Destiny
Chapter 21
By Sakura aka Michelle
It was as if she was reliving the moment in slow moment – the princess crumpled to the ground in a dead faint after Sakura's declaration to claim the rights be the princess of Kinomoto Kingdom and that she was nothing but just a fake one. The news must have been shocking of the poor lady. Fuelled with Touya's admission about the one single characteristic of a Royal member, the blow was heavy enough to warrant extreme reaction from the imposter.
All the royal members of the Kinomoto Kingdom did have green irises, all except for Nadeshiko who had married into the family. However, their ancient records did have exceptions and how the Royalty handled them was the same as those who had married into the prestigious family – by adorning a magnificent emerald ring of unique cut on their finger, an irrefutable mark of being a royal member of the Kinomoto Kingdom.
Sakura shook out of her reverie and bent down to the crumpled form on the ground with the intention of shaking the imposter awake but Syaoran gently restrained her with a hand on her shoulder. Surprised, she turned and looked up at him questioningly. He shook his head at her then, emphasizing his stand again. As if knowing what she was asking with her eyes, Syaoran replied her unasked question.
"Better let Physician Tsukishiro check on her head before we try to move her; she did fell hard onto the ground and we wouldn't want to risk any complications, however small it may be."
Sakura's eyes turned as wide as a saucer at his statement and she whirled back to look at the imposter in horror. She had not thought that it would be that serious. The imposter certainly looked normal to her, although she did look a bit deathly pale. She was suddenly gripped by a sense of guilt; she was the cause for everything and if she had came home once the castle had been secured, none of this would have happened and the imposter would have been spared this painful agony.
Not daring to shake her after Syaoran's warnings, Sakura smoothed a fallen lock of hair over the imposter's forehead instead and stared at her face. She certainly could pass for the real princess with the same shade of auburn hair and the same petite figure. Sakura guessed that she was around her own age and to feel the betrayal of someone so close to her, it must be very devastating. Her own heart clenched at the thought of it and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. Her vision blurred considerably but felt Syaoran's tug on her and she let him pull her up from her kneeling position.
"W-was all of it my f-fault?" Sakura asked brokenly as she leaned her forehead against Syaoran's shirt, trying to hide her tears from him. His response was a crushing hug that stole her breath away.
Syaoran pulled her deeper into his embrace, adjusting her smaller form in his arms so that she fitted snugly against him when she started struggling. "Relax," he murmured soothingly into her ears and her struggles ceased immediately. "Everything is going to be fine. Don't think too much about it. We'll work things out together as it comes along."
Sakura clutching the front of his shirt as if it was her only lifeline, she nodded after a few moments of hesitation in which she tried to absorb his words. She sniffled as she tried to keep her emotions in check. Footsteps on her left made her glance towards that direction and she blinked upon seeing her brother together with the Yukitio. She was a little surprised that she had not noticed her brother's departure before. Behind them, two footmen were holding a stretcher which Sakura presumed was for the imposter. Yukito gave her a quick smile before setting himself down to work and assessed the patient with tremendous speed.
Her brother spotted the two of them huddled together, frowned intensely at them and stomped over. Hell froze over when she saw Sakura crying, her cheeks wet with her own tears. Syaoran, upon realizing his impending predicament, hurriedly reached out a hand to ward him off.
"Whatever you are thinking, it's all wrong," Syaoran said warily as he glared at Touya.
"How do you know what I am thinking?" he asked back, crossing his arms and glared back at the younger man, who was still holding onto his sister. "Do you think you are a mind reader?"
"I don't need to be a mind reader to know what you are thinking; it's all on your face," Syaoran retorted and pushed down the urge to roll his eyes at Touya.
"Why are the two of you quarrelling?" Sakura asked as she looked tearfully at Touya.
Syaoran sighed and wiped off her tears with the pad of his thumbs, irking Touya even further at the intimacy of the act. Yukito had just finished examining his patient and ordered the two footmen to bring her back to her room using the stretcher they were holding. It seemed that other than a small bump on the back of her head, she seemed fine but he would check on her a little later and see her progress. He turned just in time to see that Touya was about to pick up a fight with Syaoran and hurriedly rushed over to stop the both of them.
"I don't want to have another patient in the castle," he put himself in between the guys and warned them. Subsequently, he propelled Sakura back into her room, telling her to get dressed for breakfast with the royalties. Sakura looked worriedly over her shoulder at the bickering men and Yukito hurriedly assured her that he would take care of everything. "Not another word from either of you. Both of you are adults – act like one," he added when Sakura closed the door.
"Are you calling me childish?" Touya asked in astonishment and he whirled back in disgust. "I am Prince Kinomoto Touya! And you dared call me childish?"
"You are going to be late for breakfast if you keep that up, Prince Kinomoto," Yukito warned and quickly stepped away from him, pushing Syaoran back to the direction of his own room.
Sakura's eyes were still puffy from her earlier crying episode by the end of their first breakfast session in ten years. Even if her parents did notice her condition, nobody had brought it up and Sakura was silently grateful about it. She did not know how she would be explaining to them and would definitely break up crying again.
She still felt low for what happened to the imposter and it still ate at her whole being. She vaguely remembered that she scarcely touched her food during breakfast and had a hard time trying to placate the worried cook, who had thought that her food was not up to her liking.
"Madam, the food is really tasty," she assured yet again and patted the cook's arms gently.
The elderly cook kept on bowing respectfully to her while looking at the floor, flustered. "Miss is being too kind. You are our castle's guest. Please let me know what went wrong with the food so that I can improve on it and serve guests of our castle better food!"
"It's fine, really," Sakura repeated and looked to Touya, who was sitting on her right at the long dining table, for help since he was in the castle for a much longer period than her and therefore should know most of the castle staff. "Touya 'nii-san! Please help me say a few words!"
Surprised by the title to which Sakura called their prince, the cook peeked up at the lady whom she had presumed was the castle's guest and did a double take. She looked almost like the princess but a little different.
The voice? No… The… E-eyes!
The cook dropped to her knees in confusion and bowed in her position to touch her forehead to the ground and asked for forgiveness for her inability to serve good food. Sakura was off her seat in an instant, kneeling beside the cook and trying to push her up.
Green eyes… Royal member?
"Cook-san, please!" Sakura redoubled her efforts to pull the cook up to her feet. She felt the eyes of everyone present in the dining area on her and felt a little awkward. "The food was delicious; please do not worry yourself thinking otherwise. I'm just… not feeling well. That's all. I'll be sure to finish everything for lunch and dinner later."
"Yeah, she'll do that later," Touya whispered to the cook with a playful wink. "When the little girl feels better, she'll eat like a monster!"
Fire danced in her eyes at his words and it was directed at Touya. Before he knew it, Sakura had stomped on his foot and he went howling in pain, clutching his bruised foot in his hands as he glared at her. "I told you I am not a little girl anymore!" she seethed at him. "And I am not a monster! You are!"
"If I am a monster, then you are a monster too, since you are my sister!" He retorted and then a devilish glint lit his eyes. He grinned at her and he lunged and began tickling her sides without any warning as her revenge for injuring him. The cook looked shocked by their exchange and backed a few steps away, blinking at the bickering siblings in confusion, then she dashed back into her kitchen to spread what she had heard to the others.
Sakura gasped in shock and started twisting away from her brother's merciless attacks that seemed to go on forever, leaving her breathless from giggles and laughter. It was impossible to ward him off and in an effort to end her own torment, Sakura leapt away from own seat to put some distance between her and her brother, lost her balance and ended up on Syaoran's lap. Thanks to Syaoran's fast reflexes, he managed to pluck Sakura mid-air before she could have fallen to the ground with her sudden movements. The attacks stopped and Sakura clung on to Syaoran for support and balance by circling both her arms around his neck.
Sensing the change in the atmosphere, Fujitaka chuckled in his seat at the head of the table, patting his wife's hand on the table affectionately. "It is good to have a lively breakfast once in a while," he said heartily. "I've been really bored being cooped in the room for so long. Plus, Sakura-chan is finally back and it is about time I become active in my castle once again; the one month of rest is almost up and my leg feels fine, all thanks to Tsukishiro-sensei."
Touya returned to his seat at the dining table and remained silent for once, ignoring the couple and listening intently to his father's speech. Seeing that she would be safe from her brother, Sakura slid away from Syaoran with a grateful smile to return to her own seat. She was held back when Syaoran refused to let go of her waist.
"It's embarrassing!" Sakura whispered, feeling her cheeks heat up rapidly when he pulled her even closer to him. "Aren't you afraid that Touya 'nii-sama will beat you up? He seems to like doing that."
"He won't do anything to me as long as I have you beside me," he replied confidently and grinned when Sakura ducked her head beneath his chin to hide her face from him. He knew it would be bright pink from blushing by now. "Will you stay beside me? Forever?" he whispered the question huskily in her ears.
Sakura shivered at the unfamiliar sensation that passed through her body. "You know I will."
The door leading to the dining hall from the Royal's quarters burst open and the door crashed loudly against the wall. Sakura jumped at the sound and she whirled around to see the imposter standing there, her chest heaving with exertion and she was carrying the book, which was her family treasure!
"I am the real princess!" she shouted, waving the book wildly in the air. "I have the evidence here – the book, the family treasure of our family!"
Everyone turned to look at the imposter. Her face was still pale and the fact that she was panting means that she was trying to overexert herself. Sakura's brow furrowed with worry. The moment she spotted Sakura sitting in Syaoran's lap, she teetered on her feet, almost losing her balance and falling over her own feet.
"I have the evidence and she doesn't!" the imposter wailed loudly, enough to hurt Sakura's ears.
"The book…" Sakura started to explain and stood up. Syaoran stood beside her and grasped her hand in his to give her his support. She smiled back shyly at him before turning back to the imposter. "The book was stolen from me years ago… by Hikaru-sensei. He knew I was leaving for Hong Kong with the Lis and he took my book away from me while we were all in the inn."
"That's not true! You're lying!" the imposter accused angrily. "Hikaru-sensei will never steal from anyone! He's the nicest man I have ever known."
"Please," Fujitaka implored. "Take a seat while we have our family discussion."
Everyone watched as the imposter stumbled to an empty seat that was a few seats away from where everyone was currently seated, probably to isolate herself. "I have the book and hence I am the real princess. You have nothing to prove to everyone!"
"Easy there," Fujitaka advised and then sighed deeply. He knew this mess would not be so easy to be resolved smoothly. "First things first, can both of you tell me what this book is?"
"Our family treasure," the imposter replied almost immediately.
Fujitaka nodded and then urged, "What kind of treasure is it?"
That was when the imposter faltered. She blinked at Fujitaka, surprised at being asked such questions. "It should be a book about the entire history of the Kinomoto family."
Fujitaka just stared at her with a warm smile before he turned to Sakura, who was still standing by the table. "What about you?"
"I am not sure if I am allowed to speak about it in the presence of others," Sakura asked, her hesitation was evident in her facial expressions; she was darting glances at the imposter as well as at Syaoran. Fujitaka nodded, giving her his silent approval. Sakura gulped and replied steadily, "Well… It is not really a book but just a container which houses special cards with some inscriptions. Each of the Royal members is to select one card from the deck and write down their names on it…"
"How can it be?" the imposter asked, slamming her fists on the table. "It's just a simple book!"
"Then do you have the proof that it is just a book?" Sakura challenged, angered by the imposter's accusing tone. Then she remembered that it was all due to her that landed everyone in this mess and she paused to allow herself something to control her emotions. It's not the imposter's fault that she was led to believe that everything told to her by Hikaru was the truth. She could not blame her for it. "The book has a lock and there should be a key."
"A key?" the imposter gasped. "There was no key when the book was given to me!"
"Exactly… The key is with me all these while."
First update for year 2012!
Some of you might be thinking: Destiny is ending soon... Yes, it's true. Probably a few more chapters to go and that's the end of the whole story. (Finally) First and foremost, thanks to all readers who has been supporting me ever since this story started. I kinda like this story a lot (a little historical and romance). I know I am weird but I kept re-reading all the reviews I have and it has become my motivation to continue writing for all of you. Hope you'll continue to support me!
Will you write a review for me? ^_^