hello everyone! and sorry sorry sorry for not updating for so so long. you guys are dying to know the secret, right? well, now is the time to reveal the secret! and I don't tihnk you guys will be too surprised by the secret, but i hope you enjoy it anyways. and now...without further ado...

PART 5

Xiao Ying walked off stage scared now that King Terada knew who she is. She immediately headed in the direction of her brother. The tension in the crowd calmed as the next contestant stepped on stage. Xiao Ying felt someone tap on her shoulder as she headed to her brother's spot. She turned around to see Tomoyo smiling at her.

"That was amazing. You are surely going to win!" exclaimed Tomoyo very excited, then saw the grave and worried look on Xiao Ying's face.

"Xiao Ying? What's wrong, you were awesome." said Tomoyo.

"I need to find my brother; I'll talk to you in a few minutes. I 'm sorry about this prin…" started Xiao Ying, but was cut off when Tomoyo covered Xiao Ying's mouth to prevent her form saying the last word.

"Don't say that word." cautioned Tomoyo.

"Sorry." apologized Xiao Ying

With that Xiao Ying moved to where her brother was. The crowd was giving her a tough time. She stepped forward only to collide with the crowd of people and started falling. She reached out her hand in desperation to grab something only to hold the air that was there. She was sure she's going to fall all the way, when she felt a strong hand take a hold of her wrist, and another arm around her waist pulling her back up. Emerald met Amber. Xiao Ying stood frozen from fear and shock. They just stood there frozen for a minute staring into each other's eyes. This was the first time they got a clear look at each other's eyes. A sudden spark of shock just sparked at that moment. You would think it's a prince rescuing a princess. One of his hands was around her wrist, and the other around her waist supporting her. One of her wrist in his hand and the other lightly just in contact with his chest. This kind of an interaction wasn't allowed. She quickly pulled her arms back and gave a minor bow as to show respect and gratitude, and at the same time kept the prince's identity a secret. Her heart raced as she made her way to her brother. Once she got to her brother, the bigger issue was at hand and her attention went back to the entirely huge, huge, huge problem she had.

"We have a problem." said Xiao Ying.

"Are you sure he saw your eyes?" asked Tori.

"I saw the look on his face. He knows." said Xiao Ying.

"This means war." said Tori.

"That's what I was afraid of." said Xiao Ying.

The two siblings stood there worried unsure of what to do. The dance competition finished and the last competition took place, the sword fighting competition. People watched attentively at the skills of the competitors. Two particular competitors kept winning their opponents. Their skills were unmatched, that was until it came down to the two of them fighting each other. Their speed and accuracy were amazing. They stopped the match so it ended out in a tie. Who knew how long it would be if they let the two of them go on. They announced the winners of the other competitions and of course Tomoyo and Xiao Ying won first place in their category, and Syaoran and .Eriol tied for first place in theirs. With so many competitions, by the time the competitions were over, it was late in the afternoon and the people from the castle had to return. The people from the castle piled in the carriages and returned to the castle and King Terada needed to return to his. By the time they returned, it was night and everybody headed to their quarters for bed. Of course Xiao Ying and Tori couldn't sleep. They were too worried. They laid awake for what seemed like forever before their tiredness took them into an uneasy sleep. They both had nightmares about that day. They ran and ran from those that were after them. They ran forever. Their clothes tattered. Dust gathered on them. They were tired, they were hungry, they were in danger… it was horrible.

(at Terada's castle)

'So they are alive. Everyone thinks they died in the wilderness. I wonder where her brother is. Damn that I lost her in the crowd, otherwise I would know where the brother is. He's around; I will make sure I find him. As for herself, she has certainly grown into a beautiful young woman. Her beauty is unmatched, would make a perfect present for a son if I had one. Hmm…The young men here will definitely want a piece of her. I'll let them have her. Waste of beauty just to chop her head off.' thought Terada sinisterly.

Terada smirked; a cynical air filled the room he was in. He nodded his head a few times satisfied with the plan he had. He would pay a little visit to the Li Kingdom tomorrow and of course converse with a certain girl and her brother that escaped his clutches 7 years ago.

(next day in the throne room)

The queen looked up as footsteps came in to the room.

"King Terada has arrived, your majesty." informed the messenger.

"King Terada? What would bring him here? Bring him in." wondered the queen out loud.

"Yes your highness." said the messenger as he left and brought King Terada in.

"King Terada, please take a seat. We were not expecting you. Please excuse the awful welcome" said Yelan.

"No, no, quite adequate. I came here because I want to talk to you about the marriage between our children." said Terada.

"Of course, of course. We shall get them together more often so they could be more comfortable with each other." said Yelan.

"Of course, a very practical thing to do. Now I also have another thing I want to discuss with you." said Terada.

"Very well. That issue is?" said Yelan.

With that, Terada and Yelan started to discuss political issues dealing with strengthening defenses in case of attack and of making more efficient use of resources and etc. It totally sounded like Terada is a good person that wants to help the Li Kingdom. (key words sounded like)

It was 3 more hours before the discussion was over. Yelan thanked Terada. Terada knew he had won the trust of the Queen.

"This will be a cinch." thought Terada.

He walked around the castle. He wanted to have a talk with a certain green eyed girl. He walked around the castle grounds for a while unable to find her. Just when he was about to pass the over bridge at the garden, he spotted an auburn haired girl, her back facing him. He smirked, he knew it was her. He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him and her face immediately paled.

"Why so scared…" said Terada.

Her leaned in next to Xiao Ying's ear and in a low voice so that only she can hear finished his words.

"…Princess Sakura" he finished and then pulled back.

(Note: Now that Xiao Ying's true identity is revealed, I will use Sakura instead of Xiao Ying from now on and Touya instead of Tori, except when Tomoyo, Meiling and the others call her cause they don't know her real identity. Sakura and Touya will still refer to each other as Tori and Xiao Ying just so that their identities don't get revealed to anyone else.)

"I am not Princess Sakura, not anymore. I am Xiao Ying and a mere servant." replied Sakura her face hard and determined.

"The name doesn't matter. Are you not still the daughter of Fujitaka? Do you not still have the same blood?" scoffed Terada.

"You have the throne. You destroyed the Kinomoto family. What more do you want from us?" pointed out Sakura.

"That's where you're wrong. The Kinomoto family isn't destroyed, not yet. Where is your brother? I know that he's here." said Terada in a menacing tone.

"I'll die before I tell you where he is." said Sakura.

"You have beauty that every other females wish to have. Don't make me use it against you. Where is your brother?" whispered Terada in a warning tone next to her ear.

"You're only worried about your throne. If we want the throne back, we would have done something about it 7 years ago. We are no threat to you, no longer." said Sakura whispering herself.

"Either way, I haven't seen him for 7 years, don't you think that I should get to see him?" teased Terada as he pulled back and crossed his arms.

"He doesn't want to see you." Sakura simply said.

"Don't force me." smirked Terada.

"It was my mistake to let you figure us out, so I will take the consequences." said Sakura.

"There's a lot more that you don't know. You think that you can avoid me by coming here? You're wrong. My dream is almost reality. My dream of taking the three major kingdoms under my rule. I have two of them, this is last one and I will have it. Then you won't be able to escape. You got away last time, but this time, you won't be so lucky. I'm sure my men will enjoy your company." smirked Terada.

"I won't let you get away with this like last time. My brother and I will stop you." said Sakura determined.

"We'll just see about that. There's nothing you can do to stop me." said Terada.

"I won't let you hurt more people." said Sakura.

Terada smirks once more and left. Sakura stared hard at his retreating figure. She couldn't let him get this kingdom. She couldn't let all her friends get hurt. That night right before everyone got in bed, she went to see her brother.

"Xiao Ying? What's wrong?" asked Touya worried.

"He spoke to me. He's going to take over this kingdom too." said Sakura.

"We can't let that happen." said Touya.

"I know, we need to prove to the prince and queen that he's planning to take this throne." said Sakura.

"We need to figure out some way to get that proof." said Touya. "If only the prince or queen heard what he said." continued Touya.

"I know." said Sakura.

"There's lots he has to do. It'll give us time, but not so much. We need to work quickly." said Touya.

"The sooner the better." nodded Sakura.

"There's not much we can do today, so let's get some rest." reasoned Touya.

Sakura nodded and went off to her quarters. She definitely didn't have a peaceful night. She was so worried about her friends and the kingdom and what kind of horrible things Terada had planned. She's a servant; she can't go out and accuse Terada a king of anything without proof. She needed proof and strong ones. Memories and the thoughts of her friends occupied her mind. She didn't want them to get hurt, and she had no idea what to do. The weird thing, Sakura found herself thinking not only of her friends, but of the prince too. For some reason, she was really worried about the prince, perhaps more so than her friends, but could it be true, that the prince is more important than her friends? Nah, she didn't want anyone to get hurt. She was spaced out again the next day. Her friends and others noticed of course.

(when Sakura was doing the princesses' bath)

"Xiao Ying, What's the matter? How come you suddenly just space out like that?" asked Tomoyo.

"Yeah, you can tell us, we're your friends." encouraged Meiling.

"If I said that you can't trust King Terada, would you believe me?" sighed Sakura.

"Well, we both saw how much he has helped this kingdom, but how come you're saying that we can't trust him?" asked Tomoyo.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me, never mind." said Sakura.

"Xiao Ying, It's not that we don't believe you; we want to know why you're saying we can't trust him." said Meiling.

"Because he only trying to take over this kingdom. I know. I…. Never mind. I'm a servant; I can't accuse anyone especially a king without hard solid proof." said Sakura.

"Xiao Ying, we're friends forever so don't take this harshly, but I find it hard to believe that King Terada would wish us harm." reasoned Tomoyo.

"I find it hard to believe too, but I also know that you don't lie Xiao Ying, so I trust that you can find proof." said Meiling.

"I know that you'll figure it out Xiao Ying." encouraged Tomoyo.

"Thanks." thanked Sakura.

"No problem." said Tomoyo and Meiling smiled encouragingly..

Sakura drew a breath that night. She wasn't sure how she can get the proof, but she had to. And time was running out, the more time she spent on figuring out how to get evidence, the more time he'll have to completely win over the trust of the kingdom, and the memorial of the passed away king is coming up in a few weeks, which means she'll be busy with preparations. Autumn has arrived and it won't be too long before it draws to a close. Winter would start and then the new year will begin. She sighed, she need to find proof and fast.

3 weeks past by just like that. Sakura and Touya spent all the time they could figuring out how to get proof of Terada's plans, but hardly made any progress. They stay away and acted like that didn't know each other as much as possible to avoid suspicion. Terada cannot know about Tori. 3 weeks, it was now time for the memorial of the passed away king of the Li Kingdom. To be exact it was the one year anniversary of the passed away king. Things were all prepared. At the most spiritual hour, all occupants of the castle will attend the memorial. Sakura saw the sadness in the queen and prince's eyes. It reminded her of her deceased father. She knew it was tough for the prince. He must find a bride. Women weren't allowed to rule, the only reason the queen was in charge now was because the prince didn't have a bride. He would be king once he has a bride. He would of course take advice form his mom because he was inexperienced. The ceremony started. People all over the palace heard the gong and bowed along with it. Most of the servants were doing it at their quarters. Sakura and a few others stayed behind in the ceremony room for clean up so they did it with the royals and the advisors. The ceremony went on. The queen and prince took their prayers and etc. It was over after a while. The last loudest gong sounded signaling the end of the ceremony. Everyone released their positions and those that want to or feel obligated to would go up and pray. Sakura went up and kneeled and bowed her head down. In her mind she wished for the best and hope that nothing bad will happen. She got up and started to clean up the area with the other servants. She took the extra unused supplies and stepped out to place those back in the storage area. Sakura saw the prince praying when she returned to finish cleaning up. The prince was the only one left, everyone else had gone out. The prince turned around to see the servant by the doorway. Sakura only smiled a bit gently and started to put away the rest of the supplies. The prince didn't leave yet. He just sat off to the side and watched her work. He didn't know why, but he just felt this calmness and comfort in her presence.

"Did you ever know your parents?" the prince can't help but ask.

"Somewhat, I kind of remember when the four of us was together and happy, but that was quite some time ago." Sakura replied.

my comments:

let's hope things don't get worse then it already is