Author's note: Hello! I was really happy to get so many reviews! Yay! I hope I did not delay this chapter too much I was concentrating on What my Heart wants for a while (Chapter 7 is up). Thanks to all my reviewers,
ffgirl-07, halliwells, psycho-pyro-shrink, cheerysakura88, Valentine Satiquss, backfire16891, darkazureblossom, horsegirl, nosie, Falling Tenshi, krn5rul3, tEarS11, MizEvilBlossoms (I'm really glad that you think I that good, I hope you enjoy the rest of my story) and Shadowkeeper13 (Thank you so much for reading this story also)!
Well, my devoted readers; here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 3 The secret garden
Next morning, Syaoran awoke only to hear the nightingale twittering loudly as though wishing him good morning. He sat up and rubbed his eyes,
"You're back!" he said spotting her. He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and he noticed the wound in his hand. He recalled the events of the previous night wondering if he'd ever see that girl again. He grinded the leaves to a paste and applied it on his hand just like the girl had instructed and then bandaged it up again. He then came out of the bathroom dressed in his princely outfit, making sure the sleeve of his shirt covered the wound. He walked up to the cage and opened it.
"Breakfast time," he said beckoning her to come out. He let her hop on his shoulder and left to the dining room. As he walked through the huge hallway, four girls suddenly burst of an adjoining room, all of them having similar brown eyes and light brown hair of varying length. They were Sheifa, Fuutie, Feimei and Fanran, the four Li sisters.
"Good morning little bro," they chorused.
"Good morning," Syaoran replied a little huffily.
"Oh, what a cute bird!" Fuutie exclaimed spotting Sakura on his shoulder.
"Is that a new pet?" Feimei asked.
"Wow! A nightingale," Fanran cried.
"Let's take a look at it," Sheifa added.
Sakura was stunned at this sudden burst of noises and suddenly felt herself being yanked off Syaoran's shoulder. She squealed as the four sisters tried touching, stroking, fondling and poking her at the same time. She tried to fly out but for one thing she wasn't very good at it and secondly flying out of a mass of eight hands made things more difficult. She chirped loudly trying to tell the girls that she was in pain, but they didn't seem to hear with the noises they were making themselves. Finally after Sakura was sure that all her feathers had been nearly pulled out another pair of warm hands grabbed her.
"Leave her alone! She's my pet," And with that he stormed out to the dining room.
"Aw…little Syao's being possessive" Feimei called after him teasingly.
Once they were out of sight from his sisters. Syaoran whispered, "Sorry about that. My sisters are a little weird," He shook his head and then said,
"What am I telling that to you for? You wouldn't understand, you're just a bird,"
Little did he know that the bird did understand. Sakura couldn't help agreeing though she felt that a little was an understatement. She suddenly realized that he was hugging her tightly.
'What's wrong with me?' she wondered trying to suppress a tingly feeling in her heart. But she had no time to think as Syaoran placed her on his shoulder as they entered the dining room.
"Good morning father, mother," Syaoran greeted as he sat down. King Li Ryu and Queen Li Yelan looked up and nodded in acknowledgement as he wished them. King Ryu had chestnut hair like Syaoran but not quite so messy and dark eyes and Queen Yelan had long black hair held in a ponytail and amber eyes.
"Syaoran" began his mother giving him an all too familiar glare. And Syaoran knew at once what his mother was going to say.
"You will be turning seventeen in two months and you still haven't got married,"
Syaoran sighed. This again. He was about to protest when his father said,
"Dear, why don't you give him some time? He's just a young boy."
"But I've given him six months and he still hasn't found a suitable bride…"
The door suddenly opened and the four sisters stepped. Their mother clicked her tongue impatiently,
"You're late,"
"Sorry," Fuutie apologized as the girls sat down. Syaoran was glad at this interruption but unfortunately it took more than that to make his mother forget.
She looked at him and said, "Now what was I saying…Ah yes, when will you find yourself a bride. You've turned down five proposals this week. Listen Syaoran I don't want to force you into this, but the law says…"
"I know I know mother the law says that I should get married within a week after my seventeenth birthday," Syaoran said with a heavy sigh.
"Well if you know it then you must act more responsibly,"
The Li sisters glanced at one another; they knew that Syaoran didn't like talking about this.
"Um… mother uh…well Syaoran's got a new pet," Fanran said suddenly unable to think of any other topic. But fortunately his mother changed the subject
"He has?"
Syaoran didn't want to talk about this either but it was better than the previous topic.
"Is it true Syaoran?" his mother asked him.
"Yes it is," Sheifa said before he could open his mouth, "It's a nightingale too, can we ask it to sing a song? I've always wanted to hear nightingale's song,"
"That's a good idea," said the King, "Music always makes you feel better," And his mother nodded in agreement. Syaoran glanced uneasily at his new pet.
Sakura, at that moment was feeling uncomfortable because she was hearing personal matter of the Li family which she wasn't supposed to do. Suddenly she felt a pair of amber eyes staring at her.
"Can you do it?" Syaoran said to her in a low voice.
Sakura stared at him bewildered. 'What is he talking about? Oh no! Have they found out who I am? What do I…?
"Please sing a song," Syaoran said again. Sakura felt relieved, of course I'm a nightingale that's why they want me to…what? Ok. Now I'm beginning to think the first option was better. Sure Sakura had had music lessons with her mother before but you couldn't exactly give her an A+ for her music skills.
I'm a nightingale and nightingales are supposed to sing well, right? Sakura thought as she perched herself on the fruit basket. Looks like I don't have a choice she thought and she opened her beak and began singing. It was a song that her mother taught her and it was the only one she knew. (A/N: She can't say the words of the song being a nightingale so she is just humming the tune, get it?) It brought back a lot of memories…. How she and her mother used to sit in the garden practicing the song…how Touya would tease her voice saying that it was like a donkey's bray…how Hiroshi was always there to defend her and how her father would watch this amusing show from the sidelines. Those were sweet memories…
The song finally ended. It wasn't very long and as she was a nightingale, the song turned much better than she'd expected. But the Li family was quite impressed, they stared at her in awe even all the maids and the butler who had listened to her sing were stunned. Sakura began feeling embarrassed. The song came out well but she knew that she wasn't all that good. She felt uncomfortable under their stares so she flew back to Syaoran's shoulder, and buried her head in her wing.
Syaoran was surprised. What's wrong with the bird? He wondered feeling her feathers against his skin. His sisters snickered,
"I think she's embarrassed," Feimei said with a giggle.
"That was a refreshing song," her mother said with a smile ignoring her daughters. "Now let's start our breakfast before it turns cold,"
Syaoran nodded and handed a strawberry from the fruit bowl to his pet. Sakura was glad to see a strawberry, forgetting about her embarrassment took it with her claw and dug her beak into the fleshy fruit. This is much better than those dry seeds she thought happily.
After breakfast Sakura decided go to the garden, as she loved nature and she wanted to practice flying. If she was going to be bird then she had to learn how to fly.
The garden was enormous and extremely neat, with not a weed or grass that wasn't trimmed. There were a whole lot of flowers of all colors, and even a pond.
But what caught Sakura was one corner of the garden which seemed much different than the rest of the place. Sakura felt herself drawn towards that mysterious place. She could sense something strange as she entered this place. It was also a part of the garden except that it was completely different because there were weeds all over the place and grass was nearly a foot tall but according to Sakura, the best part was the numerous cherry blossom trees with their bright pink flowers which was surprising as it was autumn and every one knew cherry blossom trees grew only in spring. She wondered if this was a magical garden…maybe just maybe this was the mystic valley of butterflies. Sakura couldn't contain her excitement at that thought, she hopped around in joy. But suddenly she realized that there were no butterflies at all. If this was the valley of butterflies then where were the butterflies?
Sakura sighed, her joy draining out of her as quickly as it had come. She flew back to the palace and she spent the rest of the day wondering how she was going to find the mystic valley as she knew nothing about it except its name.
That evening when the sun went down Sakura snuck back to the secret garden that she'd discovered. She simply loved that place. She sat on a log, humming a tune as stared at the wide starry sky. She was so absorbed in her song that she didn't notice someone come behind her.
"So we meet again," That voice, that familiar voice……
Sakura whirled around and saw a familiar pair of amber eyes staring at her.
"What…what are you doing here?"
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Syaoran chuckled at the girl's shock. She quickly jumped up from the log she was sitting and bowed down.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't ask you that Your Majesty, this is your garden. You can come here whenever you want."
He stared at her and said, "Please don't bow, you're making me feel uncomfortable,"
She lifted her head and looked at him shyly. He smiled at her. Those beautiful emerald eyes…
He sat down on the grass motioning her to sit beside him.
"Thanks again for saving me yesterday, Your Majesty," Sakura said looking at the ground.
"You saved me too," he said showing her his hand which was slowly healing, "So we're even,"
"I guess," she mumbled
"I've never seen you around before. Are you new here?"
Sakura nodded.
"What's your name?"
"Sakura K…" she stopped. He looked at her as though waiting to hear her last name. But when she didn't he decided not to poke his nose. If she didn't want to tell him, he wouldn't force her to do so.
"Are you from the Kinomoto kingdom?" Sakura froze at this question. It was not like the Li and Kinomoto Kingdom were enemies, but there was a tension between them that was so thick you could cut it with a butcher's knife. It was sort of a cold war. Scared but not wanting to lie she silently nodded her head waiting with bated breath for his reaction.
"Don't worry," he said sensing her fear, "I'm not going to kill you or something," he said much to her relief. "I think war is pointless."
There was a moment's silence.
"This place is beautiful isn't?" Syaoran asked trying to start a new conversation.
"Yeah," Sakura agreed, "I love the cherry blossoms,"
"Sakura means cherry blossom doesn't it?"
"They were my mother's favorite flowers," she said smiling slightly
Flashback
"Monster, monster" yelled a ten year old Touya running in the garden chased by a four year old Sakura.
"I'm not a monster, big brother" she shouted at him and ran up to Hiroshi, "He's calling me a monster, Hiro" she cried, her big emerald eyes full of tears.
"Touya stop it" Hiroshi said kneeling down in front of Sakura to comfort her.
"Am I as ugly as a monster?" she asked.
"No of course not, you're as pretty as a cherry blossom"
"Cherry blossom?"
"That's what your name means. Sakura means cherry blossoms. They are mom's favorite flowers"
"Mama likes me so she named me Cherry blossom?"
Hiroshi nodded smiling at his sister; Sakura stuck her tongue out at Touya,
"I'm a cherry blossom, not a monster"
"Cherry blossom or not, you'll always be a monster"
End of flashback
"Sakura?" a voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Huh?... Oh sorry Your Majesty. I guess I spaced out a bit," Sakura mumbled blushing a little.
"You don't have call me your majesty every time, I have a name you know, so call me Syaoran"
"Alright, your—I mean Syao—Syaoran" she stammered.
Syaoran laughed at the way she fumbled to say his name,
"Is my name that hard to pronounce?"
"No, no…" she said surprised to hear him laugh. "I hope you don't mind me asking but why are so cold sometimes?" she asked hesitantly.
Syaoran grinned sheepishly and replied, "This might sound a little dumb…but for the past one year my mother has been pestering me to get married. It's not that I don't want get married, I just want to wait for the right person, if you can understand what I mean." Sakura nodded, a little puzzled wondering why he must get married so soon. Why, her brothers were way older than him and her parents and never tried forcing them to get married.
"And all the princesses who have come recently just want to marry me for my money and looks. I don't want a wife who is snobby or conceited, I want to marry someone I like, I really like," he said softly. "That's why I put on a cold exterior that drives people away," he added smiling.
"It isn't a dumb reason. I'd do the same thing if I were in your position," Sakura said earnestly, "It's amazing how different you are now. It's like there are two people in the same body,"
Syaoran stared at her amused. "I guess that sounded dumb huh?" she asked looking a little embarrassed.
"No it sounded just perfect especially coming from an innocent person like you," he said. A little shade of pink appeared on her cheek which was replaced by a perplexed look, "Was that a compliment?"
Syaoran laughed again, "Think of it whatever you like," There was another moment of silence. "So tell me how did you find this place?"
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind what I asked. It's just not many people come to this place,"
"Why not?"
"My mother told me that when my ancestors built this place, they built this secret garden but only a few people can see it, the garden almost seems to be invisible to some people. I don't know why,"
"That's amazing!"
"Yeah so do have any magical powers?"
"I'm not sure. My mom said that every one has magical powers. But our magical powers are influenced by our emotions. When we experience strong emotions, good or bad we can draw our magical powers."
"What use are these magical powers?"
"Depends on what we want. Positive emotions like friendship or love create constructive powers. For instance if someone very close to you is going to die or something and if you really care about this person then you can use your powers to save them. And negative emotions like jealousy and hatred create destructive powers. Some times these powers can even destroy an entire city," Sakura sighed wondering if this was the reason her home town was destroyed. Again his voice interrupted her thoughts.
"That sounds interesting, mysterious rather. Kind of like the mystic valley of the butterflies," Syaoran said thoughtfully. Sakura jumped on hearing that name, "You know something about the mystic valley?"
"Well…" Syaoran began.
Author's note: That's it for now. I hope this chapter is long enough for you. Sorry for the delay. I got caught up with my practical exams. I'll try my best to post the next chapter ASAP. And don't forget to drop a review!
Signing off,
sakura doll.