Chapter One: The Girl

Sunlight poured through the open window signaling daylight. Li Syaoran slowly opened his eyes. Yawning, he stood up from the chair he had been sleeping in. He did a double take, what was he doing sleeping in a chair? Suddenly the past night's events came flooding back to him. His eyes flit towards the bed. The girl he had saved last night was still asleep. He walked towards the bed silently, carefully watching the girl. When he reached her bedside, he quietly knelt down and moved her honey brown hair away from her neck. He saw a small light turquoise crystal on a black cord around her neck, its glow barely visible. He smiled a little. Good, she was still alive.

With one last look, he made his way out the door. He walked through many a corridor, stopping every now and then to greet others. He then reached the dining room. His face fell when he saw only two people in the room namely his mother, Li Yelan and his cousin.

Li Yelan was a mother in her late forties. With long jet black hair tied into a pony tail, her cold yet motherly amber eyes and the way she held herself, she was a woman of great beauty and grace yet feared by many. Yelan observed Syaoran critically as he entered her lips in a thin line.

His cousin on the other hand, had not noticed him enter. Li Riyo, a young girl of only nineteen years of age was a greatly respected female in his clan even if she was known to space off in more than one occasion. She was a great prophesier of the clan and the credits men gave her in her studies of magic and martial arts did no justice. She was the only female so far to have successfully made him fall on his behind with a little scar to remember it too. That was saying something for he was the future leader of the Li clan. She had glossy and elegant jet black hair with tints of brown in them that fell up to a few inches below her waist and she had bright burning hazel eyes making her very pretty.

"Xiao-Lang." his mother said. Syaoran groaned internally. His mother was calling him by his Chinese name and that didn't mean that anything good was going to happen.

Riyo's head snapped up at the mention of his name. "Syaoran!" she said, jumping into a hug. Her voice was a soft soprano but it held happiness and joy in it. "Good Morning!"

"Riyo," He said, acknowledging her with a curt nod of his head. "Did you sleep well?"

"Of course not, I had to wake up early because Aunt Yelan wanted me to help in the kitchen. How is the girl?" she asked, having released him from her embrace. Syaoran had told them about the girl he saved the previous night when he brought her there.

"She's still asleep but her crystal is glowing, she's alive." He said, thinking of the crystal around her neck. Every citizen of the Clow country had to wear a light turquoise crystal around their necks. It was their protection, their magic and their life force. It was powered by the owner's will. - the more determination you had, the stronger your crystal became.

"That's good to know." She said sighing in relief. "I thought she was going to die last night. Good thing you saved her."

"Yeah, good thing." He echoed nonchalantly.

"Are you hungry?"

"Is there food?" He said, surprised. Food. Something he hadn't had in a while. Rations were hard to come by in times like these.

"Yes, I'll get some right away." She said, tying on a pale blue apron. "Should I get some food for her too?"

"Yes please," he replied. "With some things to heal her cuts and bruises with too."

"I'll make some medicines as soon as I get her food." Riyo hurried to the stove.

"Xiao-lang." Yelan impatiently tapped her fingers on the wooden table. She did not like being ignored.

Looking around, the lack of clan members suddenly occurred to Syaoran. "Where are the others?"

"They still haven't returned from that mission the elders sent them on. They should be back in a fortnight." Riyo said from the kitchen.

"Xiao-Lang." his mother said yet again, her patience growing even thinner. Syaoran reluctantly looked back. He wasn't so stupid to purposefully ignore his mother after having been called thrice.

"Yes mother?" He answered stiffly, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up at the cold, scrutinizing look his mother gave him.

"Were you able to convince her to return?"

Syaoran sighed. Mothers. "No mother, she does not want to come back. Until the Emperor is dethroned, she refuses to return."

"I told you that you were to bring her back."

"But Fuutie doesn't want to come back!" He explained, exasperated at how Yelan seemed to ignore the wishes of her daughter. He had already accepted that his sister might die in such line of duty, but his mother, whose sense of honor he thought surpassed his own? She would rather safety and security over the possibility of a brighter future. Or so it seemed to him. "Look, Mother, she'd rather die in the line of duty than die as a victim of their incessant murder."

Yelan stood, her amber eyes depicting hard and cold. "I am highly disappointed in you, Xiao-Lang. You are her brother, you should know what is good for her. I sent you because I trusted you to get her back safely. She is not safe in the palace."

"There isn't a place in the country that is safe from him! And besides," he said, his volume dropping. He looked away from his mother, just so as to avoid eye contact. Yelan watched him, refusing to avert the disappointment radiating from her hard gaze. "There is nothing in this world than can hinder a firm resolve. Once she has made up her mind, there is no changing it. You know how she is."

"Syaoran," Riyo said, cutting in the conversation. "Here's your food and the girl's." she said handing him two small bentos. "And these are the medicines." She showed him a few tubes, cloths and bottles. "They're ointments and syrups I found in the cupboard, they should help. I'll go with you so that we can work faster." Riyo slightly pushed him in the direction of his room. Syaoran looked hesitantly at Yelan.

"Go son, she needs healing. I can sense that her crystal is losing its glow." She said, putting aside the quarrel. They would resolve this later.

"Thank you mother." He said bowing slightly. "Riyo." he said, beckoning for the girl to come with him. "The sooner her wounds get better, the sooner she can get out of here." They quickly exited the dining room. Once they were out of earshot, they began talking.

"That was a close one." Riyo said quietly. "I didn't know Aunt Yelan was so high strung about Fuutie's decision."

Syaoran was silent, still brooding over the little argument he just had. He hated how he always seemed to get berated for his sister's actions, even if he wasn't the eldest.

"Fuutie really doesn't want to come back huh?"

"No." He admitted. "She's convinced herself that she has stay there."

"I hope she'll be alright." She said her hazel eyes downcast. They reached his bedroom in silence, experience telling Riyo that it would go against her better judgment to talk. Syaoran quietly opened the door. Peeking inside, he saw that the girl was still sleeping soundly in his bed. He drew up two chairs beside the bed.

"Thanks."

He nodded in reply, sitting down in the other chair and choosing to eat his bento in silence once more. Riyo sat down in the other one and got the ointment.

She carefully took the sheets off the girl. She slowly lifted the hem of her skirt. "No peeking Syaoran."

"Like I'd want to!"

"Sure, whatever you say." Riyo stuck her tongue out at him.

Riyo observed the girl's legs. They were covered in many cuts, and bruises which had turned black and blue. She also had some scars on her foot and she saw that the girl's ankle was swelling up. Riyo frowned. She didn't like it when people got hurt like this. This girl however, was very lucky. The cuts weren't too deep but her ankle was something else.

Riyo squeezed some ointment onto her hands. She started spreading some over her ankle. When she was satisfied with the amount of ointment on it, she got another tube. She spread some of the clear gel on her cuts and scars. She closed it and got another tube. She then covered her bruises in it.

She wrapped the bandage firmly around the girl's swollen ankle. Riyo was glad that she brought some bandage with her, she'd then still have to go back to the kitchen. She looked fleetingly at Syaoran. He was still eating his bento, ignoring her, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Must've been one hell of a fight, then. Riyo discreetly slipped the crystal off her own neck and held it in her hand. She muttered a spell under her breath and touched the girl's ankle with the tip of the crystal. The bandage glowed a pale blue color as the crystal touched it. The girl immediately sat up, her eyes wide open. Syaoran dropped his bento. Good thing his bento was already finished.

The girl scanned the surroundings around, her vision unclear. Fear and confusion reflected in her emerald eyes. She didn't recognize anything. Everything was unfamiliar. It was all a blur to her. Scenes flashed before her mind's eye and everything came flooding back to her. She looked to her side where she saw two people. One jet black haired girl and one chestnut haired boy. The girl had warm and kind hazel eyes. She immediately decided that she liked this girl. The boy however had cold and intense amber eyes which sent shivers up her spine. She opened her dry cracked lips to speak, her voice hoarse from screaming the previous night.

"Where am I?"