The Lost Princess
A/N: thanks for the reviews! Here's the next chap… hope you'll like it… I wish I can type faster 'cause I want you all to read the palace scenes…those are my favorites… ^_^
Chapter 3
"Hey, you two still ignoring each other?" came Takashi's inquiry a week after their heated meeting.
They were on the soccer field that hot afternoon, having a practice for the upcoming championship of the soccer league.
"Kinda…" Syaoran answered, shrugging in nonchalance as he ran after the guy possessing the ball. Takashi ran alongside him, his lips in a frown.
"It's been a week…" Takashi voiced out his observation.
"So…? We can do this for months, you know." Syaoran was starting to get annoyed, "And what do you want me to do? Apologize to her? No way. It wasn't my fault!" his tone had grown hard.
"I'm not saying it's your fault… though it's not also her fault… but you knew that she was sensitive to that particular topic, why then did you have to ask her?" Takashi wanted to know.
"I don't have to explain myself to you, Takashi." Syaoran answered shortly and simply before running faster and leaving Takashi wondering about Syaoran's strange behavior and insistence in finding out why Sakura hated the royalties.
XXX
"'Ey… You're quite early." Sakura's reverie was interrupted by Syaoran's familiar voice. She looked up from absently staring at her book and found Syaoran's inquiring and good-natured expression.
"I can say the same to you too." She replied in a light tone although her mind was a muddle.
The two of them had been inside the classroom for the past half hour but none of them acknowledged the presence of the other until Syaoran made the move.
"I'm always early… You just don't know 'cause you are always almost late." Syaoran answered with a teasing tone.
At his answer, Sakura just shrugged and returned her gaze at the book.
"Something the matter?" came Syao's concerned tone.
Sakura sighed inwardly. Syaoran always knew whenever she has problems… either he could read minds or she was just so easy to read. The reason behind it didn't really matter.
"It's nothing really." She answered, trying to put enough cheerfulness in her reply, looking up at him with a forced smile.
Her answer only made Syaoran raise a brow which told her that he wasn't buying it. He sat on the seat beside her and looked her straight in the eye. She tried to look away.
"You know I can tell when you lie or not, Saku. Those emerald eyes reveal too much." Syaoran stated simply and seriously.
A moment of silence elapsed. Then Sakura let out a defeated sigh.
"It's just a slight problem at home." She shrugged, pretending it was no big deal but Syaoran knew it was otherwise.
"Care to tell me about it?" he asked in his concerned and serious voice. Silence again.
Syaoran waited for Sakura to speak and confide in him. He knew the moment she entered the room that something was definitely weighing her down. Though he tried to ignore it and her presence as well, he couldn't because he could sense her sadness very well and it was making him worry, so he decided to approach her.
"It's father… He doesn't want me to involve myself in the Reed case… He said it's too dangerous…" came her edged explanation, hands clenched on top of her table.
At this, Syaoran couldn't seem to name the feeling that rose unbidden. He just knew it has something to do with Sakura being in danger.
"He's right… It's quite dangerous…" he agreed to her father's reasoning, wary at Sakura's would-be reaction.
He flinched nonetheless when Sakura whipped to his direction with a deadly glare.
"I can take care of myself, darn it!" she bit out, unable to control her frustration any longer.
"I know you can, Saku, but you can't help what your father's feeling… He's just protective of you…" he reasoned out logically, knowing that it was the only way to deal with Sakura's temper – reality check.
"I hate this! I want to be in on the case!" she grumbled, eyes still fierce but it wasn't directed at him but at the table.
"Don't worry, Saku. I'll talk to your father. I promised him that I'll protect you if the need arose, didn't I? Maybe he'd just forgotten." Syaoran voiced out his solution and conclusion.
"I don't need anyone's protection!" she snapped, slamming a palm hard on the surface of the table. She had looked up at Syaoran wit fire in her eyes. Syaoran's expression was one of patient tolerance and this made her temper evaporate.
"Sorry…" she apologized quietly, taking her eyes off him and looking down in total embarrassment.
Syaoran reached out, placed cool fingers beneath her chin and made her look up.
"About what?" he asked in his most understanding expression, brown eyes dancing merrily.
"Thank you…" she murmured, working out a slight but sincere smile.
