Chapter 8

Bear Star Kingdom

The next morning found Sakura awake, confused, and hung over. She was lying in her bed in the hotel room- a trip she didn't remember taking. Of course, the more she thought about it, the more she realized her memories of the previous night were a bit hazy. She remembered it pouring rain, and Syaoran was there... and she was dancing to some music she couldn't remember... and the rest of it was blurry and a rush. The more she thought about it, however, the more the ache behind her eyes increased.

She gave up thinking about it for the moment, deciding instead to wait until the hangover receded, and walked out into the living room area of their room. Fai was on the mini-balcony of the window, watching people pass by below, however, as Sakura closed the door to her room, he turned back to her.

"Ah, Princess. You're finally awake," and he smiled at her, genuinely happy.

She nodded, and walked over to the window. There wasn't enough room for both of them, so she settled with watching only part of the crowd. It was then she noticed the orange hues the city had taken on; the colors of dusk. "How long was I asleep for?"

"Hmm... most of the day it seems," Fai answered, then his smile widened. "You didn't go to bed with the rest of us, did you?"

"Ah, no. Actually, I went up to the roof," she replied. "It was too hot to sleep."

"And you stayed out even in the nightly rain it seems," the magician laughed. He pointed up and to the right, and Sakura's eyes followed his finger to where her clothes were hanging on a wire. She felt her cheeks heat up as she immediately glanced downward, wondering if she'd just walked out into the living room naked and not even realized it.

Instead, she found herself in a long-sleeved shirt of some sort and a pair of shorts.

"And," Fai continued, his one golden eye twinkling in amusement. "It would seem Syaoran was the one to bring you back here."

Sakura's face turned a light shade of red, and she looked away. "I... don't remember..."

The magician's smile faltered slightly. "Well, I don't think he would've misbehaved in any way."

His meaning hit Sakura, and she felt her face heat up even more. "N-no! I know he didn't do anything."

Fai laughed, and turned back to the street. "I figured as much."

Sakura blushed again, glad the magician couldn't see her.

The awkward silence was broken by the door opening, followed by a racket of people arguing.

"But Kuroganeee, I'm hungry now!"

"Shut up, manjuu. Look, we're here. It'll just be another minute."

"Oh! Sakura's awake!"

The next thing the princess knew, the fluffy little Mokona had jumped up into her arms, laughing.

"Good morning, princess! Or would it be evening...?" a small white paw tapped its lip, then the creature gave up thinking about it and bounced happily. "Haha, Sakura smells like Syaoran!"

The blush that had faded from the princess' cheeks was suddenly back full force, and a matching look had appeared on Syaoran's face.

"Of course she does," Fai interrupted before things got too awkward. "She's wearing his clothes. Oh, I believe yours are dry now if you want to change while we get dinner ready."

Sakura nodded, handing Mokona off to the mage before quickly grabbing her clothes from the line and retreating to her room, trying to keep anyone from seeing her face.

She emerged a few minutes later, carrying Syaoran's clothes and fully dressed in her own. "Where should I put these?"

Syaoran, in the middle of setting utensils next to the plates, smiled at her. "Just on my bed would be alright."

The princess nodded and disappeared for a moment. Fai took the opportunity to edge closer to the male teenager, pretending to help him set the flatware.

"Did something happen last night?" he asked seriously, voice low enough that only Syaoran would be able to hear.

"We talked," Syaoran replied simply, voice flat, face returning to serious. No frills, no nervous waver. On the most basic level it was nothing but the truth after all.

Fai nodded in response, then returned to cooking. Kurogane, taking some of the strange vegetables they'd picked up out of the bag, eyed them, but said nothing.

Dinner was eaten in relative silence, interrupted occasionally by Mokona and Kurogane arguing over food, then the dispute being solved by Fai. After dinner, they discussed their plan; Kurogane and Syaoran had run into the man they'd met at the beginning of their journey through this world- Phaethon- and had discovered that Astron Country was a lot larger than they had previously anticipated. It was actually an empire, ruled over by a man named Solaer, but divided into five segments, four ruled by a different king in the emperor's place, and the fifth being directly under the Emperor's jurisdiction. This meant, simply, they had some traveling to do in order to find Sakura's feather. They decided they'd stock up the next day and leave the day after that before they all retired for bed.

Two days later found the group traversing a well-worn path on the only real traveling they'd had to do within a world their entire journey. They'd taken Phaethon's suggestion of renting out 'Dragonbirds' for their journey, strange creatures covered in feathers but for their muzzles, ears, feet, clipped wings, and tails, all of which instead had scales. Kurogane was stillof the opinion they were the ugliest things he'd ever seen, but they were beasts of burden and would save him walking the entire way. They'd taken three, Fai and Sakura both agreeing it would save them money if she were to ride with Fai or Syaoran instead of having her own. So their precession left, Kurogane in the lead as usual on a stormy gray mount, Fai and Sakura both on one a ruddy brownish color, and Syaoran bringing up the rear with his dark gray-green creature, Mokona riding on his shoulder.

Above them, the canopy of palm trees and other tropical plants rustled as a low-flying carriage soared past. They'd discovered one other thing about the Dragonbirds- most had their wings clipped for commercial use as the ones with their full wings were usually more temperamental and harder to control, therefore needing a special type of license to use them. Kurogane had almost been willing to go out and get the license to save time, but Fai had stepped in and stopped the argument before it had started.

"Syaoran, are you sure you're okay?" Mokona asked, and the young man blinked out of his thoughts.

He turned to the little creature and smiled. "I'm alright, really."

Mokona looked concerned, but looked down the path at another group of travelers approaching them heading towards the city they'd just left. The group seemed to be busy chatting amongst themselves as they passed. Syaoran strained his ears to listen without looking too much like he was eavesdropping.

"Did you hear? King Ursa might be making his move soon."

"Yeah, didn't he come across a mage with some stran-"

"-magic! Speaking of which, did you hear King Castor might've found a miracle cure f-"

"Hey, isn't that guy on the green Dragonbird kind of cute?"

Syaoran felt himself blush, and Mokona started giggling.

"Yeah, but he looks so serious. At least the blonde one looks like he knows how to have fun."

The amber-eyed teenager rubbed his forehead and stopped listening to the group. Mokona kept giggling.

"And what's so funny?" Kurogane turned around to look at the giggling creature.

Fai laughed as well. "Syaoran-kun's quite popular with the girls, it seems."

Syaoran could do nothing more than sink down slightly in the saddle and try to avoid eye contact with anyone.

It took a little over two weeks of traversing before they found themselves within the borders of the Kingdom Ursa Majora. It was nestled up against a large span of mountains, bordered on its opposite side by rolling, arid grasslands. The air seemed to be hotter than the last city, but it was much less humid, meaning that shade was a welcome relief when they rested in it. The nightly rain had stopped, and instead the nights were crisp, warm, and clear, giving a panoramic view of a sky dusted with stars and the moon- a larger moon than Syaoran could ever remember seeing at home.

He was glad for these nights at least, when he couldn't fall asleep easily, he'd look up into the sky and count the stars, or wonder if those little pinpoints of light were home to other worlds and other people, and it was usually enough after a while that he would be able to finally rest.

The city they arrived at- the capital of this kingdom- was not a lot different than the city they'd left behind in the previous world. All of the buildings were weathered, gray, and the whole place seemed old and tired. The citizens were nowhere near as harmless as they had been in the city of the sun, almost everyone eyed them suspiciously and with distaste, and made no point in hiding it. The sun motif was also missing from the buildings, only a single one that looked like a temple itself bore any of the carvings and pictures. From atop a hill on the far western side of the city, the palace loomed like an overbearing monarch, angry and gray, with sharp angles jutting out in every which direction.

It took them into the night to find a place to stay, and the room they were given was on a floor just below ground level- the place was divided into two rooms, one main area with two beds and a single chair, and a bathroom. It was cramped and musty and overall not very pleasant to be in but, as Fai pointed out to Kurogane's grumbling, it was a place to stay that wasn't outdoors for once.

The difficulties, they soon found, would be great. No one in the city seemed to be willing to talk to the foreigners, and voices were always lowered when they were nearby, lowering the chances they'd be able to even eavesdrop. They searched in vain for any clues as to the mysterious mage the king had employed for several days before finally giving up to re-figure their strategy. Hours of debate raged on, plans thrown up and then out, modified and reconfigured, and still nothing seemed to work. Frustrated, they finally gave up for the day. Syaoran left the room to get some fresh air while Fai and Mokona laid down to sleep and Kurogane retreated into the bathroom to clean up.

Outside, Syaoran leaned up against the side of the run-down building, feeling for a moment like it was holding him up as much as he was holding it. Footsteps from the doorway drew his attention as Sakura walked out. She paused to take a look around, and caught sight of him.

"Out for air as well?" He asked, and she looked to the sky.

"Partially. The other part being I know I won't sleep well tonight. So why try, you know?" Her gaze returned to him to find him smiling, eyes closed.

"I know all too well," He opened his eyes again, stepped forward from the building and past her by a pace, then turned around and held out his hand. "I was going to walk around a bit. Want to join me?"

Sakura looked from his hand to his face, then back again. "It's not very safe out here at night, is it?"

Syaoran shook his head, still smiling. "No. But if I ask you to go back to the room and stay there would you?"

The princess thought about that for a moment, then looked back to him and shook her head in return, reaching out and taking his hand. "Probably not."

-

A/N: You take the breath right out of me... you left a hole where my heart should be- :shot:

Hi again! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, and everyone who will in the future! I love hearing your guys' feedback. I'll have the next chapter up soonish, so keep sitting tight!