AN: Hello everyone! I know it's been a while again before I updated this chapter but the good news is I got it done-) I sort of got carried away in this one and when I noticed it's length I had to end it lol. So it ended up being slightly longer than it was supposed to, I hope you don't mind! Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed my story so far and I hope you will enjoy the new chapter!
(thank you evil neko for pointing out my error there with the hilt/sheath part :)
Warning: for violence at the end of the chapter!
Disclaimer: Check the first chapter -)
Chapter 3: Engaged!
"Xiao Lang!" his mother's voice rang out through the entire house, as the first rays of sunlight just peeked over the mountains on the far side of the village.
Yelan had already sent Wei up to her son's room, to make sure he got his ass out of bed and ready for his departure.
The elderly man opened the curtains, allowing some much needed light into the room, as he, otherwise, wouldn't be unable to start packing the bags for his young master.
Syaoran groaned when the rays of sunlight hit his face. Instead of waking up however, he turned away from them, and pulled the blankets over his head, effectively banishing all the evil sunrays from reaching his face.
"Syaoran-sama, time to get up" Wei called out, gently shaking Syaoran, hoping to wake him up gently before the Mistress would come up stairs and do it herself.
"Not yet…" was all he mumbled, before snuggling further into the covers. When the shaking wouldn't let up, he tried swatting it away like he would do to a fly. But not even that seemed to have the desired effect.
Wei cocked an eyebrow at the sleeping boy, who currently refused to get up. "Your bags are packed and you will miss the boat if you don't hurry up Syaoran-sama" Wei said gently. If the young master missed his ship, he wouldn't hear the end of it. His mother wouldn't forgive him. So he decided to try again.
"Syaoran-sama, wake up, you know how your mother gets when she has to wait for you. You do remember a certain Mr. Leon don't you?" he asked starting to sound more urgent. "Do you want one of your sisters to get forced into a marriage with his son?" okay, if waking him up normally wasn't going to help this morning, than he had to resort to more desperate measures.
Wei could understand why the young master was so tired, and had a rough time waking up this morning. After all, his usual night time stroll had taking much longer than they usually did, and after that, he had the talk with his mother. Wei knew the young master well enough, (being the one who practically raised him after his father died), to know that he had been up most of the former night, pondering about the things his mother had told him. It must have been quite a shock for him, even though he managed to keep his cool. Wei couldn't blame him. Thankfully enough, his efforts weren't in vain, as the young master seemed to have heard his last words quite clearly.
"No way in hell is he going to get any of my sisters!" he grumbled determined. He shot up straight in bed, and was glaring heatedly at Wei. "I'll go see what he wants" Syaoran ground out. And with that said, Wei left the young master's room, in order for him to prepare for the journey ahead.
By the time he got downstairs, his bags were already being loaded into the carriage, and his mother and 4 sisters were waiting for him there as well. Syaoran heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, before he walked out the door determinedly.
"I'm sorry mother" he apologised, "I hope you are not too disappointed with me" he said and bowed his head.
Yelan on the other hand hid a small but proud smile behind her fan. "Just hurry up Xiao Lang, you don't want to miss the boat now do you?" she asked him raising a delicate eyebrow at him.
Syaoran bowed to his mother once more "well then, I'll be on my way…" he said softly and made his way towards the carriage.
"Xiao Lang" his mother called out.
"Yes mother?" he asked and turned around.
His mother had closed the distance between them and had currently wrapped her arms around her son in a loving embrace. "Be careful alright?" she said in a bare whisper.
Syaoran, caught off guard, didn't return the hug at first and let his arms hang loosely besides his body, but he quickly caught himself and returned the hug. "I will mother, you know me" he told her reassuringly.
It wasn't often that his mother showed such affection. Especially not ever since his father died. These were rare, but very precious moments to Syaoran, and he cherished each and every one of them.
When his mother broke the embrace, he was a bit disappointed because it meant that it was now really time to go, but he didn't show it. Instead he gave her another reassuring little smile, said goodbye to each of his sisters personally (some of which couldn't resist repeating their mother and hugged him tightly, while the other two burst into tears) and got into the carriage, which drove off the moment the door was closed.
The journey lasted several hours, and if it wasn't for Syaoran's demand for a short break at a local tavern, they would have been at the docks an hour earlier. And even so, the boat wouldn't leave for another 2 hours.
Syaoran was walking around the docks a bit, in order to kill some time. He was so bored! He had already been waiting for two hours and his boat was late. They had told him that it could take another hour at the very least before it would be there. So in the meantime Syaoran went off on his own, checking out the other boats in the harbour.
He stopped at a certain point to check out a small boat that was currently docking. The men waiting at the docks to secure the ropes, weren't the only people waiting. There was another man, dressed in rather strange clothes.
Unlike most people in China, he wasn't wearing colourful clothes at all. He was wearing brown clothes. All different colours of brown, but still it looked more like he had been working out on a field, taking care of his harvest. Now, Syaoran was sure that the man was no farmer what so ever, in fact his clothes looked much too refined to belong to a simple farmer. He was dressed to blend in, and yet in Syaoran's opinion, he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Syaoran shrugged and watched the man with interest. The man waited, not very patiently, until the boat was secured, and another man stepped off the boat. That man looked like he was someone important, or at least that's what Syaoran assumed. His entire posture was one of being recognised by other people, so obviously wherever he came from, he was a man of high stature, a dandy or a premier.
The second man, the dandy, walked off the boat and approached the other man, who was still waiting impatiently. Without even the slightest sign of a greeting, both men walked off together, towards a more quiet place. Syaoran, with nothing better to do, decided to see where they were going. After all, staying behind with nothing to do would leave him bored and this way, he might even end up discovering a part of the docks he hadn't seen yet.
With his hands in his pockets he observed the two men, as they walked towards a more secluded area. The dandy, as Syaoran had dubbed the one who came from the boat only moments before, handed something to the other guy, now identified as the ruffian.
Suspiciously enough it looked a lot like the letters his mother would get from time to time, only the important ones of course. This letter seemed to have some sort of seal on it. He wasn't too sure about that since he wasn't close enough to get a good look at it. Syaoran could hear murmurs and the occasional word here and there, but nothing more.
It was nothing really disturbing, and frankly even if they had been dealing drugs or something right in front of his nose, he wouldn't have said anything about it either, but his curiosity got the best of him. He moved a bit closer, determined to hear at least parts of the conversation, and hid himself behind one of the bushes.
"….is going as planned?" "Damn" thought Syaoran "I caught them in the middle of something… wonder what's going on. But with a bit of luck I'll know more soon" he smirked as he crouched down a bit lower, just to make sure they wouldn't see him. Then something hit him. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but why were they conversing in Japanese?
Good thing his mother had forced him to learn that language together with Chinese when he was younger. She always did say he would thank her for it one day… He had hated her for it back then, complaining that other kids didn't had to learn another language, but she didn't care and made him study twice as much. How was he supposed to know it would actually come in handy one day? "Thanks mom" he thought grateful before turning his attention back to the conversation at hand. His Japanese was a bit rusty but that wouldn't stop him…
"Yes" was the very short reply of the ruffian.
What they were talking about? Syaoran still didn't know, so he strained to hear more. The more Japanese he heard, the easier it was for him to translate the Japanese to Chinese.
"But you haven't found her yet?" the dandy inquired.
"No, but that won't take long, I'm sure of it" replied the ruffian sounding very bored.
Syaoran wondered slightly who the poor girl, or woman, was. He was sure that if he would have been a girl, he would've ran away from those creeps too. Poor thing had probably gone into hiding. Who knew? Maybe they had tried to marry her off to some bastard, or worse, maybe she had escaped some brothel! Syaoran shook his head trying to rid himself of the imagines flashing through his mind when he heard something else.
"…. Assassinated?" the dandy asked.
"Yes" That man, the ruffian, seemed to be someone who didn't waste any words at all. It was frustrating for Syaoran since this way he would never find out what the hell they were talking about. Now that they had started to say something about assassination, whether or not it had already happened Syaoran didn't know, he was determined to figure out more before he had to go back to the docking place to get on his boat.
"But it was cancelled, am I correct?" the ruffian only nodded, confirming the dandy's question. "That put aside, I think you will like the contents of this envelope" he said as he pointed at the letter, which he had been holding onto until moments ago, when he had given it to the ruffian.
"You are free to do whatever you please during the time it takes to get it done. It also doesn't matter how you get it done, as long as you stick to the instructions written in there. Now I don't want to be seen with you, so I'll be taking my leave. Good day sir and good luck." with that said the dandy turned around and walked back towards the place where his boat was still waiting for him. Without another back glance, the man got on the boat and left the harbour, returning to wherever he originally came from.
The other man, the ruffian, tore away the seal and opened the letter. He quickly skimmed over the information in the letter and smirked. After reading it, he crumbled the paper and burned it, effectively making sure that no one besides him would ever find out its contents.
"There must be something very important in that letter for him to burn it right away" Syaoran thought as he watched the man's every move.
When the man walked away from the clearing, Syaoran got a pretty good look at his face and immediately knew why the man hid his face with the hood of his mantle. He had a big scar across his face. Syaoran wasn't sure whether or not the man could see anything with his right eye, since the scar ran right across it. His best guess was that the man didn't even have an eye left to see anything with.
There were more scars visible on his face, but that one was the most peculiar. His mouth was also grazed with several scars and it looked as if he was even missing a piece of lip. Syaoran wondered what sort of life that man must have had, or still have, to end up with such an appearance… Maybe he had fought in a particularly nasty war?
Syaoran had to duck out of sight, when the man suddenly turned and walked into his direction. He held his breath until he was sure the man was long gone and slowly got up from his place in the bush.
Syaoran took a deep breath to release some of the tension that had been building up during the time he had been eavesdropping. He hadn't even realised how tense he had been until he stretched his muscles. Ah yes, that sure felt a whole lot better. Now what was he supposed to do?
With nothing better to do, Syaoran decided to make his way back towards the docks slowly, hoping that the damn boat had arrived by now. He was highly disappointed however, by the time he got there.
"I'm sorry sir, but there is a heavy storm raging. The boat you are waiting for, had to take a different course in order to avoid the storm. It will be at least another 2 days before it arrives." A short man, who looked like he would rather be anywhere right now than reporting to a grumpy Syaoran, informed them.
"And there is no other boat travelling to Japan that I could use in its stead?" Syaoran asked grudgingly. "I have an appointment I'm supposed to keep" he told the man in front of him curtly. He hated it when things like this happened.
The man in front of him gulped and bowed as low as possible. "I'm really sorry sir, but there is nothing we can do for you at the moment."
"Fine" sighed Syaoran exasperated as he watched the man scurry away. Now what?
Waiting around the docks for two days wasn't an option in Syaoran's mind, so he called Wei (who had accompanied him) and informed him that they were going home for a few more days.
Wei nodded and went back towards the carriage to prepare things for their departure.
Syaoran sighed. It was already way past noon and by the time they would be home, it would have already grown dark. "Great I just spend an entire day travelling for nothing!" he thought irritated, but then he remembered the conversation he had over heard earlier.
He was busy trying to figure out what both men had been talking about, when Wei interrupted him to announce they were ready to leave. Syaoran only nodded and followed him back to the carriage where he got in and sat down for the very long and boring ride home. But not without informing Wei that they would be taking another, yet longer, break at the local tavern in the village.
Saku didn't get much sleep the night after she had found out about the gang. Sure she had always known they were there, but since they had a peace treaty she'd never worried about them much. Then again she hardly ever saw them to begin with and if she did, they usually avoided each other like cats did with water.
Now however, Kai had told her to stay at their hideout as much as possible, and she was only to go out if she was told, had company from one of the guys, or if she had no other choice (like when she had to get new underwear…).
It was still very early in the morning and luckily for her, everyone was still asleep. Saku crawled out of her bed and got dressed silently. She decided to wash up somewhere outside in order not to wake anyone up, and left her room.
She knew it was dangerous to go out alone, but what else was she supposed to do? Wait until everyone else woke up? That way she would have to miss out on her morning routine and that wasn't something she could live with. So she sneaked out of the old warehouse and hurried off towards the town's square where she knew a certain fountain.
She ran into a small alley, passed the local tavern where she knew some of the guys loved to hang out from time to time, and rushed off towards the fountain.
Saku looked around anxiously as she remembered Shino's laughing fit about her last adventure with that same fountain. This time at least she knew what she was doing… and it was a whole lot more early than last time she did it, when the square had obviously been bustling with town folks.
"Good there's no one around yet, I guess before dawn really is a bit too early for most people" she thought smiling to herself. Confident that there was no one around to get her arrested this time, she stripped down and stepped into the fountain with the very cold water.
Saku didn't know how wrong she was. A pair of eyes was keeping a close watch on her seemingly annoyed.
The man was hidden from Saku's view. He was hiding behind a building located at Saku's right side in a dark alley. The only thing that you would notice, if you were to look in his direction that is, were his eyes, which glistened at the light.
The man growled in displeasure, knowing he couldn't stick around to enjoy the show of this young, oblivious and innocent girl. She was so incredibly lucky, at least another while. He had to get on with his journey for now and forget about her. For he had an appointment to attend to, which was much more important than his own pleasure at the moment. She would have to wait.
Oblivious to it all, Saku continued her 'bath' in peace, as the stranger turned on his heels and left for his destination.
"Ah this is much better" Saku said to no one in particular and quickly got out of the freezing cold water. She had goose bumps all over her body and her only coherent thought at the moment was to get dressed as soon as possible.
"Thanks" she said to the person who handed her a towel and wrapped it firmly around her body, trying to warm up a little.
"You know, if you would have washed up at home you wouldn't be cold right now" said a very familiar voice.
"Yeah you're right, but I didn't want to wake everyone up so I came out here and …" her voice got stuck in her throat when she realised something. She never brought a towel… and for as far as she knew, the streets had been void of people when she stepped in the fountain, so who the hell was she talking to?
Slowly she turned around; afraid of whom she'd see there. "Oh great, of all the people to find me here, it had to be him…" she thought annoyed as she held the towel securely against her body, making sure it wouldn't fall off.
"Too bad I didn't come here earlier. It seems I missed quite the show" he said smirking at her.
"You again! What are you doing here?" she asked him looking up at him suspiciously.
"You do know that it is very inappropriate for a Lady like yourself, to take a bath in public right?" he asked her completely ignoring what she had asked him only moments ago.
"Don't you start lecturing me again!" she hissed out and graced him with one of her heated glares. God he could be so annoying!
"I am not lecturing anyone milady, on the contrary. My concern for your safety is what brought me here. For there are certain dangers that may come with your peculiar bathing habits." he told her smoothly.
"Mr. Li, it was Li right?" she asked him but didn't wait for his answer as she went on "what's up with that crazy talk of yours and what the hell are you talking 'bout? I'm perfectly fine as you can see, and there's nothing dangerous going on here." she told him rather bluntly.
"Sharp memory" he commented her dryly. "This certainly isn't crazy talk, for we are in public and since my family is of high importance, I can't be seen talking slang nor can I be seen behaving myself in anything but the ways of a sophisticated gentleman." he finished his explanation with mock bow and straightened up again still smirking slightly.
Saku quirked an eyebrow at his behaviour. "You're wrong" she said. "We are not in public. The streets are almost abandoned!" she said waving her hand around them as if to show him what she meant.
"The streets might have been empty when you got here, but they aren't anymore." he replied and observed her facial futures as they seemed to change with every new thought that went through her mind.
"You're lying. There's no one here!" she almost yelled at him. Okay so being almost naked in front of him and his intense gaze, didn't put her on her best behaviour, but who could really blame her?
"You're wrong my dear" he replied smoothly and when he saw she was about to interrupt him he went on. "If the streets really were empty… then where did I come from? And do you really think a man of my status would travel all alone?" he let his words sink in and then said one more thing. "And even though there might not yet be many people outside, don't you think that it might very well be possible, for them to be watching you from inside their respective homes? Not everyone goes outside the moment they wake up you know…"
Saku's mouth would have hit the floor if it had been physically possible. She stood there gaping at him, not knowing what to say. In her mind she was screaming furiously at him, while a mental image of her wringing his neck popped up. But her vocal cords seemed to have gone out of order sometime during his little speech and a nice flush had crept its way up to her face. She opened and closed her mouth several times, doing a nice impression of a fish and that left her feeling very stupid. Why couldn't she think of a great comeback? What was wrong with her voice? So to try and save some of her dignity she huffed and stuck her nose up in the air, away from him.
Then she remembered her first question. "N.. now that you mentioned it yourself" she started, recovering from her embarrassment "what are you doing here Mr. I worry 'bout my image too much?" she asked him lacing her voice with sarcasm at her last 'insult'. "Besides, if you really are such an important person, then why are you wasting your 'precious' time talking to someone like me?"
"Well it sure was nice talking to you milady, but unfortunately I have to be on my way. Remember what I just told you and… Oh yeah be careful… next time around you might not be found by a fine gentleman such as myself" he added with a smirk as he had once more successfully avoided her question.
Saku was silently fuming. Not only did he keep on dodging her questions, but he successfully managed to insult, and embarrass her in public no less!
Syaoran silently watched her fume. It was amusing to say the least. He slightly wondered if that girl knew any shame at all. Who would have thought anyone would try and take a bath in a public fountain? His mind wandered off to what would've happened, had he arrived a few minutes earlier, but quickly caught himself.
Hadn't he just told her he had to leave? And yet here he was, still at the exact same place where he had been the whole time, silently watching her. Before she realised he was still there and would start asking questions again, he forced himself to turn on his heel and left.
Saku snapped out of her contemplating thoughts and suddenly became very aware of the fact that he was leaving. Had she just lost their second verbal battle? "Damn him!" she thought angrily and before she knew what she was doing, it was already too late.
"Hey Li!" she yelled after him. He turned around and eyed her curiously wondering what she wanted this time. Great now what was she going to say? She hadn't even thought off a witty comeback or anything else!
Syaoran was about to turn away once more when she suddenly blurted out "It's Saku, not milady!"
"Oh yeah very smart Saku, I'm sure that left him stumped…He'll be at your feet begging any minute now!" she thought sarcastically.
Syaoran smirked. "Was that all?" he asked her. It would have sounded like a normal question to anyone but Saku. "Gah! He's just mocking me that bastard!" she thought angrily and wanted nothing more, than to perform a certain 3 step program on him, which she had originally invented for use against Shino.
In her mind she went over the steps quickly, envisioning each and every one of them:
Step 1: stretch arms out forward.
Step 2: aim for the neck and
close your hands around the throat.
Step 3: squeeze the life out
of him and make sure you shake the victim with all your might.
She smirked at the mental image of Li being strangled by her personally, but then remembered he was currently leaving. "Aren't you forgetting something? Don't you want this back?" she asked pointing at the towel, which was still securely wrapped around her slim form.
Syaoran turned around and eyed her up and down making Saku rather uncomfortable. "It looks to me" he started, looking mischievously "that you need it more than me right now. You can return it to me later."
"And what if I want to return it now?" she asked him snappily.
"Well you could" he started to say slowly "but I wouldn't advice it." he said.
Saku eyed him suspiciously "and why the hell not?" she asked him now more annoyed with him than ever before.
All he did was look around the square. "I think you're smarter than that" he told her seriously.
Saku knew that was more of an insult than a compliment, and hesitantly she decided to follow his gaze. She tried to stay unfazed by all the attention she was currently getting from several male spectators, but she couldn't hide the slight blush that was gracing her cheeks currently.
Syaoran turned around and walked back towards her. Saku's breath caught in her throat when she saw him advancing on her. "What's he planning to do? Take away the towel and leave me here?" she didn't like where her thoughts were going but they couldn't go any further as they were interrupted by him.
"Are you sure you want to return it to me now?" he whispered so only she could hear.
"Bastard" was all she mumbled under her breath but he heard her anyway.
Saku then remembered something he had said earlier. "Next time around you might not be found by a fine gentleman such as myself." She looked over his shoulder at a few of the males. She knew several others were behind and next to her as well. They weren't close enough to hear what they both had been saying the whole time, at least she hoped they weren't, but they were close enough to get a good glimpse of her in her current situation.
"Me and my stupid ideas!" she thought angrily at herself. How was she going to get herself out of this one? She could try to grab her clothes and make a run for it. But then she'd risk losing the towel. Her other option would be to stay there and hope they left her alone eventually so she could get dressed, but that wasn't a very likely to happen either. So then what?
"Seems to me" a voice said interrupting her silent panic "that someone is in a very difficult situation" Syaoran smirked as he gauged her reaction. It was priceless! He knew he shouldn't be enjoying her predicament this much, but he couldn't help it. He also knew that he should have been back at the carriage some time ago to continue his journey, but he couldn't leave a damsel in distress like that, now could he?
Saku didn't trust that mischievous glint in his eyes at all. Oh how she hated his guts right now! The bastard was enjoying this a bit too much, and it showed. Instead of starting another fight with him however, she kept her mouth shut and decided to ignore his taunts.
"I could help you out of this predicament of yours" he whispered smoothly. He knew she was contemplating her options, he also knew that the last thing she would do was accept his offer. But he knew that at that moment, she was cornered and he was her only means of escape. "Victory" he thought confidently.
"And why the hell would you do a thing like that?" she hissed back, but remembered to keep her voice down so they wouldn't be over heard.
"Don't take me wrong here. Even though I am thoroughly enjoying this, my morals" at this point she scoffed but he ignored her and continued anyways "as I said, my morals don't allow me to leave a dame like yourself, in a possible dangerous situation like this." he finished smoothly once more.
"Humpf! Gentleman my ass!" she thought indignantly. However her more sensible side was actually considering his offer more seriously. She felt like she was about to make a pact with the devil himself. She was probably going to regret this, but what choice did she have?
"Fine!" she hissed. "What do you want in return?" she asked him suspiciously.
"My, my, why would you think that I would ask for anything in return?" he asked her with that same mischievous glint in his eyes. When she was about to sigh in relief he said "but now that you brought it up so generously…"
Saku wanted to bang her head against a wall, sink through the floor, and strangle him to death all at the same time. Choosing between those wasn't easy, so she settled for holding her breath. She probably didn't want to know it anyways …
"Hum… what to ask for?" he wondered out loud. Couldn't he just get this over with and help her out of her misery? Obviously not… he took his sweet time and even though he knew she hated him for that, it didn't stop him.
Saku was getting slightly more nervous and consciously pulled the towel even closer, if that was at all possible. "Hurry up and name something!" she hissed anxiously looking around at all the spectators that had gathered by now.
He smirked "You know what?" he said as she turned her attention on him with growing dread, "I'll think of something and then I'll collect it later." He winked at her and immediately proceeded with his plan to 'rescue' her, that is, as soon as he thought of one.
"What did I get myself into?" she thought with apprehension. God she was screwed…
Syaoran on the other hand was thinking hard. "Next time you get an ingenious idea, make sure you have all the bases covered before you open your big mouth!" he thought to himself. "Lets see… I could always say she lost her mind and escaped the hospital. Nah that wouldn't work. Saying she just wanted my attention wouldn't work either, she'd never go along with that one. Hmm… something believable. This is harder than expected. How about I turn it into something tragic and end it with saying that the poor thing's in shock after she got dumped here naked and well? Not credible enough since there hasn't been anything big going on lately… So then what?" Syaoran was discarding idea after idea when it hit him. "Perfect." he thought proudly.
"No matter what I do next, just play along" he whispered in her ear urgently. Saku nodded reluctantly and watched his every move anxiously awaiting his 'master plan'.
Syaoran walked off a bit then turned to face Saku with a serious face. "Did you actually expect that he would treat you right?" he asked her with a loud voice. "Did I not warn you for him? Did I not tell you to stay away from him?" Syaoran started dramatically.
What was he up to? Saku had no idea but it couldn't be worse than staying in her current situation right? So she bowed her head in shame. It seemed to fit the new 'circumstances'.
"You shouldn't have run away from home with that…that man!" he spat the last two words as if they were venom. "You could have told me you wanted to cancel our engagement!" he yelled starting to sound 'upset'.
Saku's mouth was agape. What the hell did he think he was doing! He was nuts! But before she could start shouting at him, he had closed their distance, and before she knew what he was doing, he had her in a passionate embrace and was gazing deeply into her shocked eyes.
The crowd stared at the scene before them in awe. More and more people started to gather at the town's square in order to watch the entire scene with their own eyes. It wasn't often that things like these happened, especially not with an important person like the Li heir.
"Look where this got you!" Syaoran continued his dramatics. "He used you and finally dumped your naked unconscious form here, in the middle of the square where everyone could have seen you!" he said outraged. "You should be grateful that it was I who found you here, and not some stranger!" To express his concern he hugged her tightly and looked up at the sky for a moment as if it had all the answers.
Saku was having a battle of wills in the meantime. "Let's kick him where it hurts most! He's hugging you without permission for crying out loud!" "No he's our only ticket out of here, and besides, I already gave him my word!" Her thoughts turned more violent by the second and she tried her best to ignore them when they started about stringing him up by his balls as soon as they were out of this nasty situation.
In the meantime, Syaoran simply continued his performance, totally oblivious to the very painful thoughts that were currently plaguing Saku's mind. He was currently sitting on his knees, with his right cheek against her abdomen, his eyes closed, and his arms wrapped around her hips. "Don't hate me for who I am" he continued tragically.
Saku had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at him and instead settled for keeping her face hidden from view. He was so embarrassing!
"You don't know how worried I have been. Endless nights I was awake, skimming through the lands, worrying for your safety. Not even a note was left! All that I had were the bittersweet memories of our last meeting. I know I might not be what you are looking for, but here I am, down on my knees and at your mercy. Ever since I met you, I lost my heart to you…" he held a dramatic pause and the crowed looked on in anticipation, taking in everything he said eagerly.
Their hearts went out to the poor young man. That girl didn't know what she had! She should be ashamed of herself. How could she do those things, to such an obviously kind hearted man? All the murmurs died down when Syaoran continued.
"You hold my very being in the palm of your hand. Do with it what you like, but please come home with me so that your parents can stop their worrying. If it is your wish to cancel our engagement, just say the word and it shall be done…" he ended the last part silently as if it pained him to say such things.
Saku wasn't sure what to say to all the nonsense he had just been sprouting, but figured she might as well please the crowd. "Don't …" she whispered and put her hands tenderly on his shoulders.
"Great" she thought silently "I just lost my mind. There's no other explanation for this, he drove me insane. Oh well the sooner I get this over with, the faster I'm out of here." She thought and looked down at the idiot who was still kneeling in front of her.
"Don't what?" he asked her, his voice filled with emotion.
"Don't … don't break the engagement…I've learned my lesson. Never again will I do a thing like this. I was being foolish, I ran because I was scared…" she admitted quietly. "I've been betrothed to you since my birth… I didn't even know you! So when the wedding came closer, I got scared and ran… I thought you would be cold hearted, incapable of loving me, and that I would end up like many of those women after they get married… like a forgotten plant in a dusty room…" she fell silent and Syaoran took that as his cue.
He got up and as he did that, he swept her off her feet into his arms. Saku clamped her arms around his neck tightly, silently swearing that if he'd drop her, she'd kill him. "Do not worry that pretty little head of yours any longer. I could never treat you that way." He said silently.
"Then please, take me home. I want to see my parents. I've missed them for 6 months." She said dramatically and rested her head against his chest.
"As you wish" and with that he walked over towards the fountain, put her down on the edge and then proceeded to climb up next to her.
"Ladies and gentlemen! I hope you enjoyed this spectacle and thank you very much for watching. Everything you have seen here today was part of a play. This play is a surprise for my mother's oncoming birthday, and me and my partner here, needed some practice with an actual audience. We want to thank you for your support and good day! Oh yeah, I would really appreciate it if you could keep it a secret from my mother." he added as an after thought. That was the last thing he wanted. His mother didn't need to know any of this… With that said, he grabbed Saku by her arm, bowed to their 'audience', grabbed her clothes and left straight for the tavern where his carriage was waiting for him.
"Hurry up, get in there and get dressed." He told her curtly. "Come on now, I don't have much time. I'm already late thanks to you."
He had obviously gone back to his usual self. "… Thanks" she said before he shoved her inside the carriage and closed the door.
Syaoran stood there waiting for her to get dressed, with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently; when she asked "Couldn't you come up with anything better than a play? Not to mention one with such a lousy theme as this? And that for your mother's birthday?"
"Hey" he said defensively "I didn't hear you come up with anything better" he mocked.
"Because you said that you could actually help me" she told him sarcastically.
"Well I did get you out of that little predicament of yours now didn't I?" he smirked. It sure felt great being right.
Saku didn't say anything else about that but did ask another question. "Where did you learn to act that way? If I didn't know you're actually an arrogant jerk with an ego bigger than I've ever seen, I might have actually believed that crap".
Syaoran smirked, so she thought he was a great actor eh? "At least all those stupid acting lessons she made me take, to learn how I was to behave myself in public had some use after all" he thought remembering how much he had hated those hours he had to spent with Leon, a man he suspected of being actually gay.
Every time he would say something, his hand would make these strange movements, not to mention the way he spoke sounded odd to say the least. Syaoran always made sure he stayed as far away from that man as possible. So to keep him happy, and at a safe distance, he would always try to act exactly as Leon would. The more he exaggerated his movements, the happier Leon seemed to be, and the sooner the lessons were over. "At least I didn't endure all those hours of torture for nothing" he thought silently.
"Well?" inquired the now fully dressed girl, as she waved a hand in front of his face, wondering if that act of his had driven him mad.
"Let's just say…" he started but was interrupted by Wei.
"Syaoran-sama, where have you been? I was about to send someone out looking for you!" he exclaimed, the worry was written all over his face.
Saku gasped. She knew that voice! "Oh god what's he doing here!" she thought and started to panic. "As long as he doesn't recognise me I should be fine…" she tried to reassure herself but that wasn't working very well. She stepped back a bit, making sure to keep Syaoran between herself and the elderly man's view.
"Whom is it that you were talking to, Syaoran-sama? I hope you do realize that if we are to stay here any longer, you will miss your boat. Your mother would be very disappointed with such news, not to mention anything about your uncle. He is an important man and important people shouldn't be kept waiting." he scolded Syaoran in an elderly tone.
Syaoran hung his head slightly and mumbled "I know that Wei-san… it's just that… you see I … err well" he tried to explain what had happened but no words he thought of, could describe it.
Saku who thought it was highly amusing, had walked over to the horses and was petting them lovingly, when she heard the man continue.
"And who is this young Lady, if I might ask Syaoran-sama?" he inquired. This whole time he had been solely focused on Syaoran, scolding him for his current behaviour, and had completely forgotten about the fact that he had found his young master talking to someone.
Saku held her breath wondering if Syaoran was going to say something.
"Oh right, this" he pointed over his shoulder at Saku with his thumb "is a girl I met some days ago." he told Wei nonchalantly.
Wei looked up curiously and when he saw her face, he gasped in recognition. "Milady…" but before he could continue whatever he was going to say, he noticed her waving her arms at him fiercely, trying to tell him not to say anything further. He quirked an eyebrow but respected her wish.
Syaoran, who was watching Wei's expression the whole time, turned around when he saw Wei's surprised expression. It was almost as if he saw recognition flicker in his eyes for a second but he wasn't sure… So instead he turned around and saw Saku making strange moves with her arms, but the moment he turned around she started to wave frantically and said "Hello Mr." as she smiled like an idiot. Sometimes he really wondered about her sanity…
Wei chuckled at her furious attempts to cover up her intentions and smiled at Syaoran when he turned back around and shrugged. "Miss, what business do you have with Syaoran-sama?" he inquired.
Saku was glad he had understood her hint and was grateful that he played along. She assumed that next time she saw him, she had a whole lot of explaining to do, but she didn't mind that.
"I was simply admiring the horse's sir, and when I noticed Mr. Li, err I mean Li-sama, I asked him what their names were. However he spaced out before I ever got the answer." she smiled innocently at the elderly man who smiled back.
"I see" he said in an understanding voice. "Were you going anywhere in particular milady? I am sure ladies like yourself don't get up this early unless they have an important place to be?"
"Well err…" she thought hard. She couldn't tell him the real reason she was up because he knew that one a bit too well. So she had to think of something else. "Actually yes I am. You know that castle in the forest? I have some business to attend to in the area, so that's where I'm currently headed." she was proud of her own fast thinking. Yup that would have to do for now. Obviously her usual morning routine wasn't going to happen today.
"Syaoran-sama, why don't we give the lady a ride since we are going in the same general direction?" Wei asked his young master. "That way you can continue whatever conversation you had and still arrive on time at the docks."
Saku was waving her arms again frantically but the man ignored her. Syaoran however had a shocked look on his face and was about to protest when Wei made another comment. "You don't want anything to happen to a young girl like her do you?" he glanced over at Saku and corrected himself. "Excuse me, I mean to a young lady of course. We all know how dangerous it can be at this time in the forest." he finished with a gentle smile.
"Leave it up to Wei to make things difficult for me… Great the way he puts it I can't even decline. If he would report that back to my mother I'm done for…" grumbling several profanities under his breath he inclined his head and silently opened the door to the carriage. He held out his hand to Saku in order to help her get into the carriage. "Milady, if you would allow me" he said with forced politeness, and bowed.
Saku backed away but was friendly shoved towards Syaoran, courtesy of Wei. "Young ladies such as yourself should never decline generous offers as these. After all we are talking about your safety young Miss. Now please hurry up, the master is already late." he told her leaving no room for her to get out of it.
"Great and here I thought I could finally get away from him" Saku grumbled silently as she accepted Syaoran's outstretched hand, before Wei would start lecturing her about her manners once more.
"It's probably his way of punishing me for being late" thought Syaoran annoyed, not knowing that Saku was thinking along the same lines.
"He is probably just punishing me for getting Li late, and for making him lie to Li …" she thought but managed to force a "thank you" out towards Syaoran anyways.
The ride was silent and Saku was glad when they finally arrived at her destination several minutes later. It felt more like hours to her though; all the meaningful looks Wei was giving her, were making her uncomfortable. Not to mention, Syaoran's grumpy face wasn't something she enjoyed watching the entire time; that is she didn't enjoy it if she wasn't the cause of it. It was more fun if she was responsible.
Syaoran had played the gentleman once more and helped her out of the carriage. He then got back in after she had bowed down politely and thanked them for going through the trouble of taking her along with them.
Wei smiled at her and wished her good luck. Syaoran simply grunted something incoherently but she chose to ignore that. "Finally, alone at last" she thought gratefully when the carriage disappeared out of sight.
Saku looked around making sure no one saw her, and disappeared behind some bushes, into a tree and climbed over the castle walls. Once inside, she made sure there were no guards around to see her, and proceeded towards her destination.
The castle garden was huge to say the least. It was decorated with many Cherry blossoms; a small creek circled its way around the back of the castle. Little bridges were build here and there in order to cross the creek and venture further into the beautiful gardens. It was very peaceful and it was one of Saku's favourite hiding places. At least it was normally, today something was off. She wasn't sure what it was, but something gave her an eerie feeling.
Saku continued with more caution than she would normally. She followed the flow of the creek, ventured off towards the lake and proceeded towards the waterfall at the back of the garden. Behind that waterfall was a small cave, just big enough for Saku to stash her newly acquired items in.
She took out an old brown bag. It was the first bag she had ever used, in her very first mission. She took out the sword that she had snagged back then and took it out of its sheath. It shone as brightly as it had done on the day she had acquired it. She smiled. She wasn't sure why she had kept it all these years.
She guessed she had just gotten attached to it. After al it had been her very first time, and somehow when they had tried to sell it, she had felt so guilty about it that she had done everything to keep it. For some reason her conscience wouldn't forgive her if she'd let the guys get rid of it. When she told them she wanted to keep it, they had said something about women and their crazy sentiments and now that she thought back, she couldn't blame them. They had been absolutely right.
Ever since then it had been hidden here.
After a few more minutes Saku decided to return home before the guys would notice she had gone out by herself. She descended the slippery rocks faster than she usually did and stepped on a lose rock. It crumbled under her weight and she tumbled towards the floor, hitting her head repeatedly against the rocks. When she reached the floor she turned around and looked up to where she had been standing only moments ago.
"That's odd… I can't remember any rocks being lose" and with those thoughts she lost focus and everything went black.
The day came and went unnoticed to Saku, who had been unconscious almost an entire day. When she woke up, the sun was disappearing behind the mountains again, and it was starting to get cold. To her big surprise she noticed she was in the castle gardens and her first thought was, of what Kai would do to her once he got his hands on her. She must have been gone the entire day. She wasn't sure what she had been doing here, but she did know that she had wanted to be back home before any of the guys noticed her absence.
"Sure, worry them even more and they'll strap you to your bed without ever letting you go again! Or of course they could steal a pair of handcuffs and cuff me to Shino…" she shuddered at that thought. She definitely didn't want that to happen. So without wasting another minute, she rushed back towards the palace walls.
She was still sort of dizzy and the splitting headache wasn't helping her either. In her hurry she tripped over something that she was sure, hadn't been there before and turned around to glare at whatever it was.
Saku gasped when she stared into the lifeless eyes of one of the guards. There was blood everywhere, and to her horror, she had fallen right into it.
The guards head was severed from his body. His body itself was severely damaged as well. Never in her entire life had she seen something so horrifying.
She noticed her foot was still stuck and screamed. Saku was sure that her foot had been stuck in the body's intestines and a wave of nausea hit her. Trying very hard not to hurl she ran away as fast as she could, completely forgetting about her headache and her former dizziness. The only thoughts she had were of getting away from there as fast as possible.
Saku had hoped he was the only one, but luck seemed to be against her as she encountered many more. One had a horribly mangled body, another missed several body parts, while others seemed to have been trying to hold their intestines together before they had actually died.
The castle walls came in sight and Saku started to run even faster. She pushed herself harder and harder, and within no time she had reached them. She climbed up another tree, over the walls and let herself fall onto the floor at the other side of the walls where she hurled.
"This must be my lucky day"
AN: I hope you didn't get turned off by the end of the chapter with the bloody mess and all, but don't worry! It was sort of neccesary for the story. It should be explained soon enough. I do hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you very much for reading and leave me a review -) (after all many reviews makes me a happy author and encourages me to update faster and try harder ;)
Also please check out my other stories if you haven't done so yet -) I'd love more reviews there :P