe me. I was trained to do more than that. Fight me like a man, boy." He chuckled and said, "Oh, sorry. I forgot that you are still a boy!"
Then Syaoran ran to the boy with a lightning speed and attempt to slice the boy's throat. Nevertheless, the boy jumped to avoid his attack. Syaoran saw this chance and slice the boy's stomach instead. The boy growled and sent a big fireball at Syaoran. Syaoran did a back flip and sent the fireball back. It hit the boy right in the stomach.
"Wait till next time. I will get my revenge on you, Little Wolf!" The boy said grudgingly and disappeared into thin air.
Syaoran sighed in relief. Then he continued his walk. He felt a little tired but decided to go on. He couldn't waste any time. However, his relief turned into grief when he felt a gush of wind came from behind him. In a split of second, he felt pain in the back of his shoulder. He glanced back and saw a dagger was stabbed in his shoulder. Then he felt like his energy had been drained. He leaned forward against the nearest tree beside him. He sat and decided rest for a while.
'Shit, the dagger is poisoned," he thought, finding a way to get the poison out of his body. But he himself couldn't move an inch. 'I can't move. How am I supposed to hold on with this? The poison is deadly. I can't die right now." And then he felt his conscious started to slipped away
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You failed, aren't you?" a smooth, masculine voice asked.
"I am. I didn't expect him to be so powerful. I underestimate him," replied the boy. He was kneeling before the man and he was quivering. His wound had not yet been treated and blood is pouring out from his stomach. "But I stabbed him in the back and he got poisoned."
"Well, at least it can slower his journey to find my Precious One. We already able to measure the Little Wolf's ability. But next time, make sure you won't fail, Ren."
"Hai, aniki," Ren replied. "I won't fail and I won't disappoint you."
"Treat your wound and go to the dungeon until I tell you to get out. You have to take your punishment."
Ren winced as he heard the man's words. He always got a punishment every time he made a mistake. And the punishment is not always pleasant. Right now, he just have to be grateful that his brother is kind enough just to kept him in a dungeon. He usually got a beating or a curse for almost a week. But he did not know how long he was going to be held in the dungeon. He just hoped that his brother is kind enough to feed him food at least once a day.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
His breathing had shortened by the minutes. He felt his body has gone numb. He could not feel anything. Could not hear anything except his own breathe. He could not move his body. But he had to get the poison of his body. Or else, he was going to die in that pathetic way. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, grabbing the dagger inside it. He glanced back and realized there was someone there. He want to struggle, but had no power. So he just give in and let the person do what he/she wants. The Elders taught him not to just gave in like that. But in this situation, he had no control for it. And he can felt that the person's intention was not bad. He moved a little when he had the power to do it.
"Shh, you were poisoned. Let me take the dagger out first," it was a feminine voice. Her voice was angelic and soothing. It help him to calmed down a little bit. Somehow he felt save with her beside him. He didn't know who this girl was, but he sure owed his life to her. The girl took out the dagger from inside his arm and then she cleaned his wound.
"Oh my god, you're poisoned! I should took out the poison first and then wrap your arm. It's gonna take longer than I thought and it's going to hurt a little bit. I'm sorry."
It surprised him when she sucked her mouth into his arm and took out the poison. It shocked him to hell that this person willing to took risk by sucking the poison.
"H-hey, you're—going to be… contaminated—by—the poison…!"
"It's okay. I will be all right," she cleaned his wound with a warm towel. He winced when she touch the wound. "It's just going to hurt a bit. Just try to be patient, okay?" she said, reassuring him. "What was happening to you exactly, anyway? It's just cruel to stab a person in the back like that. Especially with a poisoned dagger. Here done! Now I'm going to heal your wound!"
Syaoran suddenly felt warmth crept over his body. And he felt his wound is slowly closing itself.
What had she done to him? How can she do that? Does she have magic?
"Now, all you have to do is rest and sleep. When you wake up tomorrow, you are going to be the same as new! I will sing you a lullaby to get you sleep sooner."
She put his head on her lap and touch his forehead. Then she sang him a lullaby. All of a sudden, Syaoran felt dizzy and sleepy at the same time. He felt like laughing at himself. Her mother had not sung him a lullaby ever since he was five. He could not believe a girl that he didn't even knew sing him a lullaby. How strange. Nevertheless, he just decided to sleep.