Disclaimer: I don't own CCS

ChiChi's Note: Okay, don't judge my fanfic right away, because I'm just getting warmed up! I'm sorry that Sakura seems a bit weak, but she will kick later on! Okay, enjoy!

Chapter 2

Cage

Tomoyo rose her bracelet up and let it rest in the sun, "Come on. Work you idiotic thing!"

Tomoyo and Nakuru had left the Kinomoto Kingdom and were on their way to Chikara Kingdom. Chikara was the largest kingdom in the land and it was rumoured that they were preparing for battle with the Li Kingdom. They had stopped in a village to stock up on food and Tomoyo stayed with the horses while Nakuru went shopping. Tomoyo attempted to activate her bracelet by holding it to the sun, but it didn't work. Something hit her hard on the shoulder. Tomoyo looked down at a red apple on the ground. "Okay, if you want to be good at this, then you have to be expecting things to pop out and hurt you," Nakuru stated.

Tomoyo mounted her horse, "How long will this take?"

Nakuru climbed onto her horse as well, "Well, my regular learners take about a few years."

Tomoyo groaned in frustration, "I'm a quick learner."

Nakuru smiled with satisfaction. Never once had she seen someone with so much loyalty towards her family. They rode off, hoping to reach Chikara soon.

…Li Kingdom…

King Syaoran left Sakura unguarded in the carriage. She stared at the door with confusion. Should she run for it? Or was he standing there waiting for her to escape? She stepped out of the coach and looked at her surroundings. This king really was dense! He left her all alone without any guards. She ran.

She entered the Li Kingdom's village and found it to be rather gloomy. It was the complete opposite of the Kinomoto Kingdom's village. This place made Sakura frightened. It was like the entire village was a prison cell. "Princess Sakura, I suggest that you do not flee," a voice came from behind her.

She turned to the person behind her, "Eriol," she growled, "It doesn't matter my father and brother will come for me."

"No they won't," Eriol laughed, "We killed your family, and I mean all of them."

Eriol knew that was a lie, but it was amusing to watch Sakura struggle. He left Tomoyo alive. There was no harm in doing so, for she was only a mere princess. "Y-you killed Tomoyo?" Sakura gasped.

"Yeah," Eriol smirked, and decided to go further, "You want to know how she died?"

Sakura shook her head. Why would Eriol kill her? Didn't he like her? Didn't he need her to activate the other element orb? "She was in her room getting ready for the coronation. She didn't hear any screams from the villagers, the servants, or the guards," Sakura closed her eyes. Eriol continued, "I sent a couple of guards into her room to… how could I put this? To damage her, then kill her."

Sakura glared at Eriol. He purposely emphasized the word damage to tell her that Tomoyo was raped. Eriol grinned maliciously; he wouldn't have done that to Tomoyo. He felt strangely attracted to her, but he would never see that girl again. She was probably somewhere hiding from the remaining Li soldiers who patrolled the territory. While he was deep in thought Sakura attacked him, "You killed my family you maggot!"

Suddenly, a rope wrapped around her neck, restraining her. "I thought I told you to stay in the carriage," Syaoran's voice noted.

Sakura pulled the rope away from her neck; "I don't take orders from you."

Syaoran scowled, "Hiiragizawa, put her in the cage."

"Cage?" Sakura repeated.

Eriol grabbed her arm and hauled her to the castle, "Yes, cage. You shouldn't have upset him. You could have stayed out of it."

Eriol brought her into the dark, candlelit palace. They arrived at a door with red markings on it, that Sakura couldn't read. "What do-" Sakura began.

"It's an ancient spell used to protect this room. As long as the writing remains on the door, no enemy may enter," Eriol explained.

He pushed open the door and led her into a scarlet room with a large fountain in the middle. It was a cheerful room, unlike the other parts of the castle, but it was still a prison cell for Sakura saw four golden cages hanging four feet above the floor. Two cages were already occupied and the guard opened the other for her. Eriol shoved her in, and wrapped a shackle around her neck, and chained her to the bottom of the cage. Eriol laughed, "I'll let you ladies get acquainted."

He snapped his fingers and left with the guards. Sakura looked into the other two cages. One of the girls was most likely from the Li Kingdom. She was dressed like all of the nobles here. She was wearing a red, silky dress. That type of material was very costly in the Kinomoto Kingdom; she must have been a princess. The girl stared at Sakura with her fiery eyes, and then smiled. The other looked very peculiar. She had short blonde hair. That was a very rare hair colour in Japan. Her clothes were even stranger. She wore a white dress with only one kimono sleeve; the other sleeve was made from a white stringed fishnet. On the skirt, there was a slit going up to her hip and showing of her legs. Sakura had never seen an outfit like hers before. "Hello, I'm Meilin!" the girl in the red dress greeted, "And that's Odelette."

"Pleasure to meet you," Sakura smiled.

…Chikara Kingdom…

Tomoyo and Nakuru rode into Chikara. Tomoyo looked around in amazement. All of these people looked alike! They all had blonde hair and strange white clothes. "Have you never been to Chikara?" Nakuru asked.

Tomoyo shook her head. Chikara was unknown territory for Tomoyo. Never had she seen a blonde person in Japan. She knew many different races had come to Japan, but she never knew about this one. They were all speaking in a foreign language and looked at Tomoyo and Nakuru in awe. Nakuru stopped in front of a crowd of women and hopped off of her horse. "Good evening ladies, would you please tell me where the castle entrance is?" Nakuru questioned.

"Iteez down zee rrroad," one of them responded.

Nakuru nodded and got back on the horse, "Okay! Let's go!"

They rode of to the castle.

…Li castle…

Sakura looked at both of the girls. They had stopped talking after Meilin introduced herself. "May I ask where you two come from?" Sakura broke the silence.

Meilin smiled, "I'm from the Li Kingdom. I'm from the village. Once king Syaoran found out that I had an element orb he put me in this cage. He didn't like the fact that I was a commoner so he made me change into a more aristocratic attire."

Odelette leaned against her cages bars, "I am zee 'ead arrrms woman of Chikara. Zee king capturrred me during a... guerre… comment c'est dit ça?" Odelette started speaking in another language that made Sakura even more confused, "What izeet called when two arrrmies trrry to take eachotherrr's land?"

"War," Meilin responded with a laugh, "In Chikara, they speak some language called um, French or something. I've never heard of the language, but it makes her sound really funny."

"It juste rrrolls my Rrrs and I cannot prrronounce zee uh…" Odelette looked at Meilin.

"Hs," Meilin sighed.

"I'm from the Kinomoto Kingdom. I was the princess there, but now my kingdom's annihilated," Sakura sighed at the thought of her family being gone.

"Which element are you?" Meilin asked, "I'm fire."

"I am airrr," Odelette raised her bracelet.

"I don't get it," Sakura stared at hers.

"Zee colourrr of yourrr bracelette shows the element," Odelette smiled, "What colourrr izeet?

"Green," Sakura responded.

"So you're earth," Meilin concluded.

"I wonderrr who 'as zee waterrr orrrb," Odelette pondered.

Tears began to well in Sakura's eyes. She remembered when her and Tomoyo were younger. Her father came up to them and gave them both similar bracelets. Tomoyo received one with a blue orb, and Sakura got one with a green orb. "She's dead now," Sakura muttered.

"Impossible!" Odelette shouted in a French accent, "Zee king needs zee girrrl to acteevate zee bracelette."

Meilin rolled her eyes, "What she's saying is that the other girl can't be dead. Only the first owners of the element orbs can start the powers of the element orb. The only way that she could be dead would be if the girl-"

"Tomoyo," Sakura interrupted, "Her name's Tomoyo."

"Whoa! Princess Tomoyo Daidouji?" Meilin demanded.

Sakura nodded. "It's said that she is dead," Meilin continued, "Anyways, the only way that Tomoyo could be dead is if she activated her power and passed it on to someone else."

Sakura smiled, "That means she's still alive! Touya told us that there's clues to activating the bracelets but he refused to tell them to us!"

"My clue iz: 'old yourrr 'and overrr yourrr 'earrrt," Odelette tried to say, "Iteez a toong tweest."

"Tongue twister," Meilin corrected, "Mine's: Open your eyes to the beginning."

"How do I know what my clue is?" Sakura groaned.

"There's a book in the castle library that has all the clues in it," Meilin mentioned.

"How do you know all of this stuff?" Sakura asked.

"When king Syaoran found me, I was all alone and he was still building this room, so he locked me up in the library and the only thing I could do in there was read," Meilin shrugged.

"She iz verrry smarrrt, iz she not?" Odelette looked at Meilin with envy.

…Chikara Kingdom…

Tomoyo stared at the young man in front of her. He was the king of Chikara. They were in the throne room, which was filled with people. "Hello princess Tomoyo welcome to my kingdom," the king greeted.

Tomoyo got even more confused, "You don't have an accent."

The king laughed, and lifted the pendant hanging from his neck, "I'm actually speaking my language, but this pendant translates my words into the language you understand the best."

Nakuru entered the room, and blew a kiss to the king, "Evening, lovely."

The people in the room began to whisper at Nakuru's actions. "I see you still haven't changed the way you treat royalty," he shook his head and hushed the crowd.

Nakuru grinned, "I apologize," she grabbed the side of her skirt and curtsied.

The king smirked, "I assume you wish to join our army in the war."

"You bet!" Nakuru laughed.

Once again the crowd began to whisper. "I really have to send you to charm school," he mumbled, "Yes well you must wait, for we are trying to negotiate with the Li Kingdom. You will be informed of what shall happen in a month's time."

"Sissy," Nakuru growled.

The guards circled around her and placed the tips of their spears at her neck. Nakuru wrapped her hand on her sword's handle, "King Adrien, it would be appreciated if you order your buffoons to back off, or else I shall slice them all up."

"The odds are against you Nakuru, there are nine of my men, and only one of you," king Adrien chuckled, "But do not worry, they won't hurt you. They're just there to keep you from doing something reckless."

Nakuru drew her sword and spun around quickly and you could hear the sound of the metal spears clashing with the sword. She stopped spinning and grinned as half of each spear fell to the ground, "You forget my king, I was your best warrior, and even if I serve the Kinomoto Kingdom now, I am still willing to fight for you and Chikara."

Adrien stood from his throne and approached her and ran his fingers through her hair. "Princess Tomoyo, follow my maids to your chambers. There, they will provide you with new clothes," king Adrien instructed, not taking his eyes off of the strand of hair in his hand.

Tomoyo followed the maids out of the room, and as she the doors closed, she overheard king Adrien say, "You changed your hair's colour."

ChiChi's note: Okay I'm trying really hard to write French accents so just remember whenever there's and apostrophe - ' - in front of a word, that means that it's replacing the Hs.