The Lost Princess

A/N: thanks to chainedheart999 for the suggestion…^^ anyway, here's the next chap… as usual.. reviews please…^_^

Chapter 2

Syao was infront of his locker, getting some stuff out when he heard a greeting from behind.

"Morning, Syao." It was Chiharu, a friend of his. She proceeded to her locker which was just be3side his and unlocked it.

"How's the weekend, Chi?" he asked, closing his locker with a bang.

Chiharu flinched at the loud sound before shrugging and withdrawing some books.

"Morning, guys!" came a much too cheerful voice from afar. They shifted their gazes and saw the ever smiling Sakura.

"What's up, you two?" Sakura asked when she was already beside them.

"We were just talking about the weekends, Saku." Chiharu informed the newcomer with an amused grin.

"Superb!" came a booming voice.

This took them all in surprise but only Sakura flinched. Syao and Chiharu chuckled at Sakura's reaction. The newcomer was Yamazaki – one of the too many guys who wanted to annoy Sakura, actually, one of the two guys who wanted to annoy Sakura.

Sakura glared at Yamazaki in reproach and Yamazaki just stuck out his tongue at her and grinned smugly.

"Takashi!" Sakura protested in outrage, reaching for him to inflict her retaliation but he ran away, so she ran after him.

"Guys! Remember, no running on the hallways!" came Syao's reminder between fits of laughter

He watched as Takashi ducked and avoided Sakura's clutches, as Sakura tried to catch Takashi and instead of her catching him, the end result was the opposite, Takashi managed to catch her by the waist from the back and Sakura shrieked her protest. Her long auburn hair had gone loose from its braid and wisps of it were covering her flushed face. Not for the first time did Syaoran admire Sakura's beauty

XXX

Sakura was already out of breath when they started trudging to their classroom. Takashi was unbearable because he didn't stop tickling her until she was down on the floor.

She shook her head in amusement and freed her hair from the braid. She combed it with her fingers and it fell gracefully down her back. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She noticed that Syaoran was looking at her, a wicked and smug grin on his lips. She stuck out her tongue at him playfully. To her surprise, instead of retaliating, Syaoran reached out a hand to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind an ear. She raised a brow at his action and he just shrugged nonchalantly.

Suddenly, someone tickled her from behind and she jumped away. It was Takashi!

"Takashi!" she protested.

"Couldn't help it." He just reasoned out.

XXX

It was already their English class and the teacher was discussing their project. Sakura was so bored especially because the teacher's droning voice was monotonous. Despite this, she still listened while twirling her pencil between her fingers.

Suddenly, a crumpled paper landed on her lap and she turned around to see who it was. She saw Takashi raising his brows at her in approval. She raised a brow at him sternly and reproachfully before turning her gaze on her lap and unfolding the piece of paper...

"Syao said that we have another mission… It's quite challenging… Want to join? – Takashi"

Sakura rolled her eyes at this annoyingly, then scribbled something on it, just below Takashi's message…

"Sure, why not? But next time, wait for the teacher to leave! – Sakura"

Then she crumpled it again and passed it to Chiharu who was sitting beside her and scribbling nonsense on her notebook.

Later, it was returned to her and she saw Chiharu's unmistakable writing, which read:

"Sure! It'll be wonderful! – Chiharu"

She grinned at Chiharu's eager reply before throwing it at Takashi when their teacher had turned her back on them.

XXX

"So, what's our next mission?" came Chiharu's over-excited voice that lunch time. They were sitting on the grassy slope surrounding the school's soccer field.

"Well… we've been hired by no other than the Clow King…" came Takashi's brag.

The two girls looked at him in total disbelief.

"Yeah, right, Yamazaki!" came Chiharu's sarcasm when she had recovered, arms crossed.

"We're not stupid, Takashi." Sakura added with an amused grin at Takashi's ploy.

"I'm not lying." Takashi stated simply and seriously but the girls still didn't believe him.

"That's what you get for always lying, Takashi." Finally came Syaoran's amused comment, slapping Takashi's back.

"You mean he isn't lying?" came Chiharu's wide-eyed inquiry.

"For the record, he's not." Ice affirmed.

The two girls stared at them in shock.

"Wow!" came Chiharu's quiet murmur when she had recovered from her shock.

"It's really nice to have connection." Chiharu added quietly.

"So, what's this mission about?" came Sakura's composed voice after a moment.

Straight to business as usual, eh, Saku?" Takashi chuckled at Sakura's brisk and formal tone.

"Anyway, His Majesty wants us to aid his countless spies, detectives and others to look for the Reed Princess…" he continued.

"You mean, the Reed royalties are alive?" came Chiharu's shock.

"It seems so but Queen Nadeshiko died in childbirth and the princess is missing…" Syaoran was the one who explained.

"But, we're amateurs… Why us..?" came Sakura's odd voice.

"Well… We've solved quite a lot already and we have the skills…" Takashi stated, sheepishly.

"Takashi…?" Chiharu said suspiciously, knowing that Takashi was hiding something from them.

"He asked his father to beg the king to let us join in this mission." Syaoran was the one who spoke the truth Takashi was hiding.

"Oh-kay." Finally came Chiharu's understanding.

"But, why ask the civilians to do this work? Isn't it the prince's duty to find her? I mean, why is he just sitting there doing nothing?" came Sakura's controlled voice.

"He's the one in-charge, Saku. He's overseeing all these…" Syaoran explained carefully.

"If so, why isn't he the one explaining these things to us. Why isn't he here infront of us?" came her other inquiry, eyes at Syaoran, challenging him to answer.

Takashi and Chiharu looked at each other when they saw Sakura's fierce emerald eyes, her care-free aura totally lost that it seems somebody else had taken over her body.

"He has other things to do than bother with such little things, Saku… Besides, Takashi volunteered our group for this job." Syaoran reasoned out, not taking his intense brown gaze at Sakura.

"They're totally useless. We don't need royalties who only think of themselves." She commented half to herself but nonetheless, the others heard it.

"You've always been fair, Saku. What's with your unusual hatred with the royalties?" that was a taboo question and Syaoran's voicing it out made Sakura's emerald eyes darken considerably.

"None of your business, Li." She snapped, stood up then walked away from the group.

"Sorry about that, guys." Syaoran turned to the other two.

"It's okay, pal. We were also wondering about her unusual dislike of royalties but we really don't like to voice that out." Takashi assured the also serious guy.

"Yeah, you're really the only one who can confront her when she is in one of her moods." Chiharu added quietly.

"Anyway, what I really wanted to say was that the King invited us to the palace this vacation to have defense training." Takashi informed the remaining two.

They both nodded their understanding.