Our princess entered a brief and light jog to catch up with Syaoran. She settled into a faster than usual pace next to the Prince. What he said in the throne room was true, he is quite taller than her, and this was made apparent by her effort to keep up with his long strides.
As Sakura settled into her gate next to Syaoran, she felt compelled to break the thick silence that surrounded them.
"Did you sleep well, Prince Li?" She asked genuinely with a glance at her sparring partner.
A single grunt was Syaoran's only reply.
If he was being completely honest, he slept terribly the evening prior. Didn't sleep at all, in fact. The scene in the throne room playing over and over in his mind. Confusion over his inability to control his voice and body occupied his brain until dawn broke through his windows.
Her emerald eyes, in turn, found her feet in response to his brashness. A soft "I️ see..." under her breath was Sakura's reply.
However, it's known our princess is not one to give up so easily. She popped her head back up and turned towards the Prince with a smile.
"I️ slept rather well all things considered! I️ think it's the ocean breeze, it's rather calming, neh?" Sakura's smile spread to her eyes.
Syaoran opened his mouth to reply, a quick "it's too early for idiotic chatter" ready to escape his lips, but upon turning his head down and to the right, and seeing her earnest expression; he closed his mouth and replied with an affirmative grunt.
The princess's eyes were surely sparkling with her smile, but how? They were still in the halls, far from windows and the sunlight. Our prince found his mind once again at a loss.
Despite his best interests, he continued the conversation, "You have never seen the ocean, princess?"
If it's possible, Sakura's eyes shined further at this. An actual series of words beyond a grunt! She felt hopeful.
"Ay! This is my first time seeing the sea! We of course have ponds amongst the forests in our kingdom, but" she laughed "they can hardly compare."
Our Prince found a sudden warmth in his ears and spreading across his face; he was no doubt turning pink. Syaoran was shocked at the princess's laugh. How could such a simple sound ring like holiday bells? He begged his mind to regain control of his body, snapping his head back to facing forward; away from the source of the aforementioned melody.
The Prince mentally chastised himself. All female nobility were alike and wished only for power and riches, right? He simply needed to remember, and stop thinking about the color emerald.
Thankfully, the pair reached the sparring grounds not moments after.
Sakura's mouth opened in a small "Hoe..."
Syaoran allowed himself the briefest glance at the maiden next to him, whose mouth remained open in innocent wonder long after the less-than-royal sound slipped her mouth.
Sakura was simply taking the area before her in. While it was the crack of dawn, there had to be over fifty men already there and in full-blown training. Weapons of every sort scattered the grounds and clashed together in the familiar sound of metal against metal. The training space was outside in a courtyard, dusty and unable to grow more than patches of grass from the field's constant use. Upon their entrance; each of the men stopped their fighting and bowed deeply to the royal pair.
Syaoran acknowledged his men with a brief nod, signaling them to return to their previous engagements. But most did not return to fighting so quickly. They were entranced by the honey-haired angel that stood beside their Prince.
Sakura felt a blush creep onto her cheeks as she saw their stares, points, and indiscreet whispers. She remembered her attire, and felt more exposed than usual, even though it was almost solely her arms visible with a tighter than average top. The princess's eyes glanced downward in a small attempt to hide herself.
Syaoran looked at Sakura's posture, quirked an eyebrow, then looked to his men. Unconsciously he felt his grip tighten on his sword's hilt.
The Li Prince took his practice sword from its sheath and stabbed it into the earth in front of him with one sudden movement. No doubt the Prince used some magic, as it produced a large thunderclap and the ground beneath them shook briefly. With a simple glance of amber through messy chocolate locks, his men immediately set back to their sparring.
Syaoran bobbed his head to the left, a signal for Sakura to follow him. She did so, eyes wide at the previous gesture, which she decided was simply to get the prince's men in line and stop slacking.
Finding a quieter unoccupied corner of the courtyard, no doubt Syaoran's normal training space, the prince turned to our princess.
"We'll begin with swords." He stated flatly.
He clearly doesn't expect much of me... a voice reasoned in Sakura's mind. She made to call upon The Sword but he held out a hand.
"No magic, just metal."
Suddenly a light practice sword was flying towards her. It was no doubt dull, but thank the gods our princess caught it by the handle just in the last possible moment.
Sakura raised her gaze to match the prince's, giving him a firm nod.
Everything will definitely be alright.
Syaoran quirked an eyebrow at her reaction time and what seemed to be an air of confidence, even with her magic being out of the equation.
Sakura thought back to her sparring days with Touya. A fleeting inkling of worry passed her mind concerning her brother, but she quickly replaced it with memories of forms, maneuvers, and tricks that worked even on her renowned warrior of a sibling.
The princess stepped back into a fighting stance, her emeralds determined.
At this Syaoran let out a sigh as he raised his sword and matched her form. He didn't want to fight a girl. A princess. The only girl he had ever fought prior was his cousin Meilin, and he could hardly consider her a lady, given her fiery disposition and tall stature. Here before him now was no doubt one of the most feminine creatures he had ever seen, and she was quite petite. Syaoran almost let a snicker slip as he took in her small form prepared to fight, almost like a small house cat trying to intimidate a wolf. He could see the princess's eyebrows knitting under her bangs, with those jewel-like eyes no doubt calculating her options.
Through his thoughts burst Wei's strong voice, he had hardly noticed his head butler enter their arena which worried the prince; "At the ready… begin."
Sakura made the first swing. Syaoran narrowly avoided it, his eyes widening ever so slightly as the practice sword swung where his shoulder had just been.
She is quick. Maybe quicker than myself.
Our prince realized at once he would need to dismiss his reservations on taking things easy on the Kinomoto royal. Her strengths were clear: she was tiny and nimble. A small, fast, target is much harder to strike than a burly large one. But, he had strength on his side.
Syaoran countered with an uppercut, which Sakura struggled to deflect. Sakura could feel the force behind his sword's attack, it made her stagger slightly back. Syaoran took this opportunity to strike again, but our cardcaptor ducked low, spinning out with one leg to trip the foot Syaoran stepped out on. She succeeded, much to Syaoran's shock, but the prince deftly dove into a forward roll instead of landing flat on his face.
They were several paces away from each other now, on opposite sides from their starting positions. Unbeknownst to the two royals; they had drawn quite a crowd of soldiers, who looked on with excited eyes. Syaoran and Sakura were completely and entirely locked in on each other though. Emerald and amber eyes each searching for some semblance of a clue for what their opponent's next move will be.
It was Syaoran who moved first after this, charging Sakura. He knew his strength was his brute force, so he decided to wear his opponent down. Though he rather wouldn't.
Wait.
What?
Where is that coming from? Any sense of mercy was lost from his mind many moons ago. She was clearly a gifted fighter, and he shouldn't take it easy on her, no matter how nice her laugh sounds.
This final thought brought a rosy tint to the prince's cheeks, which he felt and hoped would pass as flush from the morning sun. He and Sakura were now engaged in a strike for strike sword fight. Each slicing and thrusting, blocking and dodging. They both moved with such grace and ease it almost looked like a dance to an outside eye, and they stayed locked in their back and forth for quite some time.
With every clang of Syaoran's sword against her own, Sakura felt her muscles wanting to give. She was out of practice, and he was simply much stronger physically, she had to move fast. With Syaoran's next sweep, she dove low instead of blocking, his sword nearly catching the end of her ponytail. The princess took the opportunity of his open form to land a kick from below right on the prince's diaphragm, which visibly knocked the wind out of him as he took a step back and made a grip for his stomach.
The princess swiveled to stand behind the prince, bringing her sword to his neck and his nondominant hand behind him. She was in a position of power, though she was staring straight at his back, and her small hand could hardly grip the prince's toned forearm. God, he felt like solid rock. She found herself unconsciously flushing as she realized her skin was touching his. Still, she could hardly hide the smile of pride from coming to her face when she came back to reality.
Syaoran, too, blushed at her soft palm on his arm. His own hands were calloused and rough from training and sailing and his daily regimen. Her's were like flower petals; his total opposite. They were also small, which meant her grip could easily be changed. He just needed to distract her. Out of his peripheral, he saw the entire force of his royal guard had surrounded them like schoolboys when a fight breaks out at lunch.
"Wow, princess. You sure do know how to draw a crowd." Syaoran drawled.
"Hoe?" Sakura's eyes went wide as she took in the expressions of all the men surrounding her and the prince. Our gullible princess fell for it.
In her moment of distraction; Sakura's press of the sword against Syaoran's neck lessened, and her head turned to take in the audience they had created. The prince took this opportunity to not only break free from his position but to switch the two of them entirely.
Sakura's sword was dropped in the process as Syaoran gripped both her wrists in one hand and had his weapon against her slender neck. This meant, though, that the princess's ponytail was right under Syaoran's chin. His blush spread from his face to his torso, and he didn't know why. Her hair smelled like cherry blossoms in a spring breeze. It was… refreshing.
Syaoran was broken out of his reverie though when the princess told him while catching her breath; "I yield, Prince Li" she told him. To this, the prince let go of her and moved back like she was a flame that just burned him.
He cleared his throat and bowed to her, which she returned.
"I haven't had a spar like that in years! That was fun!" The princess told Syaoran with a genuine smile after they exchanged formalities, hands on her hips as she panted from the physical activity.
"You fought well, princess" Syaoran said with a curt nod. Sakura's eyes widened slightly at this, was that a compliment? Before she could process this though, Syaoran gave a deadly look at all of his men, they clearly knew it well. They quickly scampered back to their respective areas.
"Lunch will be in my study in 20 minutes. Don't be late." Syaoran said while walking back towards the castle, handing his sword to Wei, not turning back once to see Sakura left standing there confused.
She kept her eyes glued to his back until he disappeared back into the Li castle.
Sakura cocked her head to one side.
"I don't think he likes me very much." She said to no one in particular.
ah hi! sorry it has been literally forever. hope i can get my little fic out in its entirety to u by the end of this year! hope u enjoyed this little build! pls review thank u!
