Bound with you

By Zilver Wings

Chapter 2

The Spontaneous Decision

Tomoyo took one look at the clock, stood up from her seating position, and began to stalk, restless.

It was well past ten at night, Sakura should have come home long ago, especially since she is new here. Could something have happened to her? It would only get more dangerous when the night grew longer.

She closed her eyes and tried not to think of all the possibilities that could've happened to her cousin: Sakura wanderering astray into the dark woods, rolled down a hill and lost consciousness, being kidnapped by the Snow Wolf.

Nah, of all the possibilities, the last one couldn' t have happened. Sakura isn't anyone rich or famous, and the Snow Wolf is only after the landlord, who lives miles away from their home.

But still... Tomoyo has been known for being a composed and dignified woman, not a worry freak. But when it comes to her cousin, it was a totally different matter.

Another five minutes had passed by.

An hour. She would wait for another hour before planning her next move.

---

"What is that thing in your arms? A girl?!"

A bespectacled, navy-haired man in his early 20s turned his chair to the right and yelled at the door, which was kicked open to reveal a dark figure walking in calmly, carrying an unconscious girl in his arms, half hidden under the tunic.

The man rambled on. "You know this is our secret quarters, no one except you and me should know about this place or we will be in grave danger. If you are sex-craved, you can just leave this place anytime to satisfy your need. And is that girl drugged? How could you!"

"Urusai, Eriol." The features of the figure started to show as the light shone on him. It was a man of similar age as the man called Eriol. He was dressed rather oddly in a forest green tunic and tight black garments, including his boots, showing off his slender figure. On his face was a brown, worn leather mask with intricate designs covering half of his tanned face, leaving only his nose, his mouth and his blazing brown eyes in sight. His chestnut hair, which was always unruffled and wild, made him look fresh out of bed. It seemed to be the only thing that was undisciplined about him.

His footsteps resounded through the small room, which was basically empty except for the weak lighting, a few furniture and the two computers Eriol was using feverishly before his friend entered the room. It was an abandoned wooden house they found on a knoll by chance. Part of the roof was broken, so was the furniture. In fact, the house looked as if it might collapse any second.

The man scoffed. Secret quarters, what a grand name, so unsuited for this rathole of a place. Oh well, they wouldn't be staying here for long anyway, there wasn't the need to brood over it.

He calmly walked to a chair and gently settled the fainted girl onto it, who was bound tightly by rope around the hands and ankles.

"I did not kidnap her because of whatever unmoral thoughts you have in that perverted mind of yours. She's a foreigner to the village, and she saw me after I finished the job yestrday. She even remembered my face and drew a sketch of me. Do you think it's safe to let her ramble around the village and talk about it to the first person she sees? I don't think so, so shut up."

Eriol grew silent. But started again after a few seconds.

"But Syaoran, what are we going to do with her? It's not practical to take her with us, she'll be a burden. And even if we do, there's a possibility she might escape and disclose information on us."

It was a pragmatic question. Anyone would have thought about that.

But obviously, the kidnapper hadn't. He froze in his actions of shrugging off his tunic. Eriol was right. What were they going to do with her? In the flurry of events, he hadn't thought much except thinking of ways to shut her up, and kidnapping was the first thing that came to his mind. Thinking back, it sounded really stupid to have spent the night thinking about how he could kidnap the girl and keep her hidden away from the general public without considering the consequences. He wasn't usually that simple-minded.

Oh well, only two hours have passed. There should be at least an hour or so before she wakes up, he would come up with a solution, somehow.

Eriol, knowing he was being ignored, as usual, sighed and continued with his work on the computer.

Syaoran disposed his tunic onto the floor carelessly after untying the knot, turning to look at the girl in the process, and couldn't help examining her.

He knew she was called Sakura by that ebony-haired friend of hers, but never took time to examine her until now. The mission yesterday had drained him of his energy, and he had fallen asleep on a tree in a remote park soon after leaving her.

Her eyes were closed, so he couldn't see the colour, but judging by the lid of her eyes, he could gather her eyes were pretty big, with long lashes. Her skin was rather dark compared to the usual pale skinned ones he usually sees, since being white was the icon of beauty in the current times. For what reason, he didn't know, nor did he care. After all, he has never been close to any female creature, well, except for his four hyper sisters, the last who left him for an arranged marriage when he was merely eight. His mother wasn't exactly close to him, only appearing when she wanted him to follow her instructions.

Ironic how people always thought him as untamed as a wild duck when he had been living under the short leashes of his mother's reins for his whole life. Even all this tedious work he was doing was all because of her, the Queen of Manipulation. But, compared to all the years of non-stop physical training, doing these missions was a fresh change. At least, he wasn't bound inside that large mansion of his anymore, having his every move watched. Tracked even.

He went back to the girl. Her mouth was small and pouting, and her delicate face still hadn't rid itself of the baby fat. If it weren't for the curves on her body, he could have easily misjudged her as a girl of fourteen or so. Ironically, even though their demeanors seemed completely different, both of them had that natural, annoying chestnut-colored bed hair. But at least, hers looks good on her, unlike his. Or so he thought.

She was a light girl, so he was quite surprised to find her, though slight, had rather muscular arms and legs under her knee-length pink dress, for a girl. He had thought she was a girl with a rich background, he guessed he was wrong. Only girls in the countryside, who had to do heavy workload would develop muscles like these. Luckily, the girl's muscles didn't make her look bulky, just healthy and more shapely. He approved more of her now. He just couldn't stand those rich, whiney, materialistic, stuck up, self-centred, wailing after breaking a nail, gossiping, (the list continues on) girls. Well, namely his stupid ex-fiancee his mother had forced upon him years ago, who was so clingy and annoying that he kept on playing pranks on her behind his mother's back and finally got the engagement called off. Oh, did he mention the girl was so stupid she didn't even tattletale on him, but just kept on crying after he pulled prank after prank on her? So much for being a gossip queen. It was thanks to her dumbness that let him off the hook every time.

He stared into space as the memories came to him.

"Ano... where am I?"

Syaoran was startled by the sudden voice. He looked at his captive to find her already awake, staring at him with wide, curious emerald eyes. Her mouth was half-opened before, but when she saw him focus his attention on her, she immediately closed it and started to bit her lip instead.

Syaoran turned his eyes away, not quite knowing what to do. Why was she up so early? He hadn't expected it to be so soon. He was cool in other eyes, but in fact, it was because he didn't know how to communicate with others since he had been practically locked inside the mansion since he was small. The servants weren't exactly on friendly terms with him except his favorite butler, Wei. And that Eriol was just an annoying cousin of his who looked as if he couldn't live if he stopped provoking him for one darnnit day.

And really, what could he tell her? That they were still in the village, in a poorly maintained little wooden house they found by chance? Certainly not. It made them sound pathetic.

The girl, seeming to have understood she was being ignored after a few minutes, asked another question.

"Are you the Snow Wolf?"

Her voice was small, but it sounded like thunder in Syaoran's ears. Even the tappings of the keyboard stopped.

He stared hard into her eyes. How did she come to know him? Had his reputation gone so far within the land that even a fresh-in-town girl would know about him?

The girl calmed down after surveying her surroundings. Seeing that she had caught their attention, she continued the one-way Q&A session. "What are you going to do with me?"

Again, the two men took a double take. The girl was really one of a kind. They had expected her to go crying, or even screaming; one thing they would have hated, but with a captive so at peace, asking such practical questions to absolute strangers, enemies even, was unsettling and disturbing. It almost made them wonder if she had already found a way to escape this place.

The atmosphere was so dead and strained that Syaoran couldn't help but break it. So he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"You're coming with us."

Two pairs of bewildered eyes stared at him.

To be continued...

---

Long time no update, hahaha. The response of this story wasn't really good, but I 'spontaneously' wanted to update this story. I'm still thinking of the plot, although I have a clearer idea now than when I was writing the first chapter. (Yeah, I'm a lousy author, not even knowing how the story's going to turn out. But usually, when I have the full plot in my mind, I won't want to write it out anymore cause it's all in my head. It becomes meaningless as I write for my own pleasure.)

So anyway, please review, it's going to give me the power to free myself from the evil grasp of Taiwanese dramas and shows and spend more time on fanfic. lol. And if you have any suggestions to make, please be welcome, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

I'm dead-tired, gonna retire for the morning. Just skip the mistakes and pretend they don't exist. Especially the grammar, I'm sure it sucks.