(A/N: A lot of walking happens here, methinks. It's probably pretty crappy. Enjoy.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura. I own whatever their personalities are in this story and any character that I make up. I own my storyline.
Chapter 5
The main passageway branched off, and narrowed as they took yet another turn. The torches were becoming more and more irregular, and for a while, stretches of black accompanied them as they made their way steadily downwards. During a particularly long section of blackness, in which Sakura's neck ached from looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, Syaoran stopped. She halted with him, and felt him turn aside and reach out. Her senses seem to have become even sharper than usual, being connected to him by the wrist as she was.
As if to prove her point, her keen ears picked up the sound of a door sliding back, and she was pulled roughly backwards into a cavern in the rock. Stumbling back, she realized as the door slid shut that she was experiencing what it was like to be blind. The darkness that pressed in on her was complete, or as complete as any darkness she'd ever seen in her life. She felt crippled without her sight in this unfamiliar place, almost as if she'd lost her leg right when she was about to run a marathon. She strained her eyes, trying to see into the pitch that surrounded her. Nothing, not even a slight glimmer of light that could show her the way. She felt like she was drowning in a sea of black...a sea of malice so black it choked her and suffocated her and pulled out what little light she had left inside.
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A rough burlap bag was pulled carelessly over her head. A hand pressed itself to her eyes from outside of the bag, not letting her open them. Another pair of hands held her still while a gag was stuffed in her mouth. She gagged as the material nearly choked her. She felt herself being lifted and thrown bodily into a car, where her head hit the metal side with a painful thump. Frantically, she reached into her belt for the knife she always carried with her. Grasping it, she pulled it out and swung it in a wide arc, hearing the satisfying shriek and curse as it sank into human flesh. Yanking it out of whatever it was she'd stabbed, she was ready to swing it up into the person again when someone much heavier grabbed the knife away from her and struck her on the head. She grimaced in pain.
The bag tightened and the hand's grip showed no signs of slacking. Sakura was finding it harder and harder to breathe. The darkness pressed on her, and made her eyes burn for light. The gag was suffocating her, and she was drowning. She was drowning in her darkness, drowning in the sea of darkness that was made by people, the people who didn't care. It made her brain reel, and sent her gasping for air, which was conveniently unavailible in the stuffy space of the burlap bag. Her mind, however, was already working. How to get out? She stilled, and let the sounds of her surroundings wash over her.
Gradually, the hands of her captors loosened, and the pain in her eyes ceased. She could breathe more freely now, but she did not show it. She waited, not moving a muscle. They let their guard down. She waited still. An hour passed, they fell asleep. And she waited.
The van had been driving the whole time. After a while, Sakura noticed that it was just rumbling along slowly. It finally stopped. Yet she waited, as still as the sea before a summer storm. She heard the front door slam, and voices coming around the side of the van. Instantly, she forced herself to become alert. Sitting in one position for over an hour tended to make people lethargic. But her heart beat faster and she felt adrenaline rush through her veins. The slow groanings of her captors trying to rouse themselves reached her ears. Now or never.
Sakura reached up and snatched the burlap bag off of her head. Fresh air rushed into her face, and she breathed deeply. The darkness receded a little. Luckily for her, her captors had foolishly forgotten to tie her hands up. She oriented herself in a flash, and jumped up. Leaping for the double doors that were the gates to her prison, she concentrated all her energy and willpower into achieving that one goal beyond them: freedom. The noise of her footstep caught the attention of her captor, and he sat up quickly, eyes still glazed with sleep. As he realized what was happening, he gave a shout. But Sakura had already flung the doors wide open into the face of the driver, stunning him temporarily. She leaped out of the van and landed in pure, white snow. Stumbling, she ran. Tress lined either side of the small road. Sprinting madly, she dashed into the cover of the trees and as far in as she dared go from the road. A thick hedge made the underbrush impossible to go through, so she threw all caution to the winds and jumped into the heart of it. Ignoring the stinging of many small scratches, she burrowed down into the brush and waited, breathing slowly and deeply to calm her heart.
Faintly, she could hear the shouts and cries of the confused criminals. Safe in her untouchable lair, she smiled. She had surfaced from the darkness
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Syaoran was getting suspicious. What was wrong with this girl? Why was she just walking along as if nothing was going to happen to her? It was like she didn't care. The thought was strangely unnerving to him. Subconsciously, he tightened his grip on her wrists, making sure she wouldn't get away.
The girl shifted. She turned to look at him. Even in the gloom, he could see her eyes clearly. They were a strangely vibrant shade of green, sparkling in the dim light. He stared back at her, unease growing. She seemed so calm, so unattached. This was like nothing he'd ever experienced in a captive before. What is she thinking?
"Keep moving," he said aloud.
"You're cutting off my circulation."
What? Syaoran glanced down at her wrists, which he had been holding onto so tightly that her hands were starting to turn purple. Oh, the poor little girl needs her blood, he thought stoically. Nevertheless, he loosened his grip slightly. She turned without a word and continued walking, letting him steer her into the dark passages.
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Lights appeared. Sakura squinted, her eyes unaccustomed to the sudden brightness. But it was like sunrise after endless night, as welcome as beautiful music after deathly silence. And she could see.
They were walking down a long hall made of the same kind of stone the walls in the Master's room had been of. Doors were set into the walls, one after another. They were spaced meticulously, so that Sakura doubted they were different by even a centimetre. She realized that this was an ingenious way of making sure no intruders ever got in here. If they got in, they'd never get out. Passages branched every which way, and it all started looking like a maze to Sakura.
Syaoran walked her down what felt like hundreds of hallways, and finally stopped in front of one of the doors. He opened it and pushed her in.
Sakura looked around. The dimly lit chamber was quite small, and consisted of a single hard-looking bed and a foul-smelling toilet. It seemed little better than the room she had before.
"These will be your chambers until further notice." Syaoran turned to go.
Sakura felt herself getting annoyed.
"So what am I supposed to do here 'until further notice'? Twiddle my thumbs and stare at the wall, waiting for you to come rescue me so that I can go back and be raped by that psychomaniac again?" Whoops. She hadn't meant to let so much of her thoughts slip. Strange. She never made mistakes like that.
But before she had time to dwell on it, Syaoran was right in front of her, staring her down. His amber eyes were strangely empty yet again, and his voice was cold and flat.
"Don't insult the Master, Sakura."
Something about him then, something about the way he said her name made her forget where she was. Her mind was blank; there was nothing in the world but him and her. The hand that had been hers all along seemed to have a mind of its own as it reached out. Syaoran just stood there, like he didn't even see her. But when her hand drifted up and touched his cheek, the world changed. His eyes widened in surprise, as did hers. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined she would be here in front of the apprentice of her worst enemy, barely a few inches apart, feeling his rough skin beneath her fingertips. Suddenly, recognition sparked in his eyes, and ignited something in hers. The cold shells within them cracked, splintered, fell away. And she saw him just as he was...a boy, with nothing in the world. He saw her as she was...a girl, with nothing in the world. They knew in that moment, they had only each other.
His breathing became ragged; Sakura felt her heart speed up, thumping louder and louder. They moved closer. There was no doubt about it now, both of them were exposed to the other, both of them knew exactly what was going on and what was about to happen. And Sakura felt something strange inside of her. The adrenaline in her body rushed onward, attacking her mind and swirling all her thoughts into a restless river. She could think of nothing but him, nothing but of how close he was, and how intensely his eyes were gazing into her own.
Clink!
Their eyes wrenched away from each other, searching desperately for the source of the sound. A pair of old fashioned iron handcuffs hung on the wall. A slight breeze from nowhere had caused it to swing up against the wall, the shivering torchlight throwing its shadows into ominous gloom. They both relaxed. It was only a pair of handcuffs.
But the connection that they had was gone. Sakura felt it as clearly as though it had been a physical impact, something that was so precious, that she had for a few untouchable moments, wrenched apart and shattered.
Syaoran seemed to have gone through the same thing. But as she looked at him, she saw that his eyes were blank again. He turned away from her.
"You're to stay here. Don't try to leave." As he said this, he walked out of the door and shut it with a final-sounding click behind him. There was no handle on her side of the door.
Sakura stared after him. Slowly, she turned around and walked over to the bed. Sitting down on it, she pulled the thin blanket up around her shoulders and huddled there. What was wrong with her? Syaoran...what was wrong with him? He seemed so distant, yet in the space of a heartbeat, he could be changed impeccably into an entirely different person.
I wonder what happened to him in his past to make him like this.
She lay down on the hard pillow, and closed her eyes. But burned into her retinas was the image of Syaoran's intense amber eyes. They looked at her, looked deep into her soul. Save me.
(A/N: Nooo it's 12:03 am. I didn't update soon enough. Procrastination is not a virtue. Tell me what you thought. Ideas? Suggestions? Tell me.)
