A/n: Yes…I feel my shame…it has been a while. I swear, I really thought I couldn't write anymore because I was so deprived of inspirations. I even considered dropping this fanfic forever…but it was unfair for you who kept on waiting for the next chapter and had such high hopes for me. That's why I want to dedicate this chapter to everyone who still keeps up with this fanfic. Please enjoy!
Sealed in Our Fate…The bandits broke into a huge laugh after she finished. One of them even tumbled across the ground from his hysterical laughter. Sakura tried to catch a glance at who the girl was. Under the flicker of the fire, it revealed the face of the brave girl who spoke up. The other victim was Hua Zhi.
Chapter 11 – The Ice Finally MeltsHua Zhi's body trembled incredibly after she gathered the courage to fight back, but she did it without regret. The muscular bandit turned around and started to approach her.
"What did you say again? You wouldn't mind repeating that, would you?" He spoke to her with great intensity.
Her legs couldn't support her fear any longer as she fell down, breaking into tears. His eyes alone were enough to bring her to death, now with the addition of his frightening tone of voice. She hid her face in the shadows and closed her eyes to prey for the disappearance of everything, including herself.
The muscular bandit showed a slight frown as he pulled Hua Zhi up fiercely by her clothes. "Come on, tell me what you just said and be brave like you were before!" He kept on slapping her face, urging her to speak. Eventually, blood spilled on the side of her lips and washed away from her stream of tears.
"She said every single one of you are devils who had their hearts ripped out and thrown to the bottom of the ocean." Sakura blurted out from behind. She absolutely could not stand watching them torture the poor girl anymore.
"Ah, I see now…" The muscular bandit nodded and acted like he agreed to what Sakura just said. "So we are devils without hearts. Everyone knew that by now. Here's the proof for you, my princess." He threw Hua Zhi hard onto the ground and made her cough out more blood. At least she was not suffering from his torture anymore. He gave a wink to the other bandits as a cue and then all of them scrambled out, carrying Hua Zhi with them.
"Hey!! Where are you guys going?? What are planning to do with Hua Zhi?" Sakura questioned.
The skinny bandit, who's carrying Hua Zhi turned around and grinned at Sakura. "We're taking her to a paradise we created just for tonight. Any last words?" The other bandits broke into laughter as if this was the biggest joke they've ever heard.
Sakura's eyes widened from shock and disbelieve. "LEAVE HER ALONE!! What has she done to deserve this?? She's completely innocent! You can't just…"
"Sa…kura…" Hua Zhi's weak voice interrupted. "I'm so sorry…I wasn't any help…"
Sakura stared back blankly. "Help? But…why did you come out this late at night…to help me?"
"You were the kindest person I've ever met in my life. No one has ever given me a gift before…the sweet buns were very delicious…"
"You shouldn't have come! It was so dangerous…you should've stayed where you were!!" Sakura cried, unable to bear the truth that she dragged her into this mess.
"Thank you very, very much…" She said, before the bandits interrupted and carried her away from the cave.
"WAIT!! Hua Zhi!! Nooooo……WAIT!!" Sakura screamed, but the bandits didn't return. That was the last time Sakura could ever see her face again. Unable to believe what has happened, Sakura turned her head away and began to release a new stream of tears from her guilt.
"Aww…don't cry, little princess! Your turn will be next very soon!" The muscular bandit laughed as he left the cave and covered the entrance with a huge rock, impossible for Sakura and the prince to push it away at their current condition.
"It's…it's all my fault!! Hua Zhi…she was only trying to save me!" Sakura cried out loud. "Why…why does she have to suffer? She had never been happy before in her life! The world's so unfair to her!!" She couldn't control herself from her anger against fate. She had to allow the fact that fate overpowers everything; things that are set in place could never be changed, nor can you put anything into the place that has already been set.
"Stop…" The prince said. "There's no use to blame yourself over matters that cannot be changed. It's not your fault at all, Sakura. Things…are just meant to be this way…"
"Things can't be meant to be this way!!" Sakura cried back, louder. "Don't you have any sympathy for Hua Zhi? Her life was down in the drain ever since she was born!! But now…the worse is going to happen to her!! Fate is being so cruel to her!!"
"It's fate!! Accept it or die, that's the rule of life!" The prince replied harshly.
Her anger reached to its peak. "I CAN'T ACCEPT THIS!! You may be a prince, and your life was going the right way ever since you came into this cruel world!! What do you know about suffering?? What do you know about losing an important person??"
This sent them both straight to silence. Immediately, Sakura regretted what she just said. He really is the prince of China rumored to have a short temper, and he definitely doesn't need this right now.
Sakura swallowed. "I'm…so sorry…Prince Syaoran. I was just so ashamed of myself that…"
"I understand…" the prince interrupted calmly. Sakura was quite relieved to see that he wasn't offended, but the solemn look on his face was not reassuring at all.
Sakura said again, "I'm really, really sorry. You can yell back at me if you want…or hit me, or do anything that would make you feel better…"
The prince simply looked away, ignoring Sakura. He looked as if he was lost in his trail of thoughts.
'Oh, stupid stupid Sakura! Why did I have to be such an idiot? Prince Syaoran was so nice to me…but I just had to say something to hurt him! I'm just so useless!' Sakura blamed herself as she knocked her head against the wall apologetically. But she suddenly realized something wrong with the prince's words.
"What," she brought herself to ask, "…do you mean when you said you…understand? You mean…you actually…?"
The prince didn't answer.
'Now I've done it! He must really hate me for bringing these things up now…what should I do?' Sakura could feel a slight headache rushing up her head from her guilt.
"She was my best friend ever since I could remember…" the prince finally spoke. But he's still facing the other direction, avoiding eye contact with Sakura.
"…Really?" Sakura answered.
"The best friend I ever had…the only person I ever trusted…" he chanted, his voice shaking a little.
Sakura was silenced for a little while, hesitating on whether she should say something cheerful or just listen. Her voice didn't make a noise when she opened her mouth, so it only left her the option to listen to what the prince had to say.
"I would never forget her…it was so painful when they took her away…" the prince choked at the end. When he turned around slightly, Sakura couldn't believe what she's seeing.
The Ice Prince…is crying?
"Please! Tell me about your problems! I want to know more!" Sakura blurted out before she could stop herself.
The prince was actually able to bring himself to a little smile when he realized how interested she was. "It was ever since I could remember when we spent all our days together at the garden in the palace…it was a dream…"
FLASHBACK 11 years ago
"Xiao Ling!! Where are you? Come out and play with me!" The young 5-year-old prince called across the wide, peony garden. He looked everywhere for her: under the bushes, behind the trees, inside the flowerbeds, everywhere.
The prince frowned slightly as he started running faster, calling out louder. "Xiao Ling! Please come out!! I don't know where you are…and I can't find you! Please come out!! I want to play with you!"
His voice echoed across the huge garden, accompanied by the rustling of the bushes and the whistling of the spring-scented breeze. The sun was exceptionally hot today, but the sunshine was more cheerful than any other spring day. The palace was a very quiet and peaceful environment, just like a paradise of everlasting dreams.
The prince searched and searched, but still no signs of Xiao Ling. He was becoming vulnerable to the intense heat, and he was getting very exhausted from the running. Soon enough, he dropped to his knees and started crying very loudly. "Why won't you play with me? Does Xiao Ling hate me?" He sniffed and sobbed loudly.
Suddenly, a voice from far away called, "Syaoran!! Syaoran!!"
The prince got up to his feet right after he heard his name. "That's Xiao Ling's voice…" he told himself. "Xiao Ling!! Where are you??"
"I'm over here!!" The little girl shouted back. "Right behind the cherry tree!!"
He scanned the garden for cherry trees, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack. "Where?? Which tree??" He asked as he ran towards the direction of her voice, looking behind the forest of cherry trees. Before she answered back, the prince already found her sitting beside the tree. The little girl turned around, revealing her eyes swollen red from crying and her knees scraped nastily.
"Syaoran!!" She cried out happily, drying her tears with the back of her hands. "You found me!!"
He knelt down beside her, examining her injured knees. "What happened? Why are you bleeding?"
Xiao Ling's cheeks are flushed with pink. "I heard you calling me, so I started running to you. But I tripped over the rock."
She flinched a little while the prince rubbed her wound with his long sleeves.
"Oh, I'm really sorry! Did it hurt a lot?" The prince apologized immediately and took his hands away from her knees.
She shook her head vigorously. "No, it doesn't hurt anymore!! It's OK, I can stand up now…" She attempted to stand, but she couldn't fight against the pain.
"Don't move anymore." The prince ordered. He ripped a piece of fabric from his long jacket and tied it around her knees to cover up the wound. "There, that should work!"
"Thank you!" Xiao Ling chirped. "But, I still can't walk…"
Before Xiao Ling finished, the prince picked her up on his back, giving her a piggy-back ride. "I'll carry you back to your room, like I always do! And when you get better, we'll play hide and seek again!"
"YAY!! Piggy-back ride!" She exclaimed as she leaned her head against his small, yet broad shoulders.
The way back to Xiao Ling's palace is quite a long walk from the garden, but the prince ignored his exhaustion and continued to carry the little girl on his back. On his way, he passed through many gardens, crossed many bridges, and walked around many small palaces to finally get to Xiao Ling's home.
The prince gently placed the girl down at the front steps of her palace. He was breathing very hard and his face was covered with droplets of sweat. But he smiled anyway and said, "Hurry and get your legs treated when you get in!"
Xiao Ling threw her arms around the prince and kissed him lightly on his cheeks. "Syaoran I like you very much! When I grow up, can I be your wife?"
His face turned beet red immediately as he looked at her sweet little face. "Umm…uhhh....I don't know…"
"PPLLLLEEAASSSEEE?" she begged with her irresistible puppy eyes.
The prince smiled and returned the hug. "Alright, I promise to make you my wife when we grow up."
"For real?" Xiao Ling asked, holding out her pinky.
"It's a promise." He assured her by crossing his pinky with hers as the sign of an everlasting promise.
"YAY!!" The little girl cheered as she entered her palace. The prince watched her disappear behind the doors before returning to his own palace.
The next morning arrived with a relaxing sunshine that welcomed the following day. The prince woke up especially early on this beautiful day, and the first thing that came to his mind was to find Xiao Ling. He quickly performed his morning routines, groomed himself nicely, then approached out of the towering palace doors and out to Xiao Ling's palace.
On his way, he realized that something went wrong in the palace. The guards were scrambling around, all quickly heading to the same direction. He also noticed that the gardens were especially quiet for a typical spring morning when it should be loaded with other royal family members enjoying the spring breeze beside the flowerbeds. He watched for a few minutes, wondering where everyone went. Then he finally realized that everyone was approaching Xiao Ling's palace.
A sense of horror struck the young prince's heart. He couldn't help imagining the worst to happen to his precious friend Xiao Ling as he ran as quickly as he can towards her palace. Arriving to her palace was probably the biggest nightmare he ever had in his short little life.
Guards were surrounding the palace while he could hear sounds of screaming and crying mixed together. It was the most terrifying sound he has ever heard, something that he would never want to recall ever again. People from all over the palace gathered around the scene, pointing and gossiping about the possible incidents that might've happened. The servants who worked in Xiao Ling's palace were pulled out, one by one, viciously by the strong guards; the screams that etched loudly into his mind. The longer he watched, the more unbearable it was to keep watching.
The Empress soon exited from the tall palace doors and muttered something to the guards who carried the people away. The young prince pushed through the crowd and approached his mother anxiously. "Where is Xiao Ling? What happened to her palace?"
The look on the Empress' face was stern and expressionless. "You will never see anyone from this palace again. The servants will be executed tomorrow and the royal family shall be banished."
He couldn't believe a word his mother just said. Banished? Executed? When did this happen? What happened?
"…why? What did Xiao Ling do?"
" – Do not interfere with this matter any deeper, Syaoran. From now on, Xiao Ling and her family will never be mentioned again in this palace or else consequences will be placed. Do you understand?"
The tears stung his eyes. "I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" He cried out loud to his mother, something no one had ever dared to do to the Empress. "I just promised to marry her yesterday!! Why do we have to separate?? Why do we have to break our promise??"
"Wipe you tears clean this instant. I don't want to see you crying about this any further." The Empress ordered him as she left the palace. The crowd left with the Empress, leaving the prince standing at the front of the palace, alone.
END OF FLASHBACK
He weeps loudly under his arms, crying like a child who had just lost his mother. He has mentioned something that kept him so cold over the years: the grief that was trapped within him for all these years. Not even one person was he able to pass the story along to before Sakura because he had such a strong sense of insecurity. But now, even after his release of sadness, his tears won't stop rolling down his cheeks while new droplets form under his eyelids.
Sakura opened her arms to him, wrapping it firmly around his shoulders and soothing his back. She never knew the prince could feel so strongly about anyone. He is so vulnerable and fragile right now, it gives Sakura the opportunity to hold him tightly against her chest, giving him support and strength. He buries his face on her shoulders, accepting her support and returning the embrace. The first shoulders he had ever leaned on.
She gently rubs her hands onto his hair, ruffling it slightly. "Please, don't let yourself cry anymore after this time, your majesty. Your eyes were not meant for crying…"
He was so close to her that he could hear her heart beating against his face. She tried to move herself so that she could see the prince's face, but he quickly jerked away and tightened the embrace.
"Don't let go of me! Let me stay like this…just for a little longer…"
He hand never felt anyone holding him so tightly before. The scent from her body was sweet and soothing, pulling him even closer to her.
Sakura turned bright red, not knowing what to do. She can't worry about anything else right now, except for giving him support. With both of them holding each other, Sakura wished this moment would last forever. Before she knew what she was doing, she bent over and placed a sweet yet gentle kiss on his forehead, absorbing all his sadness into her kiss and sharing it inside her body.
The Ice Prince has finally melted the tears from his eyes.
Chibiwinwin: I FINALLY got through this chapter!! I felt like it could take forever for me to even finish it. Thanks for reading and keep up with my fanfic, I really REALLY appreciates it!! Remember to leave a comment and review before you leave!