A/N: I have to apologize for not updating...again. Honestly, things have been so hectic I haven't had the time to write. Please forgive!!
Disclaimer: Don't own CCS.
The Veiled Piano Mistress
By: Lotus Dreams
Chapter 7: Strange and Scary Things
As Syaoran sat down stiffly in his chair, looking considerably pleased, Queen Yelan couldn't help but ask, "Syaoran, what did you do with all the servants and maids today? I called for some of them and they all said that you requested them for an emergency. I'm sure you can explain better than that."
"Oh, nothing," said Syaoran loftily, "I just did a little test on them, that's all."
"TEST?! What kind of test?!"
"Something unimportant." Unimportant to you, he thought, but important to me.
"Well, are you still going to test them?"
"Hai."
"NANI?! Young man, I think you have better things to do than TEST maids and servants of this palace! Enough of this! I can't have NO maids to help me just because you need to test them!"
"Don't worry, okaa-san. I'm only testing 19 of them."
"17?"
"Hai. You can have the rest."
"That's better."
Not for Sakura.
Sakura sat brooding by the window. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, and worry furrowed her brow.
What am I going to do? she thought. He's going to find out in no time!
"What's up with you?" said a voice. Sakura turned around sleepily.
Syaoran's tall frame was right behind her. He had somehow crept soundlessly across the floor, otherwise she would have heard him.
"Your--Your--Your--" she yawned hugely, "--Highness." She stood up briefly and curtsied. Syaoran waved it away.
"Never mind that. What are you doing here?"
"Nothing in particular." She wasn't really paying attention to who she was talking to. Neither did Syaoran.
"I want to play piano." The words were out of her mouth before she could think. She had whispered them, to herself mostly, but Syaoran heard anyway.
"Nani?"
"I want to play chess." Sakura thought of the first thing that came to mind.
Syaoran's heart sank, but he didn't show it. "Oh. Well, then, let's play chess. I don't have anything better to do anyway."
Sakura was surprised. "What?"
"You want to play chess, don't you?"
"Um...hai?"
"Okay then." He clapped his hands. "Wei! Bring me a board and some chess pieces!"
In less than a minute, Syaoran was calmly setting up the board, and Sakura was sitting at the other side of a small table, not believing that Syaoran was willing to spend time with a MAID.
"You're first."
"N-Nani?"
"You're white. You go first."
"Oh." She moved a pawn around the middle forwards.
He moved one to block her.
She moved a bishop diagonally.
He moved another pawn.
She moved her queen.
He moved a knight.
She moved her queen...and checkmated him.
"Checkmate." (A/N: Just in case you don't understand, this is a strategy someone once used on me; I won't tell you the coordinates, cuz then you'd all be checkmating!!)
Wei gawked. No one ever checkmated the prince before. No one DARED.
And here was a simple maid, checkmating the prince. He glanced quickly at Syaoran, tensed in case he exploded. However, much to his surprise, Syaoran kept cool.
"Good work." He tipped over his king. "Checkmate it is."
Then he instructed Wei to reset the board.
The two continued playing chess for the rest of the night. Sakura, of course, was itching to play some complex notes rather than move chess pieces, but if she did that, he would know. She couldn't risk it. She didn't even know the exact purpose of testing all the maids to see if they played piano. Was he going to kick the piano mistress out? What would he do with her?
"Checkmate."
"Wh-What?" Sakura was so absorbed in her own thoughts, she scarcely paid attention to the game.
"Checkmate," said Syaoran loftily, indicating his piece's position. "You lose."
"Oh. Clever move, Your Highness."
Syaoran made to set up the board again, but then Wei--who had just come back from somewhere--said, "Your Highness, Queen Yelan calls for you."
Syaoran frowned, but got up. Casually, he said the Sakura, "See you later."
He left.
The rest of the maids were called down. All 17 of them. Sakura was especially nervous. How could she not be nervous? 17 girls left, 25 of them eliminated in ONE DAY. How much longer until everyone was eliminated except for her?
Syaoran glared at them all. He was especially cranky that day, because he had been sort of banging on the piano for hours trying to play some song that Sakura could not recognize as a song.
"First test of the day--I want you all to name this piece." A piano had been brought down to the front hall, and Syaoran walked over to it. He placed his hands over the keys, and started playing...
...Canon in D Major.
Her favourite song.
So that was what Syaoran had been learning all day--how to play Canon in D. For some reason, Sakura felt touched. Really touched. Canon in D. He LEARNED it from her.
When he was finished, he glared at them all again. "Well? Does anybody know the name of this song?"
Sakura was in a semi-dream state. She loved that piece. Whenever she heard it, she was in heaven, it was that beautiful.
"Snap out of your daydream, Kinomoto." Sakura blinked.
"Hai, Your Highness?"
"You seem to know this piece, don't you, Kinomoto?" His voice was still harsh, but you could hear the ever-so-slight softness to it. Sakura's lips went dry. Her head pounded. Her tongue was itching to say the name, the name of the beautiful piece, but...
"No, I don't know the piece, Your Highness."
"Are you lying?"
"Iie, Your Highness. I would not dare to lie to you, Your Highness."
"Really? Do you SERIOUSLY not know the name of this song?"
"Iie, Your Highness."
One girl piped up, "I think I know this song, Your Highness. Is it...Canon in D, by Pachelbel?" Sakura was relieved someone knew that. The rest began muttering.
"Yes, I think that's it..."
"...something like that..."
"That's the title, isn't it?"
"...She's right..."
"SILENCE!" yelled Syaoran. The maids fell silent. He glared at them all yet again, for the third time. He scowled. He couldn't eliminate any of them, they all seemed to know the song now...for a split second, he considered eliminating Sakura, but he had that gut feeling that Sakura was lying to him, and he couldn't let that feeling go.
"Second test of the day--I want you all to line up from tallest to shortest, in the shortest time. Go!"
The maids that Syaoran hired were very well-trained, and in less than a minute, they were all assembled from tallest to shortest. Sakura was in between Tomoyo and the girl who had said the piece Syaoran just played was called Canon in D, whose name was Sanako.
Syaoran observed their heights. Now it was easier to eliminate. The first test was stupid. He smiled and pointed at 10 girls:
"Chinako, Hanae, Kadiri, Megum, Mieko, Naora, Oharu, Seka, Toshie, and Yuka, you are all dismissed."
Only 7 girls left: Sakura, Tomoyo, Sanako, Rei, Mayako, Katsumi, and a girl named Hikaru. They were all about the same height, around 5 feet 7 inches. Sakura's heart was beating a violent tattoo against her ribs. Six other girls--what was the chance that she was going to get revealed? She tried her best not to perspire, but it was really tempting, especially since Syaoran was looking at them over carefully.
"Okay. Last test of the day--I want you all to sit at the piano and put your hands on the keys."
One by one, they obeyed. Last was Sakura. She tried to make her position a little slouched, and her elbows quite high, something no good pianist would do. When her fingers touched the keys, the strongest yearning almost possessed her--She. Needed. To. Play. Piano.
Sakura had been sitting there for 30 seconds when Syaoran coughed, and asked, "Can you please take your hands off the piano now?"
Sakura almost jumped, and quickly stood up, and walked away, her head bowed. Syaoran was frowning again.
Yes! thought Sakura silently, it's going to be harder to eliminate now.
He pointed at four girls. "Rei, Mayako, Tomoyo, and Katsumi, you are all dismissed." They curtsied and left, Tomoyo shooting a terrified glance at Sakura. Her mouth did not move, but she knew what Tomoyo meant by her expression: Be careful.
It felt as if something hit Sakura really hard. Four girls. Dismissed. That was more than half of the girls that had been left behind last time. Now it was just her, Sanako, and Hikaru. When the three stood together, they all looked alike. Both had brown hair, though Sakura's was auburn and Hikaru's was almost black. They had cool-coloured eyes; Sakura had green, Sanako blue, and Hikaru a brilliant shade of violet. They were quite skinny, due to the fact that in their early lives, they were extremely poor and never had enough to eat; lastly, they all behaved the same way around Syaoran--tense.
Syaoran frowned deeper.
Sakura got more worried.
Syaoran: Darn. This is going to be hard now.
Sakura: I wish I was anywhere but here...
Thank god the eliminating is almost done. I had a headache trying to find so many female names!
Ouch. There's only a couple of girls left. Will Sakura be eliminated or identified as the piano mistress? What does Syaoran want with the mistress anyway? So many questions, an equal number of answers...only if you review!