Author' s Notes: Sorry I demanded so many reviews... (Bows Deeply) But I' m back! With the 8th chapter of Shattered Hopes. I compared my story with others and realised that I'm a real lucky girl (:. Would it be too much to demand that the reviews go to 44 before I post again? My prom night is coming and I need to get ready. I' m blabbering. Let' s get on with the story! I' ll make it longer, this time. ( Drum Roll)
Oh, yeah, Li Jinlang, Master, Uncle and Father are all MINE and MINE only. Ha!
Chapter 8
A chance meeting
Sakura sighed wistfully. Gazing at Uncle, hardly registering the moves he was executing for an example to show Sakura. His most perfectly built face, his masculine voice, his...
" Are you paying attention, my dearest? " came Uncle's voice, reverbating through the still air of the basement gymnasium.
" Oh, um... I' m just... er ... tired! That' s it! REAL TIRED! " Sakura lied through her teeth, flashing a shaky grin and letting out a small nervous laugh when she felt Uncle' s gaze resting on her.
Uncle calmly looked out a small window, one of many that light filtered weakly through, be it night or day, shedding its faint glow into the gymnasium and realised that they had practiced for an incredible six hours.
" All right. Let' s go for dinner. " he finally let out. Sakura silently cheered as she quickly placed the sword back in its original postion and tidied up the gym. As Uncle walked out, getting ready to prepare for dinner, he mused to himself, saying under his breath, " My plan will take place tomorrow night at the hour of chen. "
" My dearest? " Sakura suddenly realised, blushing immediately.
In the castle, dining hall
The soft clink- clank of cutlery against glass could be heard as the members of the royal Li family dined. Yelan, Fanren, Sheifa, Fuutie and Li all dined in such silence, it was deafeningly quiet. Ever since... HE... died...
Li studied his family while spooning a mouthful of potato into his mouth. Yelan, with her deep, raven black eyes, neat kept black hair and strong features, making her look exceptionally stern and poised. Her cherry- red lips parted senuosly to allow food to enter. Her thin brows were furrowed and Li knew it was over the loss of his father, Li Jinlang, and her brother...
Sheifa, the eldest of five children, aged 24, took after Mother, or in other words, Yelan, except that she had inhirited her father' s nature of hair- hard to manage and wild. Her personality, was quite the opposite. She was quiet and sincere, but used to be active and bubbly.
Fanren, the second eldest child, aged 22, had her mother's complexion, smooth, supple and pale, but her Father's raging personality and seriousness. She had a conbination of her Father' s and Mother' s looks, making her look startlingly beautiful in a raw, exotic way.
Fuutie, the third child, aged 20, was silent and reserved, but could be a little cheeky at times. She took after her mother, all the sisters had, but she was the only one with a beautiful voice and the gift of the gab.
Lastly, Sheifa, aged 17,who was the last of all his sisters, one Li was closer to, was exactly like their mother, the way they both talked, looked, walked and even acted were identical. Li' s father often joked that they could swop places and no one would notice.
They, the six, no, seven, used to be so carefree... Li knew that their father, Li Jinlang, would ALWAYS stay alive in their hearts.
The soft clinking of a fork against a glass shook Li out of his thoughts. " Tonight' s dinner has come to an end. You may be dismissed. " Queen Yelan ' commanded' , patting her lips with her napkin. The four girls and Li bowed before their mother as she walked out, leaving all of them to bid each other a " good night " and leave.
Li stayed behind, staring at his mother' s fast disappearing figure. " I still haven' t told her what I wanted to... It' s already been three years." Li thought to himself. " Is it so difficult to tell her that ' HE' , her brother was back? "
Sighing at his uselessness, Li pushed his bangs out of his eyes, a pair of beautiful amber ones might I add before going to his room.
Sakura trudged to her room warily, worn out from the added intensive training today. She had blushed countless of times and couldn' t help but wonder if her brain would explode from all that blood frequently rushing to her head. Flopping on the bed, she released her auburn mane from its cage- the rubber band- , freeing it, letting it cascade down past her shoulders in a startling swirl of brown.
Stroking her hair, Sakura smiled at her reflection in the nearby mirror and felt extremely proud of her pride- and - glory -auburn hair and trademark emerald eyes. Allowing her eyes to stray, she let it rest on a wildflower in a small vase on her bedside table. Blushing madly, she couldn't help but recall the happenings in the last three years...
Flashback
" Mmm... I' ve never tasted such lovely ice- cream! "Sakura exclaimed, licking her strawberry cone. Uncle nodded in agreement, rummaging through his pocket to buy bread for the swans in the park pond.
" Wow! That' s a black swan by th- HHHHOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! " Slipping on the moss growing on the rock she was standing on to get a closer look at the swan. Passers- by turned to stare.
Desperate, Sakura grabbed the closest thing for support, which, unfortunately, was Uncle' s cloak and she pulled Uncle down with her. Uncle' s years of training did not, would not, go to waste. Pulling Sakura toward him in a sweeping embrace.
Sakura had been waiting for the loud splash folllowing which cold, freezing water would cover her and she would be drenched. Instead, she crashed head- first into something hard. " Itai! How can WATER BE SO HARD...! " Sakura moaned, rubbing her head.
Suddenly, Sakura felt a warm breath tickle her forehead. Looking up, she met with Uncle' s tender gaze. "Oh! " And she blushed madly.
" Freeze! " Sakura heard a hoarse, rough snarl and the coldness of the metal of a knife and a hairy arm around her neck, holding her captive. She had hardly learned anything from Uncle then, and fear had numbed her brain and paralysed her movement. Feeling her hand being roughly kissed and another free hand crawling up thigh, she let out the only defence her body would let her. She screamed.
" Ahhhhhh! " Her shrill scream rang through the silent forest, which she had taken as a shortcut when she went out to buy some groceries in the night for breakfast tomorrow. Struggling, she managed to spit out a cloth that had been hastily stuffed into her mouth and she screamed again. A woodcutter, who had been working overtime, chopping a sick tree down, heard her. Sakura, however didn' t know that.
" Why doesn' t anyone help me? Will I? No, please... " Sakura tried to put up a mental barrier, as her physical had betrayed her. Her barrier, however, did not work to keep out the invading hand that had crawled up her shirt. Her groceries were still grasped tightly, so tightly her knuckles were turning white. The hand had crawled up her shirt and was carassing the outer edge of her bra. She struggled and her mouth, which was covered by the hand, was pulled free and she let out one last, long heart- rending scream.
" Ahhhh! " Birds that had been asleep in the treetops woke up startled and fluttered away in shock, thinking that there was a predator. For a moment, the hand stopped its movement and both the attacker and victim stared up at the sky, at the thousands of birds in a great flock.
The woodcutter was gone. Yes, you saw right. He was gone. Vanished. His tools and mug which he used to store coffee were gone.
Woodcutter' s POV
" This must be someone' s crazy idea of a practical joke. " Until he caught sight of man assaulting a young girl. " Hey you! " he accused, pointing at her assauter, scaring him.
Sakura' s POV
I saw a man holding an axe appearing out of a nearby bush, in a red checkered shirt, jeans and leather boots hollering at someone at pointing in my general direction. Not being able to stand the shock of today' s events, I felt my legs give way and I collapsed. That cold hand. That intruder.
As my vision blurred before me, I could hear footsteps receding away from me. I hadn' t even got a chance to see his face! That man holding the axe came over and helped me up before asking for my address. I gave it to him, before the world around me turned black. I felt my head go limp and my grip on my groceries weren' t there anymore.
Normal POV
Sakura awoke, expecting to find herself on the col, hard ground in the forest, clothes ripped and feeling uncomfortable. But instead, she found herself on a soft comfy sofa, facing a chandelier. Uncle got up from a nearby chair and hugged her, saying, " Don' t ever scare me like that again. Ever. " As a present for saying that he was sorry, he prepared a candlelight dinner and gave Sakura the wildflower.
End of Flashbacks
" Knock! Knock! " The knocking of the door brought Sakura from her sea of memories.
" Come in! " Sakura called.
" Alright, Sakura, " Uncle said, sitting on her bed after closing the door. " You' ve trained long enough. "
" So? " Sakura questioned, looking up to meet Uncle gaze expectantly.
" I need you to enter the palace. Tomorrow night. " Uncle told her, grasping her shoulders and facing her.
" What for? " Sakura questioned.
" To steal. Something RIGHTFULLY MINE. "
The next night
Sakura was donned in a ninja suit, all black for camouflage that was loose and did not restrict her movements. It only revealed her startling emerald eyes and her auburn hair tied back into a neat ponytail. Bowing to Uncle after she received the blueprints and directions from him, her usually happy face with her ear- to- ear smile was replaced by a mask of indifference. She stood emotionless and poised as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop- something Uncle had taught her. To fight without emotion. It was quite strange, actually. He never revealed his real name or surname, but it didn' t bother Sakura.
Knocking out a few guards attacking their vital points, freezing their movements, she scaled the stone wall with cat- like agility, speed and grace up to the room she was looking for. An open window could be seen as the curtains billowed outwards, blown by the cold night wind. Her muscles screamed out pain and for her to stop- she had slipped many times while scaling up the wall and scraped many of her body parts.
Her muscles sighed in relief as she swung herself inside, hardly making a sound.She darted, ducked and sprinted silently to a double door, coated in red and gold. She pushed it open, the door creaking.
The sight before her left her completely shocked and stunned and gaping in awe. Gold coins, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires of all sorts funished the sides of the red- carpeted room in neat sacks and chests in the massive room. A piece of parchment lay encased in a glass case, bearing the Li royal emblem on the right hand corner of the thick parchment. Signatures were found on the top cover in blood. Sakura walked over, her face a veil of indifference. In her eyes, in her love for Uncle, all that treasure didn' t matter to her. However, in her ' trance' , she had failed to realise that someone had seen her.
Li POV
I was sauntering as I couldn' t get to sleep. A shadow flashed past into the next room. My eyes widened in shock. Wasn' t that the Royal Treasury? Only someone who lived or been in the palace could' ve known its location, with its special location and all.
" Could it be? " I pondered. " Oh no! Kuso! " I cursed, muttering not- so- nice expletives. Slipping into the crack of the door which the thief had unknowningly left open, the lifting the box to get the... Inhiritance Parchment!
" Stop right there! " I yelled, enraged.
Normal POV
" Stop right there! " echoed throughout the Royal Treasury.
Sakura whirled around, startled at the sudden movement and sound.
Brillant emerald met amber.