Note: Sorry for the long wait… I'll try to write faster this time.

Disclaimer: Do. Not. Own. Anything. Period.

TSUBASA RESERVOIR CHRONICLES

SEARCHING FOR THE LIGHT

CHAPTER 4: COUNTDOWN

Setting out of the city at daylight, they realized that the sun that they were supposed to follow was just a big ball of golden light in the distance. Perhaps this world's sun is different from the other worlds they've come across.

Making sure that his sword was firmly secured around his waist; he turned towards Sakura and gave her a reassuring smile. She seems happier today and that was more than enough for him.

Fai and Kurogane were pretty quiet today… maybe it's a sign that their current quest would be accomplished without any detours… Smiling to himself, Syaoran took a step forward… and fell through the clouds. The last thing he heard was the cry of Sakura, calling him before blacking out.

(From this point on the story will be split into three different POVs: namely, Syaoran's, Kurogane's, and Fai's. I'm trying to be more creative since I feel that the story is getting a bit monotonous in the last episodes… Tell me if you think this is a bad idea)

Syaoran woke up in a dimly lit room and he noticed that he was lying on the hard ground. He shook his head to clear it and glanced around. It seems he was alone here… and the room's pretty empty besides from a large barrel in a corner. Placing a hand to the place where his sword is supposed to be, he realized that it was already taken away from him. Well, he could always get it back if he can only get out of this place.

Suddenly, he was worried about Sakura. What had happened to her after he had fallen from the floating city? As he approached what seems to be the door, the sound of footsteps made him dart quickly behind the barrel. Crouching down behind it, he readied himself to rush through the door if it was opened.

The footsteps came closer and he could hear pieces of their conversation, even without Mokona. Something about… strangers and mistress and… did they mention 'feather'? Tensing at the mention of it, he heard the sound of keys as they unlocked the door to his cell.

As soon as the door was swung open, he sprinted forward, knocking one of them to the ground and barely escaping the clutches of the other. Running through the tunnels of the place, he soon saw a glimmer in a room up ahead. He made his way towards it, in hopes of finding an exit or his friends or his sword or…

Reaching the entrance, he stopped; and realized that he was standing in a wide cavern illuminated by the torches that were placed against the walls. So, that means that he was somewhere underground… In the middle of the cavern was a pedestal with something round floating over it.

Moving closer to inspect it, he saw that it was another feather belonging to Sakura. Oddly though, it was encased in a clear orb and was emitting a strange bluish glow, as it hovered on the pedestal waiting for someone to take it.

Stepping forward cautiously, he reached out a hand to take it when a woman appeared at an opening on the opposite and shouted something at him. Taking her to be another enemy, he quickly grabbed the feather and bolted towards the way he came from, the woman hot on his heels.

As he once again wove his way in the tunnels, he spotted Mokona jumping out of the hands of another person not far off. Mokona seems to notice him however and when Syaoran ran past the manju without pausing, it attached itself to Syaoran's cape and managed to escape from the hands of the person who was restraining it earlier.

"Syaoran, we were worried about you! We were so surprised when you fell through the clouds. Kuro-wan leaped after you as Fai-san failed to stop him. Mokona was unfortunate to be caught in the cape of Kuro-wan and was dragged along… It was so frightening!" Mokona informed Syaoran as he continued to run in the direction that he believes to be the exit.

"Sakura-hime?" he asked briefly before spotting bright light ahead.

"Sakura-chan was with Fai-san when Kuro-wan leapt after you… Mokona doesn't know what happen later…" it said dejectedly, sounding sorry that it did not have more assuring news to give Syaoran.

"Don't worry Mokona. I'm sure the hime is fine with Fai-san…" Syaoran said as they finally reached the exit.

Syaoran shielded his eyes with his hands as they reached the outside. It took him a few moments to adapt to the brightness and he turned around slowly to identify his location. They were standing on a fairly vast grassy plain with the cave that they had just come out of behind them. Quite some distance away was a great big tree whose branches seemed to touch the sky.

"Syaoran… I think we should get away from this place…" Mokona whined as it turned around to look at the cave's entrance warily.

Nodding his agreement, he moved towards the tree, which was the only place where they could hide… for now.

Meanwhile, Kurogane was having trouble understanding the unintelligible speech the people around him were having. Seeing the kid dropped through a hole in the clouds had caused him to jump hurriedly, (albeit foolishly he noted afterwards) after him. Now, said ninja was having second thoughts on his 'heroic' stunt.

After he had jumped after Syaoran, he noticed Mokona entangled in his cape (find it hard to picture this… ) and was busy scolding the manju that he landed on the branches of some humongous tree and was stuck. Syaoran, however, had fallen right on top of some bunch of people who were busy chanting something and was carried away.

He had the worst luck as Mokona, too, was brought away, (it had fainted when Kuro-chan landed on him, you see…) leaving him stranded among the branches of the tree. When he finally managed to free himself, up came a group of people dragging carcasses of dead animals. They spotted him and dragged him along with them to their hideout.

Kurogane had thought that they were the same as the people who had brought Syaoran and Mokona, so he allowed himself to be dragged along. When he tried to ask them about Syaoran, he found out that they did not understand his speech… due to Mokona's absence. The fact that he 'needed' that silly manju made him even more irate.

He almost wished that he was with that annoying sorcerer/mage… whatever from Celes right now… ALMOST. Sighing deeply for the hundredth time to himself, he tried again to ask them about Syaoran… when an old man approached him.

"H-Hello?" the old man asked warily.

"Huh? That old man talked Japanese… maybe…"

"Do-you-speak-Japanese?" Kurogane phrased slowly, afraid that the man couldn't hear quite well.

"Aah! It speaks!" the person cried and turned to mumble something to his companions.

"It?" the ninja's eyebrows twitched.

"I'm so sorry… uh, young man… They thought you were some sort of exotic animal…" the old man sort of apologized to Kurogane earning another eyebrow twitch from the latter.

"Animal! What the-" but he forced himself to remain calm. Instead, he asked:

"You, old man, tell me where your friends bring a young guy and a round white thing off to."

"What?"

"Is he deaf!" Kurogane rephrases, "A-young-man-and-a-white-round-thing-with-long-ears. Where-are-they?"

"White round thing? Long ears?"

"Yes."

The old man smiled and whispered to someone beside him, who disappeared for a moment then returned, holding a bag with something struggling in it. The old man handed the bag over to Kurogane who looked at it questioningly.

"Somehow, I have a feeling that this is not what I think it is…" he said to himself and slowly opened the bag.

Out jumped a white, furry and very alarmed… rabbit.

"What the--!"

"This is going to be a very long day…"

Note: So, how was it? I'm currently having a very disturbed sense of humor… Heh heh… Oh and about Mokona, I know someone mentioned that it's a 'he' but I find hard to put it into a sentence… Like the above one with Syaoran… That sentence would have been flooded with 'he's and will likewise make everyone confused as to whom I'm referring to… So, I guess I'll stick with using 'it' throughout this fanfic. Gomen, ne?

Reviews, please!