I do not own Tsubasa or any of their wonderful characters, although Sammy Featherstone is my own creation.

~Featherstone

Chapter 8

Before I had a chance to even let my mind process the information, the ground and its cluttered features collided with my body. A crate had 'cushioned' the impact and quite a few of the nails had grazed over my arm, even enough to draw a bit of blood. I sat up and looked at my arm with disinterest before gazing around at the area we had landed in. The now destroyed market place had paused due to the sudden interruption of invaders crashing down and demolishing a stall with several onlookers obviously stunned. I scanned past the people and saw a fortress like building lingering in the distance along with some houses. I heard a groan and then Kurogane broke the silence.

'Eh? Where are we now?'

The others had landed behind me and were starting to sit up, dazed and confused. Fai had managed to hold onto his staff and grinned.

'Wah! Everyone is looking at us!'

'Mokona is the centre of attention!'

I looked in front again and saw a different group of people now looking at us; men armed with sticks and an assortment of weapons. To say it made me uncomfortable was an understatement, although my vocabulary didn't seem to produce any more adjectives which could increase your understanding of how I felt. A man in red and gold clothes walked forward, asserting his authority within the group, anger etched on his face. I should have been worried, yet the anger made him look like a frustrated pig.

'Who the hell are you? Answer me! Where did you come from?'

The childish thought of him resembling an animal caused a slight smirk to spread on my lips, which turned out to be a bad idea, considering that the man noticed. I'm guessing he thought I was taking him as a joke, which I was, and for some reason he didn't like it. He walked forward, grabbed onto my arm, pulled me off the ground and shouted in my face.

'You appear here and mock me! Where did-'

As I was preparing to punch the man in the jaw a foot collided with his face before I got the chance. The man realised my grip as he went flying backwards, the onlookers quickly moving to avoid being crushed by the brute. It turns out, the foot belonged to Syaoran. Great, so now I have been rescued multiple times by this group. I would like to say that my pride hadn't been affected greatly due to my lack of being enthused by anything, yet relying on people is something which I detest. I can safely say that I am getting frustrated with having to rely on them to get me out of precarious situations.

'You! Do you realize who you just kicked?'

Pig face got off the floor and, backed up by his minions, started advancing towards us - one could assume that this was a bad situation. I decided to start thinking of a plan of negotiation, when a rather ominous figure shouted off the top of a roof.

'Stop!'

It seemed to work; everyone became distracted and turned their heads towards the source of the noise.

'Don't mess around with people you don't know, you dumbass!'

It turned out that the voice belonged to a young girl, which took most of the group by surprise. The man with the animal features turned away from us and shouted back at the girl, obviously there was a connection between the two of them, probably not friendly.

'Chunhyang! Who did you just call dumb?'

Chunhyang smirked and then mimicked looking around her.

'Besides you, who else is dumb around here?'

I could have given her a few names. The man got frustrated and started to curse under his breath when the men who had stood with him started shouting back at the girl.

'How rude! He is the son of Ryanban, ruler of Koryo!'

Chunhyang didn't seem to care and carried on with the insults which were pouring out of her mouth.

'Even though he is the Ryanban, he was just a homeless magician one year ago!'

The insult towards this 'Ryanban' caused the man to become severely angered, even more so than when he was the bearer of the personal attacks.

'How dare you say something like that about my father! You should know what will happen if you say something against the Ryanban, Chunhyang!'

The girl's tough demeanour vanished and a fleeting moment of distress plastered over her appearance. The men turned with their leader and started to walk away, shouting back at the girl for dramatic effect.

'I'll come back for revenge! So watch out!'

The scene was interesting to watch, although I would have preferred to have landed further behind the group, so that I could have been away from the reach of the man.

'Are you hurt?'

'I'm fine.'

I turned around to see Sakura looking at Syaoran, obviously concerned about his moment of heroics. I was surprised at how well Syaoran was holding up, considering that Sakura had no memory of him. I presume it was a touching relationship, now destroyed, before the witch had taken his price. The townspeople started to regain their normal routines and began to start talking and walking.

'Wow! Just a moment ago everyone was looking at us.'

Fai seemed quite happy with the attention he received, whilst Mokona was copying the kick which Syaoran had performed. I looked down at the mess on the floor and picked up one of the bizarre looking vegetables which had fallen from the now demolished crates. Syaoran noticed and began to panic at the destruction we had caused.

'Oh! I'm sorry, you were selling these!'

They all began to start picking up the produce and placing them into intact crates so that the store holder may be able to sell them again. I was surprised that no one had questioned the fact that we had fallen out of the sky, just accepted.

'Mokona will help!'

'Oh, Kuro-pin, help pick these up!'

Kurogane stomped towards Fai brandishing the book which he had bought from the hanshin republic as a weapon.

'What, you are so annoying! She isn't doing anything!'

He was referring to me, so I decided to try and calm his shouting by picking up some of the vegetables and placing them in a half empty crate. The rest of the people working in their stalls had stopped what they were doing to help clean up the mess and were having conversations amongst themselves.

'Those idiots, doing all kinds of evil things around the market place!'

'When the amenosa arrive this town will be saved.'

I could see the girl Chunhyang helping along with the rest of the people, quite clearly distressed. I think I may have stared at her for too long, as she turned her head round, stared back, looked at the rest of the group and then finished with a blunt statement.

'You look weird.'

I looked down at the clothes I was wearing, a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. The others were all in the clothes which I had first seen them in. To be fair, I don't think anyone would have looked at our group and think we were normal. Fai burst out laughing whilst the others looked slightly bemused.

'Ahahahahaha… Weird! Then it must be Kuro-rin who looks weird!'

'If I'm weird, then you are too!'

I turned my attention back towards the girl and she suddenly walked towards us.

'Are you… Come with me!'

Chunhyang grabbed onto the arm of the sleepy princess and started to run off with her through the market place. Syaoran dropped the crate he was carrying and started running after the two girls.

'Please wait!'

Fai grabbed his staff and started forward.

'Where is she going?'

Kurogane, Fai, Mokona and I ran after them, trying to keep sight of them as they ran through the town. Running is not my best skill, yet it seems that I can't go a few hours without having to break into a sprint.

'I'm sick of this!'

Kurogane was just ahead of me and was yelling about he dislike for all of the running. I silently agreed and pushed on to wherever we may end up.

xXx

'Ah, excuse me, what is this place?'

Syaoran and Sakura were sitting by Chunhyang, with syaoran intently asking questions to try and work out why the child had acted so strangely. Fai was examining some old instruments sitting on the windowsill and Kurogane was reading the book from Hanshin. I miss books, I wouldn't mind to have one right now, just so I could delve into someone else's life and forget about mine, which at the moment, is pretty crazy. After running for a prolonged period of time we finally reached a small house enclosed within a courtyard. Chunhyang still had not told us anything, but beckoned us inside the house, where I leaned against the door and waited for an explanation to why I had to run so far. Chunhyang looked at Syaoran with an intent expression and answered his question.

'This is my house… Well, don't you people have something to say?'

'Eh… Uh?'

'Don't you?'

'Actually, we just arrived in this country and then met you…' Syaoran stated.

'You really don't have anything to say?'

'No… Nothing… that…'

Chunhyang hung her head and sighed.

'Thinking about it carefully, I suppose there's no way these kids could be the Amenosa.'

Sakura, still sleepy, rubbed her eye and then spoke.

'Amenosa?'

'The Amenosa are spies who work for the government! They investigate each region and each region's Ryanban… And if those Ryanban are indulging in their personal interests or greed they make sure that the Ryanban don't oppress people using political pressure either… They travel from country to country, doing their job.'

Mokona seemed to recognise what Chunhyang was talking about and bounded up in the air.

'It's Koumon Mito!'

I have never heard of what Mokona was speaking about, and judging by the looks on everyone else's faces, neither had they. Despite this, Mokona kept on talking.

'Yuuko likes the first generation of Koumon Mito the most!'

Chunhyang started pointing at Mokona and seemed to be in shock.

'What is that thing? I thought about it before… How can the white thing talk?'

Fai quickly moved from the window and halted her thoughts by distracting her with questions about the Amenosa.

'I see, you thought that we are the Amenosa! Er…'

'It's Chunhyang.'

'Chunhyang is it? I'm Fai and, this is Syaoran, this is Sakura and also, that's Kuro-puu!'

'It's Kurogane!'

I looked at Kurogane and Mokona fighting over his name and then quickly added my name into the list.

'I'm Sammy.'

Fai nodded and then decided to add some extra information.

'She doesn't talk much, so don't bother trying. Trust me, I did try.'

I glared at him and then quickly stopped when I noticed a creaking noise coming from outside, all around the house. Everyone stood up and then Fai changed his tone.

'Is that the wind?'

'Don't go outside!'

Chunhyang shouted out to all of us, but her shout was quickly drowned out by the wind which ripped open the doors. Unfortunately for me, I was standing right next to a door which was forced open and swung inwards. I tried to turn and block the impact with my arms, yet the force of the wind prevented me, so I was greeted by the door hitting me on the back of my head and various other parts of my anatomy.

xXx

I'm back in the empty void, yet there is no light guiding me this time. I can't move either, I'm bound by something. I can try struggling, yet it is no use. Someone is watching me, although I can't make out their features. I try to speak and my voice does not come at first, I have little energy. I try again and it comes out in gasps.

'He… Help… Me…'

The figure just stands there, watching.

'… Please…'

The person hangs their head and turns away, walking further and further into the void until I'm left alone. I don't look away from the spot where they vanished, hoping for something to appear again.

'Please… come back…'

xXx

I opened my eyes to find myself looking into the night sky. It's quite pretty, an expanse of galaxies and planets, always making me feel insignificant. I would like to know why I am looking at the sky, and also why it is dark. I was pretty sure that it was light the last time I checked.

'Stop murmuring in your sleep, it's distracting.'

Kurogane was leaning against the wall in the corner of Chunhyang's room. So that's it, I must have been knocked out, so the hole in the roof must have been damage from the wind. If someone is knocked out, or feints, you should never let them sleep, they may slip into a coma. The rest of the group were all asleep in the room, apart from Kurogane who seemed to be a light sleeper. I pushed the cover off myself and slowly stood up, taking care not to fall over and made my way towards the door.

'Where you going?'

I placed a hand on the handle and then turned around slightly to speak to Kurogane.

'Just out, I won't get back to sleep.'

He nodded and then lowered his head again to go back to sleep. I opened the door and then welcomed the cool breeze. My back and head were aching from being struck, although after a small walk around the gardens it started to wear off. I didn't want to think about any of them having to move me to where I ended up, although it kept wondering through my mind. I wouldn't sleep, not after a dream like that again. After walking round a few more times, I started to get tired of the reoccurring scenery and decided to find a good place to gaze at the stars. An old ladder was connected onto the side of Chunhyang's house so I climbed it to the roof, taking care to steer clear of the hole which would cause a nasty injury if I were to fall through it. Finally, some time to alone, just to think, and take a break. I lied down on the roof and lifted up my arm and ran my hand over some of the scars which were slowly collecting. A knife wound from where this all started, lines on my knuckles where I punched a kid, nail marks from the crates. A new wound also greeted my eyes in the shape of a bandage and gouge. Either I got it when I fell over from being knocked down or when some debris struck me. I'm not exactly what you would call strong, or a fighter. To be honest, I don't think I am much use to this group. I never wanted to be in debt to anyone, yet over the past few days, I've now become in debt to most of the group. All my life spent on studying for a job, yet I end up here, where nothing that I have learnt can help me. Logic is messed up. I don't like it.