A/N: Revising totally sucks... because it's so long.
Chapter Three- Let Me Be
-Eriol's Chambers-
It was an early, cool day; the sun was just about to rise in a large bedroom where a row of shelves was filled with old, traditional books and poems. A boy, with a mop of dark-blue hair sat, slouching against his arm chair, azure eyes behind rimless glasses, mesmerized in his poems. They were poems he personally wrote himself. He took his time, reading each word slowly, taking in its powerful meaning. The art of reading was his passion, his life.
"While blasted by the cold wind, I relived my memories in the returning night.
The melody I softly sing to myself, is carved away by time until it vanishes.
I can't forget the sadness that I cannot return to... So I..."
Knock... Knock
"Come in," said Eriol in a calm tone, eyes still glued to his divine poems as he flipped the page.
"Good morn, Eriol-kun," a pleasant voice greeted, taking a seat in front of the boy.
"Ah Sakura, nice to see you again. Would you like to read a few of my entries to start of the morning?" Eriol asked eagerly as he put the book on the table, facing her. Sakura waved her hand away.
"Sorry Eriol, I just came here to talk, that's all. A lot of people in this castle are very formal with me. They are very quiet and I get quite lonely."
"Yeah... And I know why," Eriol said, "Because Aunt Yelen orders them to be. So anyway, Sakura, what do you want to talk about?"
The girl blushed bright pink. "About Prince Li..."
"Master Li? Hmm... let's see what I know about him... Ah yes, he is tough to be around with and not someone you would want to get mad. Sadly, he doesn't appreciate my books."
"Why is he like that?" Sakura asked.
Eriol eyes fell down to his fingers, which were playing around nervously. "I really don't want to talk any more of him."
"Oh come on Eriol-kun, we are friends now, aren't we?"
Eriol sighed, giving into her persuasive words. "Very well then; it happened about seven years ago, when I was a small boy..."
-
A young, energetic boy with big, round azure eyes was running around the Li Castle, having heard that Syaoran came home.
He was excited to see Syaoran, after not seeing him for over a week. The boy ran up the spiral staircase and saw Xiefa, Femei, Fanran, and Fuutie, coming out of Syaoran's room with puffy eyes.
He raised an eyebrow, confused to what the problem might be, and so, he asked them. "What is wrong?"
"Dear Syaoran was found beaten badly out in the main halls. He is unconscious right now and we don't know what happened," Fanran cried, eyes cloudy and red.
"To make matters worse, he is very high on fever," Xiefa mourned.
Eriol stood there dumfounded as he took in Syaoran's sisters' words. "Is he going to be all right?" he asked, looking hopefully into their misty eyes.
"Of course he will," a wicked voice snapped out of nowhere. He stumbled back, head whipping towards the direction of his aunt. "Eriol, Fuutie, Fanran, Femei, and Xiefa, let Xiao-Lang rest and tend to your lessons, all of you." Yelen ordered urgently before she walked away.
Suspicious, Eriol studied Yelen and noticed that her hands were red and swollen. Was she the one that hurt Syaoran? He waited until his cousins walked away so that he can go into Syaoran's room to see if he really was all right.
"Eriol, you heard your aunt," Xiefa commanded.
"I will, but I just want to get something out of Syaoran's room," Eriol pleaded, making a puppy face in which the sisters found irresistible.
Xiefa, finally giving in, replied, "Fine, do so quietly and make sure that mother doesn't catch you. You know how upsets she gets when someone disobeys." Then the sisters were off.
Slowly, Eriol crept into Syaoran's room, seeing the boy laying in his bed like a fragile being. He stood against Syaoran's bedside, his heart breaking at seeing Syaoran's severely swollen cheeks and a wet rag against his forehead.
Who could have hurt Syaoran this badly?
"Syaoran... Are you okay?" Eriol whispered, his voice shaking a bit. He felt really bad, maybe something happened to Syaoran from when he and his father went hunting; if only Eriol had gone, then Syaoran probably wouldn't be in this situation"What happened Syaoran?"
Eyes slowly opened, revealing dazed amber orbs. As Syaoran slowly became accustomed to his environment, he looked wearily at Eriol. "Get away from me," he said hoarsely through clenched teeth.
"What? Syaoran, what has gotten into you?" Eriol asked, surprise written over all over his expression.
"Leave me alone," Syaoran pressed, "I cannot trust you anymore. I cannot trust anyone." He glared hard at the startled boy. "Everybody are liars... Kira..." His voice trailed off as he looked away.
"Syaoran, what are you talking about?"
Syaoran shot another dangerous glare at the boy. "I will not tell you anything. I said I don't trust you and I want you to get the hell away from me!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and then collapsed into an unconscious state again.
"Syaoran, dear cousin." Eriol said, tears rimming at the corner of his eyes. "I'll always be there for you... just to let you know."
-
"So, these poems were really about Syaoran... We used to be close but something happened to him," said Eriol.
"He just became cold on that day?" Sakura asked, paying full attention on him.
Eriol glowered. "That's not it!" he shouted, making Sakura's eyes go wide in surprise at his raised volume. "I'm so sorry Sakura... Just retelling the past is so painful. I think Syaoran is cruel and heartless because his father died in some freak accident," explained Eriol, eyes shifting away from Sakura and to the door.
The door whipped open and an infuriated prince was standing by the doorway with crossed arms. "Eriol, I've waited fifteen minutes for you to come to today's lessons but you see... you weren't there!"
"I'm sorry... I got lost in time." Eriol replied quite nervously.
Syaoran interrupted him, "I was actually ready to learn but I guess you were so preoccupied with this, this lowly servant that you never even bother to come."
"Please..."
"What is she? Huh? Your mistress? Your sex slave?" Syaoran snapped coolly.
'How dare he!' Sakura flushed angrily but kept her gaze down.
"No, I was reading my book before she came in here, only to talk! Don't ever talk about her that way!..."
"... You dare waste my time?" Syaoran hissed. He stormed right over to Eriol, snatching the book from the table and started tearing at the pages, ignoring Eriol's pleading cries. "I can't see why scribbles on these worn-off pages could mean so much to you." Syaoran whispered dryly, still ripping up the pages.
"Stop, please Syaoran!" Eriol cried.
"I told you to call me by Master Li!" He paused, looking at Eriol's scrunched up facial expression. "Oh what? Are you going to cry now? A little boy crying," Syaoran mocked and laughed cruelly, "Men don't cry, you're setting a bad example of yourself. Ha!"
Usually, Eriol was used to his bullying but not today... Not when he's tearing up his beloved poems. Pulling himself together, Eriol turned red with rage; he will not deal with this. "Give it back!" Eriol yelled, running up to Syaoran and pushing him out of the way so that he could grab his already torn book.
"Syaoran, you will never be a good king... you are unlike all of us... you have no emotions." Eriol said, clutching his book close to his chest.
Taken aback by the remark, Syaoran glared furiously at the boy and started marching towards him. "Oh, is that so? Would you like to have painful emotions?" With that last question, Syaoran tried to push Eriol to the ground but Sakura stopped him.
"Get out of here servant," Syaoran said with dripping toxin.
"Not if hurt Eriol." Sakura shot at him, tears falling freely from her tragic eyes, quickly skidding down her flushed cheeks.
Seeing her like this, he felt his heart quickly ripping apart but as quickly as it came, it left, replacing it with rage.
He will not deal with a disobedient servant. He grabbed Sakura's wrist tightly and had his other hand raised to the air. The girl gasped, squirming away from him but did so without success. He was about to strike, but a hand caught his wrist.
"What are you doing Eriol?" Syaoran hissed to him.
"What do you think?" Eriol shot a question back to him rather an answer. Syaoran released the girl, his anger now focused on Eriol. Sakura quickly dashed from the room.
"A servant who disobeys has to undergo a punishment and that is beating." Syaoran confirmed, "But I was only going to slap her." His eyes followed her disappearing form with a frown.
"She was only stopping you from attacking your cousin!" Eriol cried, trying to hold back the violent arms of Syaoran.
Syaoran, now fully enraged, thrust his hand, breaking loose with Eriol's grip. "Why is everyone disobeying me?" he shouted bitterly, "Especially you Eriol, who never disobeyed before." He pushed Eriol, making the boy stumbled backwards.
"Whoa, whoa!" he tripped over the book; he previously dropped it to the floor from when he was stopping Syaoran from slapping Sakura, and tumbled out the open window, its blue curtains fiercely swirling from the impact of the wind.
Syaoran stood there, shocked clearly all over his expression. He put a foot forward and paused. His breathing quickened and he ran out of the room.
tbc...
