Author's Note: Well, I'm back with another chapter to this story. Btw, did I mention that this was my first fanfic? Anywayz, as always, please...please...please...review. It encourages me to write more. That's enough from me...read and enjoy.
Previous Chapter:
"That's my escort. It was nice meeting you, Li Syaoran," Sakura said and ran off into the forest.
Syaoran stared after her. Kinomoto Sakura. He knew who she was but she was different to what he expected, that was for sure.
"Same here, Kinomoto Sakura."
Chapter Three
"Well, it's about time you got here. I was starting to worry." Syaoran looked up from the ground to see the last person he expected to see. He froze and fell down, anime style. He got back up again and stormed over to his cousin.
"Eriol! What are you doing here! You're meant to be at the palace!" he yelled, waking up practically every forest animal. Eriol stared up at him, a playful grin on his face. He was sitting on a log, starting a fire.
"So were you," he replied, his gaze returning once again to his newly made fire. Syaoran shook his head and sat on the ground.
His hands were hovering above the fire, trying to make them warm. He knew he could never win against him so he decided to keep his mouth shut. Even when they were younger, Eriol would always win their arguments.
"One thing, how did you manage to get here before me?" Li asked.
"Magic my dear cousin. Magic," Eriol replied. Syaoran lay his sword and bow and quiver on the hard ground beside him and focused his gaze once again on the fire. He didn't want to look at Eriol. His playful grin made him uneasy.
"You met her, didn't you?" Eriol asked, breaking the awkward silence between the two. This caught Syaoran's attention. He stared up at him with a confused look on his features.
"Saw who?" he asked. He all ready knew who he was referring to but wanted to make sure they were talking about the same person.
"The girl, Kinomoto," Eriol replied. He moved his eyes so he could see Syaoran's reaction. He stared back down at the fire, not meeting Eriol's gaze.
"Yeah."
"Different to what you thought, eh?" Even though he knew the answer, he wanted to hear directly from the source.
"Yeah," was all Syaoran could say. What could he say? He expected some ugly, spoiled little rich brat. Instead, he was greeted with a beautiful, considerate and gentle soul. He never would've thought that his kingdom would be at war against another, especially if their princess
was like that.
"You shouldn't play with fire Syaoran, otherwise you will get burnt." Syaoran stared at Eriol. He had heard that saying before but couldn't understand why he would be saying it to him.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You know what I mean. Don't get too involved with this girl. Otherwise, both kingdoms will pay for it dearly," he said.
Syaoran was sure he was trying to warn him then the context of what he had just said finally sunk in.
"Get involved! You know me Eriol, I would never," he replied. His face was starting to burn and he knew he was blushing but he didn't care. How dare he say something like that, he thought.
"You're blushing Syaoran," Eriol said. Syaoran held back a breath and gave his cousin a death stare.
"I'm not! Stop lying Eriol," he said, trying to tell his hormones to calm down, 'besides, I'm sure that was the last time I'll ever get to see her anyway."
"Maybe, but I wouldn't count on that," Eriol mumbled.
"What?" Syaoran asked.
"Ahem, nothing. I was just saying how late it is. We have to get some sleep if we want to leave early," Eriol replied, waving a hand at his cousin's sutpidness. (A/N is that a word? P)
"What do you mean 'we'? As soon as it's daybreak, you're going back to the palace."
"I can't. If I go back, then they'll be asking where you are," Eriol replied, a smirk forming on his face as he lay his head on the ground to sleep.
"I hate you," Syaoran mumbled as he too lay on the ground. He used his quiver as a pillow.
"I know you do," he heard Eriol say before falling into deep sleep.
"Ah, there you are Princess," a tall man said. He had curly blonde hair and warm blue eyes. He towered over her so she had to bend her neck to look at him.
"Yep, I'm back. I just went to wash up," she replied, smiling up at him.
"Come, you must get some rest. We'll be leaving first thing in the morning," he said, ushering her towards a small one person tent. She didn't like being treated differently to other people so she decided to sleep in a normal tent.
"Thank you Yzac (yes, I know it's the spelling of the same character in Gundam but it's not, I just wanted to clear that up, okay, no more A/N)," she said before entering.
She sighed and lay on her blankets. It wasn't totally freezing in her tent so she saw no use for the blankets. She sat up, thinking about how her father would react to her being there. She knew that he sent the letter but she didn't know if there was going to be a battle at Jinka. Jinka was a neutral nation and didn't want anything to do with the war. Her father only used this site as a base. He didn't ask any of its citizens to be involved which made them happy. Besides, he wasn't situated right in the middle of the area. So if there was an attack, none of the people would be injured.
"Wonder why he wanted me to come out," she thought then shrugged. She was starting to feel tired and yawning madly.
She knew it was time for her to sleep. If she had any questions, she would get them answered
at the base. She said her goodnights to her parents, even though they were both on different parts of Tao, and instantly fell asleep.
"Princess Sakura, wake up, we have to leave now," a smooth voice said. Sakura opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light.
"Huh?"
"We're leaving now," the voice repeated. When everything came into focus, she saw welcoming blue eyes staring at her.
"Good morning Yzac. I'll be out soon," she said, sitting up. Yzac nodded and walked out of her tent. Sakura stretched, waking up her muscles. She rubbed her eyes before getting up to get changed into her pink kimono and pants. She stepped out into the bright morning sun, even though some of it was still hidden under the horizon.
"Yzac, I'm going for a walk. I'll be back soon," she yelled. Yzac looked at her from her tent and nodded.
"Be careful and make sure you come back before we leave." Sakura smiled and turned her back to him.
She was in such a good mood that morning that she practically ran for the stream. It looked so welcoming, even better than before. She kneeled at the water's edge and dipped her hand into the crystal clear blue water. She sighed in contentment at the feel of the liquid between her fingers. She cupped her hands to scoop up some of the water. She splashed it across her face and shook her head, getting rid of any water droplets. She loved the feel of the water on her aching skin. She was not used to waking this early so her muscles were still hurting.
"One more day and I'll be in Jinka," she mumbled.
She couldn't wait to see her father. It had been two years since she last saw him, even though he had sent many letters before. Each of them saying he was fine. Every so often, she didn't believe them and wanted to see first hand if he really was lying. She never expected it to actually happen.
"All those nights wishing and it comes true now," she said to herself. She also worried about her mother's safety. She was left alone to run an entire kingdom. Not only that but it was a kingdom at war with another. She had a feeling that the Li Kingdom would attack her any time soon then had a thought.
What was the Prince doing out here, she thought. Maybe he was sent here to spy on her.
"Nah, that's stupid," she said aloud. Wasn't it, she thought. She was so deep in thought, she didn't hear Yzac calling to her. She snapped out of it when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She froze then, wondering if it was the prince.
"I was calling you Princess. You must pay attention." She recognized that voice and relaxed instantly.
"I'm sorry Yzac. I didn't hear you," she replied, smiling weakly at him. He nodded and led her back to the camp.
"Hey, Syaoran. Wake up. We have to get going," Eriol said, poking his cousin in the ribs. Syaoran always woke up earlier than others but for some reason, he felt more tired than usual.
"What?"
"We're leaving. Let's go." Syaoran stood up suddenly.
"And who said you could come?" he yelled.
"I said." Syaoran sighed and blew a strand of hair from his eyes. His hair was more disheveled now than it ever was, if that was possible, but he didn't bother to comb it. There was no time.
"Fine, let's go," he said, placing his bow and quiver over his shoulder and the sword in its sheath. "Any strange dreams last night?" Eriol asked once they had started to walk.
Syaoran stared at him.
"Strange dreams? What are you talking about Eriol?"
"Well, while you were sleeping, you were mumbling something. I think it was Kinomoto or something like that." Syaoran froze. Oh, crap. He heard me? This isn't good, he thought. It was true, he was dreaming about Sakura but he knew Eriol would think something was up. He didn't want his annoying cousin breathing down his neck about it.
"No I wasn't. You were just hearing things," he replied. Eriol nodded.
"Yeah, probably," he said, even though he knew otherwise.
A/N: As stated above, please read and review. I like to recieve them. I'll try to get Sakura and Syaoran to meet again in the next chappie...this one was longer than the others but some of you wanted it longer so there you go...again, if it's too short, tell me...till next time.