I'm sorry for such a short chapter! And for not updating quickly. Thank you for the reveiws!

Engraved in Stone

Chapter one

The Book

They were walking through the dark forest. It was silent, and Sakura and Syaoran were not willing to break it. It had been like this all day, Sakura only mumbling the directions when needed. It had been extremely awkward for them, both sneaking glances at each other and blushing when they got caught.

Sakura couldn't understand the feelings that would spread throughout her body when Syaoran's eyes would meet hers. It was like a warm, bubbling sensation that would make her cheeks turn as red as a cherry.

Syaoran knew what was happening to him, and he didn't like it one bit. Was it just irony that he was falling for the person he was trying to get away from? He shook his head and looked around him. They were entering a valley covered in grass and flowers. He heard Sakura sigh at the beautiful scene before them.

"Should – should we sit here to have our lunch?" Sakura's small, nervous voice broke the silence that had lasted since they left Slothania.

Syaoran quickly nodded his head and walked into the clearing. The fairly tall teenager dug into his bag and brought out his lunch. He looked over at the beauty before him, and she was placing a blanket on the ground. She sat on it, and motioning him over, she got out her lunch.

It smelled foul, and Sakura's face mirrored it. There was mold covering the pig meat she had brought, and the soup was looking all chunky. She had brought a delicious meal! What had happened to it? Sakura groaned and threw her now rotting food into the stream that run through the valley. She plopped herself back on the blanket, and her stomach mad a loud grumbling noise.

Syaoran shook his head and said to her, "You should learn to live more simply. You don't need a fancy feast to have a good meal. Here." He held out his hand to give her half of the cheese, bred and water he had packed. Sakura shook her head disgustingly.

"I will not have a meal that a commoner would have! I am a princess. Surely there has to be a village around here that would give us some food…" She looked at the bred and cheese hungrily. "And besides, it's yours."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Nonsense. Your hungry, and you need to eat. Take it."

Sakura hesitantly reached out her hand to grab the food. She stopped a little ways from it, and looked up at Syaoran. He nodded, and she gently picked them up. Syaoran inwardly sighed at how snobby yet giving she could be and started eating.

"Why are you sharing with me? I have been nothing but cruel to you since we started this journey."

Syaoran looked up at her. He had been studying some ants that had decided to try and grab some crumbs.

"Well, I haven't exactly been trying to be friends with you either. My mother once told me, before she died, that whoever you are, a prince, a king, a commoner, that when someone is troubled, you should help. It doesn't matter what the costs are, for if they are truly in need of help, and you help them, that the rewards will show no bounds. I guess it's always something I've done without realizing it, in memory of my mother." Sakura smiled at him.

"Thank you. You know, to get through this, we'll have to al least work together. So…friends?" Syaoran smiled back at her.

"Friends."

They shook hands and Syaoran got up and picked his book up from his bag. Sakura smiled. Maybe now that they were friends, he would show her what was in there.

Syaoran looked at Sakura and shook his head. He started writing in there, closed, and said to her, "Don't look. I'll have to do something catastrophic if you do. I'm going to the bathroom."

After he left, Sakura immediately looked at the book. She knew she shouldn't, but her curiosity had always gotten the best of her.

What was in there…?

She got up and pulled out the book that Syaoran had not allowed her to see. She was a book collector. Surely there wasn't anything in here that would surprise her. When she opened the book, she gasped. There were beautiful drawings in there. Some were a birds, some horses, the castle she assumed he lived in, sky, the stone where her parents died…they were beautiful.

Suddenly, she heard a twig snap. She quickly turned around, only to see a furious prince.

"How could you? I told you never to look in there! That's not what friends are supposed to do, Sakura." His amber eyes looked as though they were almost fire themselves. They were sparkling madly.

"I-I'm sorry. They do say curiosity killed the cat, but I couldn't help it…there absolutely beautiful, though, Syaoran." She saw his eyes soften.

"Thank you…you're the first person to ever even see inside the book, even though it was done so sneakily."

Sakura looked down guiltily. "I'm so, so sorry. I just couldn't help it. Why would you want to keep them hidden, anyway? They're so beautiful…"

Syaoran laughed softly. "I guess I always thought I wasn't a very good drawer. Thank you for your compliment, and I guess I should have at least told you."

"Is it alright, then, if we're still friends?"

A small smile gifted Syaorans face. "Yes, we can still be friends, Sakura." Syaoran was almost thrown off his feet when a weight was thrown on him. He looked down to find it was Sakura hugging him. He smiled larger and hugged back.

This was not good for that feeling in his heart…