"Hello," Syaoran smiled warmly the minute Sakura walked into the galley the next day.
"Um, hi," she said a little awkwardly, noticing the way his eyes were observing her, with innocent, child-like curiosity. "How are you feeling?"
Syaoran simply cocked his head to one side, his expression changing to one of confusion.
"Oh, erm, right, I'll just…" she started but trailed off when she heard the teen speak.
"Feathers."
"Huh?" she responded intelligently.
"You lost the feathers." He answered as he stood up, slowly walking towards her as she stood rooted to her spot.
She couldn't move. Those eyes…
Those eyes held her in place, rendering her unable to back away as he stopped in front of her.
"You broke." He spoke, his tone melancholic as his hand reaching out to touch her face. "And they stole them."
A sudden chill ran down her spine as his hand drew closer and closer.
"Stole what?" she found herself asking.
"Memories." Was all the answer she got before the spell was broken by Fai's arrival.
"Syaoran, no." the blond took his hand and led him back to the table. "We don't trouble passengers like that." He was telling him but Sakura barely heard the man.
Memories.
She found her breath coming in short rapid gasps, her heart racing as blood pounded in her ears as she ran back to the safety of the cabin.
"H-how did he know?" She sank to the floor, unable to get the image of his face out of her head as the door slid close behind her.
-0-
Dark. Everything was so dark. She pulled her jacket closer to her body as she hurried her footsteps.
"Where are you going, kid?" a drunk man sneered at her, exposing his sunshine yellow teeth.
"N-nowhere." She answered in a hoarse voice, her throat burning with the effort. Lowering her head, she broke out into a run.
She was alone, and scared, with no place to go.
The screams of her friends and family, all those people that she once knew, echoed all around her.
"M-mother…" a sob tore through her chest as thunder rumbled in the distance, making her jump in fright.
Promise me!
A woman's panicked face flashed before her in the brief burst of lightening overhead.
"Mother." she called again, but the apparition vanished as soon as it got dark again.
A dog howled somewhere followed by the cries of its cousins. She forced her tiny legs to move faster.
A cat streaked through her path and she fell on her rump with a startled yell. Something landed on her shoulder with a plop and her body froze. Another something fell and she could feel its wetness on her cheek. She looked up and saw another droplet fall from the heavens.
It was starting to rain. Slowly, she pushed herself back to her feet and looked around.
No one was around. Everywhere she looked, things were tall and dark and empty. A flash of lightning lit up the sky for a fraction of a second and in that moment she saw a shadow slink towards her.
Without even waiting to see what it was, she started running again.
She had to find someone.
Someone, anyone.
She could feel eyes all around her. Watching her from dark confines of the shadows. Observing her, waiting for her to make a mistake so that they could drag her away and make her a part of them.
A light flickered in the distance, drawing her towards it. The wind howled and rain pelted her back, she was soaked through but she couldn't bring herself to care as energy began to leave her body as she slumped on the gritty ground beneath the lamp.
The water that had pooled about her caught her reflection in the light.
"Oye! Kid." she heard someone yell but she couldn't bring herself to respond. The face that was staring back at her was not her own. "Kid! You okay?" someone was approaching her but she couldn't move.
Those eyes.
The eyes that stared back at her were not emerald.
No. They were a unique shade of amber.
Amber that was flecked with little specks of gold.
"Kid?"
Everything faded to black.
Sakura shot up in bed, breathing hard. The sheets were twisted about her body. The dream, still fresh in her mind as she untangled her body and looked around. She was still on the ship.
Still breathing hard, she blinked a couple of times as though daring the room to vanish when she closed her eyes. That had been so vivid. And for the first time in her life, she could actually remember it.
But she was unnerved.
Those eyes had been so familiar. And they had been staring at her so intensely. Like the person knew she was watching them.
But it was just a dream, right?
"Damn, I think I need an aspirin." Sakura groaned as short while later as she shuffled into the galley, pulling the cabinet open to extract a glass that she filled with water from the dispenser before heading over to the table.
Setting the glass down on the table before her, she sighed and let her gaze wander outside the porthole-like window of the ship.
Glowing clouds of gas with twinkling stars that were born inside them took up a major part of the night sky.
They were crossing the Nebula Foresuto. Or the Forest of Nebulae.
It had been a little over a week since Sakura had boarded the ship, Little Dragon as Fai had fondly called it. The ship was a small but sturdy freight-carrier and had a couple of spare cabins available for passengers.
During her time onboard, she had gotten to know the four who lived there.
Fai had been the pilot for the ship for a period of little over a complete cycle. He had a happy-go-lucky sort of attitude though he could be quite charming when he wanted to and was quite friendly and easy to talk to.
The ship's captain, Kurogane was a quiet sort of guy who didn't talk much, mostly kept to himself though she could tell that he cared deeply for the other three. Maybe not so much about Fai but Tomoyo and Syaoran for sure. It was probably just because the golden-eyed blond loved to annoy the captain to hell.
Then there was Tomoyo, the ship's cook as well as the medic. She was sweet and a little eccentric but that was it. She generally kept herself busy by performing the various chores, like cooking, cleaning, washing and stuff. Because of her, the whole ship had a homey feel to it.
And then, last but not least was Syaoran. The boy was an enigma. He was eighteen cycles old, same as her, but his actions were like those of a child. Over the week, Tomoyo and Kurogane had also mentioned him having an accident that led to his current condition but no one ever bothered to elaborate and it wasn't her place to ask so she remained quiet.
Out of all four, he was the one that intrigued her the most. His days were normally passed by following Tomoyo around the ship as she worked or with Fai in the cockpit. Sometimes she would spot him with Kurogane, silently observing the older man as he would go down to the engines room or the cargo hold.
There were times when he would do nothing but sit by the porthole and stare outside at the endless night sky, for hours at a time. He didn't speak a lot. In fact aside from that one time when he had spoken about the memories and feathers, he had not spoken to her at all. But she would catch him looking at her every now and then.
She had been weirded out by his staring at first. She would feel a sudden prickle of hot and cold run down the back of her neck, every time she could feel his eyes on her and that made her uncomfortable. Because whenever he looked at her, she would hear him say those words again.
You broke… And they stole them…
It was almost like he could see into her very soul. Know things about her that not even she herself knew. The idea of it scared her. Which was one of the reasons she tried to avoid running into him as much as she could for the first couple of days, even if it meant having to stay locked up in her cabin hunched over her laptop, trying to decode the files she had stolen from the last planet.
She didn't have any luggage on her when she had run into Kurogane but magic can be a very useful thing. Especially when it comes to storing things.
Things continued on in this way, with her trying to evade the young man, until one day, during dinner, she heard him laugh. It was a soft, quiet sort of chuckle at something that Fai did to mess with Kurogane but she heard it. And judging from the reactions everyone else had to it, she knew that it was a very rare occurrence. But knowing that he still possessed the ability to laugh put her at ease. It made him seem more… normal and she learned to ignore his inquisitive, silent stares.
A sudden jolt rocked the whole ship and sent her rocketing into the metal table. The glass slipped from the top and crashed on the floor, shattering into hundreds of tiny little pieces.
"What the -" her enraged cry was cut short when a second shock hit and the small vessel lurched. Jumping to her feet, ignoring her tender stomach, she rushed towards the front of the ship.
"Mage!" she heard Kurogane yell as he emerged from his cabin, dressed in a pair of grey slacks and a black t-shirt, his tousled hair letting her know that he had been asleep. A hatch in the roof of the corridor opened and the blond pilot jumped down, landing on the metal floor with cat-like grace.
"On it." The blond pilot affirmed seriously as he ran towards the cockpit, the captain a couple of steps ahead of him. Tomoyo emerged from the same cabin as Kurogane, dressed in a simple knee-length nightgown, her long hair pulled back in a braid.
A distant explosion sounded and Tomoyo's face grew pale.
She breathed a single word before she raced in the direction of Syaoran's cabin.
Dread extended its icy hands and clenched tightly at Sakura's heart.
Pirates.
A/N: Am I evil or am I EVIL? ;) ;)
I left you guys hanging on a cliffie. Isn't that great?
Sakura: Pirates? Seriously, is that the best you could come up with?
Me: Pirates are very important in stories set in outer space, fyi.
Sakura: Oh yeah?
Me: Yeah. Besides, I like having pirates in space.
Sakura: *sweatdrops*
Fai: I hope the ship doesn't get blown apart.
Me: Blown apart? *looks thoughtful* hmmm… now that's an interesting idea.
Sakura and Syaoran: *glares at Fai*
Fai: *gulps* W-wait a second Nims. You're not really considering doing that, right?
Me: Ohohoho…*excitingly rubbing hands* Blow up the ship!
Sakura: Did you have to say that Fai?
Syaoran: Aahhh… The crazy lady will kill us all!
Me: *raises a brow* Crazy lady?
Syaoran: Run for your lives! *starts running around in circles*
Me: Now wait just a second here. Crazy lady?
Syaoran: She'll kill us all!
Kuro-biscuit: *finally manages to pry the closet door open* Ah. Free at last. *looks over at me* Now to get my well deserved reven- ooof! *gets thrown back in the cupboard thanks to Syaoran who collided with the door and is now lying motionless on the floor*
Sakura and Fai: Syaoran!
Syaoran: …
Sakura: *glares at Fai* Look at what you did!
Fai: *gapes* Me? What did I do?
Sakura: If it wasn't for you and your big mouth, the crazy lady-
Me: *indignantly* hey!
Sakura: *ignores* -the crazy lady wouldn't have gotten the idea of blowing up the ship, Syaoran would not passed out on the floor by colliding with the closet door currently holding Kurogane at bay.
Fai: *grumbles* It's not my fault she likes to pick on him so much that he is now traumatized for life.
Me: Yes it is.
Fai: How can your liking to torture him more than me be my fault? *adds in an undertone* not that I'm complaining or anything.
Me: *shrugs* I dunno.
Sakura: Aren't you the one who should?
Me: and the point is?
Sakura: *throws up her hands in frustration* I give up. It's pointless to argue with her.
Me: *smiles smugly* Took you long enough to figure that out. *looks at the unconscious Syaoran and grins widely* Now, back to the blowing-up-the-ship plan.
Fai: *begins to slowly back away* Syaoran is right. You are crazy.
Me: *glares darkly* I'm sorry?
Fai: *gulps* Damn it! Me and my big mouth.
Sakura: *in a smug sing song voice* Told you so.
Fai: *turns on his heels* Ahh… Run for your lives! The crazy lady is out to get you!
Me: *watches Fai running around in the same circles as Syaoran* I wonder if he will-
Kuro-trapped: *throws the door open* now to get my reven- ooof! *once again thrown back in*
Me: *completes the sentence*-crash into the door like Syaoran.
Kuro-badluck: *muffled scream* Damn it!
Fai: *groans* my head…
Me: *shrugs* oh well. Now. Where was I? *thinks* Ah yes. The blow-up-ship plan.
Sakura: I think I agree with the others.
Me: *scribbles down notes as quickly as she can while singing in an off tune voice* blow up ship. Blow up ship. Blow up shiiiippp…
BOOM!
Lolz, so, how'd you like it? Drop by the review room and let me know. Oh and another five reviews before the next update. Trust me when I say this, you don't want to wait to read what will happen next so hurry it up people. ;)