Chapter 9.
After saying goodbyes in the land of Korio, they were being transferred into another dimension again by Mokona. Arriving at a new world, they were surprised to see a huge lake right in front of their eyes, and were only surrounded by the lush, green forest.
"There is no sign of people around…" Fai wondered. "Mokona, can you sense any of Sakura-chan's feathers?"
"I detect a strong power…" Mokona spoke, "underneath the lake."
Kurogane frowned. "You don't expect us to dive in there, do you?".
"W-wait!" Suddenly a sweet, female voice came from behind them.
It was Sakura. As she was coming near and muttered something, she immediately fell asleep right then and there. Fortunately, Kurogane caught her just in time.
"She was trying so hard to stay awake at Chunhyan's place. Guess she reached her limit." Fai reprimanded, smiling his signature smile.
"Well," Nazaiya said, "if you guys wanna go and look around, I can stay here and look out for her."
Syaoran nodded. "I'll stay, too."
"It's decided then." Fai exclaimed, "Me and Kuro-rin will go look around~"
After setting a small fire to warm up a bit, Fai and Kurogane began to venture in the woods, with Mokona tagging along. Seeing that they were starting to lose in sight, Nazaiya looked at the worried Syaoran.
"If you wanna go in there to check out what's in the water, I guess you should go now." Nazaiya suggested, pointing towards the lake.
Syaoran looked at her for a moment. "Is it alright?"
"Of course," she nodded, "I'll keep an eye on her so don't worry."
As Syaoran stood up from sitting and prepared himself to go in the lake, he looked over at the girl. "Thanks, Nazaiya-san."
She replied with a smile, before waving Syaoran as he jumped into the lake, leaving the place in silence.
Nazaiya looked up and realized that it was getting dark, and colder. Fog was starting to make its way on the lake, but she could still clearly see around her. Better yet, she sensed a presence of someone she knew well. She stood up, looking suspiciously around her.
"It's just the two of us now, so you better come out." Nazaiya spoke. "But don't make noises, or you'll wake the princess up."
It took a while, before she saw a figure right in front of her eyes. The figure smirked, as if mocking her.
"I thought I told you not to follow me anymore, Ryoji." Nazaiya frowned, feeling annoyed.
"I wasn't following you. I just happen to be on the same place as you, Nazaiya." He said with a smile.
"That couldn't be possible. How come we can meet each other on the same dimension twice? I don't think this is a coincidence." She answered with suspicious eyes.
Ryoji wasn't even bothered to answer her. Smirking again, he began to move forward, as if to attack her. Noticing his change of pace, Nazaiya quickly dodged and jumped away as he lunged forward to slash her with his short sword. She stepped back slowly, making sure she's keeping a distance from the guy.
As she noticed the change in Ryoji's eyes, Nazaiya knew well what was coming for her. Ryoji kept getting near her to attack, and she kept dodging away and jumping around. Finally he stopped attacking as Nazaiya landed right in front of Sakura, who was sleeping soundly under a tree. Nazaiya gasped for air, her stamina was running out. Ryoji put his sword away, folding his arms in satisfaction.
"I see you have been training well, Nazaiya." Ryoji said, as if it was a compliment.
"Are you trying to kill me?!" she said in between breaths.
"Nope, just testing you. You learn a lot from your friends, eh?" He mocked, "Did that mage thought you anything?"
"He is a wizard!" she argued, "and you don't have the right to say anything about my friends!"
"I wasn't even badmouthing them, you know? And he is not a wizard."
"Shut up, Ryoji. Go back to Shadow Valley. If you stay away too long from home, you'll die. That's your curse right?" Nazaiya couldn't help but to mention it. After all, this guy did grew up with her.
The smirk on Ryoji's face was starting to fade. Slowly, he took a dagger from inside his cloak that was similar to hers, before aiming at her face. Nazaiya gasped in surprise, but she was ready to dodge it. As if he was concentrating, Ryoji then aimed the dagger at the sleeping Sakura. Before Nazaiya could do anything, he threw it across and hoped that it'll hit the poor princess.
Like an instinct, Nazaiya reached out for the dagger and stopped it right before it hits Sakura's cheek. A drip of blood fell down on the ground from her hand, as she realized that she stopped the dagger by holding its blade. Holding back the pain, she threw the dagger across the ground, making it land right in front of Ryoji's feet. The guy looked at the dagger with uninterested eyes, before staring at her intently.
"You didn't use your powers at all today. Did someone told you not to?" he asked.
Nazaiya hesitated for a second. Somehow, just somehow, she could sense the worry and care in his voice. A part that she had never seen of the guy even a lot of years ago.
"I choose not to." She answered, half-lying.
As if sighing in regret, he turned around with a click of his tongue. Without saying a word, he began to walk away as the fog thickens. He then vanished, as if he was never there.
As he was out of sight, Nazaiya hissed at the pain on her hand. She looked at her bleeding palm, noticing a trace of cut. She jumped a bit when Sakura slightly shifted in her sleep, and Nazaiya was scared if in any case, one of them were to know what happened.
Quickly, she stepped on the little tiny spots of blood on the ground and covered it with dirt. She then went to the dagger, picked it up, before throwing it into the bushes. Realizing that everything was settled, she sighed in relief. The only thing left was her bleeding palm. It looked worse than it felt, but the pain still aches, with blood dripping from where she wounded. There's going to be a scar for sure, she thought.
Just then, the lake shone with a powerful light from underneath. She was mesmerized for a second, but she knew that this would mean that the group would come together soon here. If they saw her wound, they may be wondering.
Right at the corner of her eye, she saw some long, plant leaves sticking out from the bushes. She had never seen them, and she doesn't even know if they're good for her, but she thought that it'll do for the time being. She pulled some of the leaves and wrapped it around her hand, even though she couldn't stop the bleeding. It actually worked at covering her wound up with the many leaves she had been pulling off from the bushes, but that'll have to do for now. Footsteps were heard, and Nazaiya took a deep breath, ready for whatever's going to come.
After Mokona teased Syaoran about Sakura being unconscious when Syaoran just got out of the water, and after he ran quickly just to know that Sakura was just asleep, everyone was gathered around the fire to relax a bit. It was getting dark and cold, but the fire warms them just fine.
Looking at the worried Syaoran, Fai couldn't help but speak;
"Syaoran, we will all try to find Sakura's feathers, right? If so, you should relax a bit. Don't think about all those unhappy things all the time, otherwise you would not be able to forget even if you want to. You can smile, you can be happy. No one would get mad if you do, Syaoran-kun. Someone will feel happy for you."
Sitting quietly just across Fai, Nazaiya looked at the wizard as he spoke those words. His eyes were lonely when he said it, and she thought that what he said was as if, for her, or at least, for himself. She then looked at Syaoran, who looked like he was reminiscing something before suddenly smiling.
"Syaoran is smiling!" Mokona exclaimed happily, "Mokona is very happy!"
"Of course! Me too, and Kuro-pin too~" Fai said happily.
"I have nothing to do with it!" Kurogane looked away.
Nazaiya let out a little smile. "I'm happy too."
"Waahh, Mokona saw Nazaiya-chan smiling as well~" the fluffy ball sang.
Just then, Sakura woke up. Quickly standing up, Sakura began to run to the lake, claiming that Syaoran's might be in there. Syaoran managed to stop him, and they both looked at each other, feeling relieved. Everyone then stood up, looking at the two. It was a silly exchange, actually.
"Sakura-chan," Fai said, "I know you're worried because you don't have all of your memory right now. But just try to enjoy this journey. After all, it's not easy for us to be together like this." He then smiled at everyone, satisfied with his own words.
Smiling, Sakura then promised to do her best in the journey. And again, Syaoran looked like he was reminiscing.
"And everyone," Nazaiya suddenly spoke, "I'm sorry… Back in the previous country, I didn't know what got into me. I really don't. It was rude of me…" she looked down with regret. "There are just a lot of things happening since we started this journey and I..."
Suddenly, Nazaiya looked up and saw Sakura coming close to her. Before either of them could say anything, she felt like she was being hugged by the said princess.
"Sakura-san…?" Nazaiya trailed off, a confused look on her face.
"It's okay, Nazaiya-san." Sakura said, "Mokona told me about it earlier. You don't have to feel bad. As Fai-san said, it's not easy for all of us to be together like this. And after all, we are both girls."
Speechless, Nazaiya slowly wrapped her arms around the princess, appreciating her company. Though she was utterly shocked, she had nothing to say.
After pulling away, Sakura smiled at her, before slowly holding both of Nazaiya's hands.
"Earlier…" Sakura started, "was someone else here?"
Hearing Sakura's words, Nazaiya's eyes widened in surprise. Syaoran, Fai and Kurogane looked at each other, and Mokona made a worried face.
"Someone else…?" Nazaiya asked back, tilting her head.
"Yes," the princess nodded, "when I was asleep,I felt like there is a presence of someone… a stranger. I was worried, that's why…"
Sakura turned her attention to Nazaiya's injured hand. Nazaiya didn't know how to answer the princess' question for a bit, and retreated her hand with a smile. The others noticed of her hand long ago, but she only gave a stupid little lie of, "I hurt myself from the thorns of some plants," in which, none of them wanted to ask further.
"The important thing is I managed to look after you well for a while, Sakura-san. So don't worry!" Nazaiya assured the younger girl. It's not like she lied or told the truth, she was avoiding answering and that was the best thing she could say. Sakura replied with a smile as well, and she didn't ask anything further.
After some more talking, everyone then was prepared to move into another world. As everyone stood close, Fai lowered his head to whisper at the girl he was looking intently at since just a while ago.
"What exactly happened to your hand, Nazaiya-chan?"
Gulping, she slowly answered with a whisper. "Something happened, but it was under my control."
"In control as always, I see." He playfully said.
The blond smiled in approval of the her answer, before standing straight up again. "Looks like Nazaiya-chan is going to be one controlling freak, hyuu~!" He teased, before being hit lightly on the arm by the said girl.
To be continued…