Title: Fire and Ice

By: everlastingxwish

A/N: Hey everyone! This is a relatively (cough cough) earlier update than last time! Lol. From now on, everything is going to be more dramatic and serious. I think I mentioned this before, but I couldn't resist writing a rather random chapter. Tee hee. So I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own!

Summary: Check da first chappie!

Recap from Chapter Four:

He turned around and started banging his head against the bookshelf again—so hard that books started falling out of their threshold.

Sakura watched on in amazement.

Poor Syaoran.

Let's begin…Chapter FIVE of Fire and Ice!

Making her way slowly down the hall leading to a rather large flight of stairs, Sakura was in the process of tying her short auburn hair into a petite ponytail, and adjusting her skirts. Nervously patting her hair down one last time to make her look more presentable, her thoughts ventured to what had transpired last night in the library with Syaoran.

Unknowingly, her cheeks were tainted a light pink and turned a little warm, but she was too immersed in her thoughts to notice, let alone care.

Why had he almost knocked himself out using the library bookshelf? And it was her fairytale bookshelf, too! Anyone who harmed it would die!

But, for some sort of strange weird reason, she didn't care. Now, why in all worlds did he do that, anyway? Was it because he was stressed over something? Was it because Syaoran was beating himself over…her? That wasn't possible. Shaking her head ferociously, Sakura reprimanded herself. She couldn't fantasize about her childhood friend/enemy!

Still smiling dreamily (maybe stupidly), Sakura stumbled into the very object of her thoughts.

"Ho-e!" Was the only sound she made before she fell backwards and scrunched her eyes shut desperately, before being hauled up almost roughly by the arm by the person she had accidentally crashed into.

After righting herself rather hastily, she bowed immediately, flushing a bright red, embarrassed.

"Gomen nasai!" She apologized quickly, then straightened, before freezing, hair sticking up every which way. Truth? She looked like a deer in headlights.

"Syaoran…kun…?" She stared openly at him, emerald eyes shining and wide. He stared back down at her, blinking multiple times.

"Oh…hi…Sakura…" Syaoran scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and Sakura swore she could a tint of red splayed across his tanned cheeks. In turn, she blushed bright red, and Syaoran could swear she looked like a human cherry. (Much like her namesake, he couldn't help but think.)

Turning away from each other, Syaoran attempting to whistle a cheery tune, the two fiddled with their thumbs, trying to avoid the rather…awkward…subject of last night. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Syaoran decided to speak up.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Sakura also decided to talk.

"Sakura, I--!"

"Syaoran, I--!"

Blinking rapidly, the two stared at each other for a few seconds, indicating to the other, ineffectively, however, that they should speak first. When neither continued, both decided to try again.

"I have to say--!"

"There's something—!"

Stopping again, Syaoran turned away from Sakura, and hit his forehead with his palm. Sakura buried her flaming face into her hands. A few deep breaths later, Syaoran decided to confront Sakura. About last night, of course.

"Sakura."

Sakura lifted her head, wary.

"Yes?" She answered in a small, small voice. (Syaoran had to strain to hear.)

"About last night…" Here, he turned half away again, a tinge of red evident on his face, and Sakura looked down. Shoes were so interesting, right?

Yup.

"It's just a…misunderstanding. Er…I mean, nothing was wrong." Syaoran added hastily, and Sakura nodded in understanding, even if she didn't quite comprehend. "So you can stop worrying about what…I mean, why I was hitting myself over the head." He nodded several times to try and convince the auburn-haired princess, who was struggling to understand just what this weird Prince was rambling on about. Finally, she said, "Okay…"

And she zoomed off.

Syaoran looked on in amazement at Sakura's leaving back, and he couldn't help but let his facial features draw together in a frown. Something bad was going to happen. He felt it in the aura around him. And he didn't like it.

At dinner, when the four families gathered downstairs in the dining room to...dine, the Fire prince and the Ice princess sat across from each other, looking everywhere but at each other. Uncomfortable silence reigned between them, and their parents chattered on excitedly.

Deciding it was enough awkwardness for the day, Sakura stood up suddenly, chair scraping against the hard stone floor. Wait. She hadn't meant to do that. What was going on?

Everyone's heads snapped up to look at her, and Syaoran could catch something weird reflecting in her personality.

"May I be excused, Mother?" She asked in a weird voice, looking at King Fujitaka, who was seated at the head of the table, emerald eyes vacant.

Syaoran sweatdropped. Mother? Wasn't King Fujitaka…a man? A father?

However, it was pleasant-looking Queen Nadeshiko who at the moment was occupied with folding her satin napkin neatly in her lap, answered her, blinking and looking up at her youngest child and voicing her consent.

Turning on her heel, Sakura swiftly speed-walked out of the large chamber, and Syaoran immediately stood up to follow her. Sakura never walked like that. There was something definitely wrong.

"Go ahead." Yelan nodded at her only son to answer his not yet asked question. I feel something as well, Xiao Lang, she added silently.

Bowing minutely to his mother, Syaoran sprinted out of the Hall.

"Okay. Please explain what just happened around here." Eriol asked in a soft whisper, and Tomoyo could only shake her head. "No idea either." was her hushed answer.

"Where is she?" Syaoran groaned out, panting as he leaned against a marble wall, shoving his hands into his messy chestnut hair.

"She was just here a second ago! God…what is she doing? It's dinnertime, and I'm starving! It's not hide-and-seek!" He said to no one in particular, fists clenching in frustration.

"And why am I even trying to find her? What's the freaking point anyway?" Syaoran resisted the urge to slap him silly, and stopped bombarding himself with rhetorical questions.

"Ok. Calm down, Syaoran. She's a big girl, this is her home for freaking sake, and she'll be fine by herself, right?" He said quickly and quietly, but was interrupted from his ranting when a small scream echoed throughout the dim hallways of the Ice Palace.

"Crap!" He yelped. It was barely audible, but it was there, and he had banged his head against the hard wall behind him in the process of reacting to it. It had to be Sakura. The other occupants of the castle were too far away to be heard, and no one he knew yelled that loud. Well, except for maybe Meiling. (But she was a special case.)

Quickly, Syaoran jumped up from his posture of leaning against the walls, and sprinted into the darkness.

Throwing open random doors as he passed by them, his frustration and worry grew, before he finally reached a door at the end of the hallway that signaled a complete dead end. Running an agitated hand through his hair, he muttered obscenities. "Ok, Syaoran. This is the last door. If she isn't in here, forget everything and just go back. She'll be fine."

And he took the last step forward, and opened the doorknob.

Just in time to see a dark figure hauling an unconscious Princess Sakura out the window.

Eyes wide, he charged forward and leaped in a feeble attempt to try and stop the kidnapper, but it was too late. Syaoran collapsed on the ground in an undignified heap, and could only watch as his childhood friend was dragged out palace's attic window.

What was he going to do?

His question was greeted with darkness.

"Will my little descendant be okay?"

Eriol. He had to tell him. Tell him now. Sakura. Sakura was gone.

"There's no time for jokes now, Hiiragizawa. Syaoran will be fine, but what about Sakura? She's not here."

Tomoyo. Unconsciously, he gulped. This girl was going to slaughter him when she heard. And she was smart. She probably had figured half of it out already.

It was time. He struggled to open his eyelids, and willed all his strength into opening them.

"Shh, shh! He's waking up!" Tomoyo nudged Eriol painfully in the ribs, and the other Prince grunted, while muttering "I didn't say anything! It was you!", which only earned him another jab.

Syaoran opened his eyes only to see amethyst. Yelping, he shrank back. "Personal space, people." Was the first thing that came out his mouth.

Tomoyo leaned back slightly, but still surveyed him with her intense sweeping gaze. Growing nervous under her glare, Syaoran fidgeted beneath his woolen blankets.

"Alright, Li." Tomoyo demanded. "Spit it out. We know you were with Sakura. We heard in your sleep. Did you know you sleep talk, by the way? Anyhow, tell us. She wasn't with you when we finally found you. How did you get up there anyway? And where is Sakura now? Do you know? You should, because you were last with her, weren't you? You guys were gone so long! We were fed up waiting, so we decided to hunt you guys down ourselves. Oh my gosh. She really isn't with you, is she? This isn't a trick, right? Dear God, please help us find her…" Tomoyo trailed off, turning around and walking to another corner in the small room, leaving Syaoran to stare blankly after her.

"Don't mind her, Syaoran." Eriol advised his cousin wisely. "Just tell us what happened."

Syaoran nodded dumbly.

"So."

Syaoran looked pensively at the dark-haired princess, who looked like she could faint; her face was so pale.

"She's gone now?" Tomoyo whispered sadly, looking down at her spread hands in her lap.

Eriol looked from Tomoyo back to Syaoran. "You couldn't identify the…kidnapper?" He asked hesitantly.

Syaoran shook his head in a silent no.

"This is bad. Very bad." Eriol stood up from his little wooden stool, and paced around the room, running his hands through his midnight hair, much like Syaoran when he was fidgety as well.

After a few minutes of walking, Eriol stopped, snapped his fingers in realization, and turned to the other two people in the room. "Wait a second. I just thought of something."

"Come to my room. There's something I need to share with you, because I don't know if you've heard of this tale before. It's strictly confidential, and not many people know of it. It's something from a long time ago." Eriol paused for a moment, before continuing quickly in a hushed tone. "I wasn't ever supposed to know this either, but I accidentally encountered it while researching for something regarding wars between kingdoms in our library a few years ago. It always stuck in my mind after that, because it had something to do with the Kinomoto family and some other clan I can't quite recall."

He looked at Tomoyo and Syaoran each in the eye, all business.

"The Kinomotos' ancestors."

Tomoyo and Syaoran held bated breaths.

"They stole this kingdom from another family."

The door chose this time to creak open.

A/N: I'M TERRIBLY SORRY FOR THE HORRIBLY LATE UPDATE! I'M SORRY! I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE STILL WILLING TO READ THIS FANFIC!

Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. There were a lot of surprises packed in this one, but I'm not sure if the events before lead up to how they're now correctly. I think that it's a bit sudden.

Whoopee! A kinda cliffie around the end…there…yeah…Guess who it is! XD

But, please, please, please, please, PLEASE review. I seriously need some feedback for this fanfic, so I can update more frequently when summer vacation starts! When I'm back in America, I promise I will update once a week. (I go back on Saturday. But only if I can somehow get my uncle to give me permission to use his computer. --;)

So, please review! Expect another one-shot from me soon!

Love,

Everlastingxwish

P.S. I changed my username because a couple of people at my school knew my old penname, and I didn't want them to know it, so I changed it along with my friend. I hope you understand, and I'm sorry for any misunderstandings. I AM DarkNightDreamer! No reporting or anything! I AM NOT A JOCKER!