A/N: Alright so I updated. But can anyone tell me why is it that the number of reviews I get on any chapter never exceed 5 with the exception of chapter four where the number was 6. (Boy, do I sound ungrateful or what. *Shot*)
Anywho, as promised, this chapter has a badass Sakura and an adorable Syaoran (at least for me and my editor.)
Now on with the chapter.
Enjoy!
The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky and Sakura could feel the effects of its heat. Sweat trailed down the sides of her face as she stood at one of the busy intersections of the bazaar near the Clow spaceport.
All around her, locals and spacers alike were bustling about, hurrying to finish off their business so that they could get out of the sweltering heat. Stall owners and vendors were busy trying to advertise their products, shouting out the names of various items to attract customers.
Wiping the saltine water to prevent it from dripping into her eyes, Sakura peered about her, mindful of Kurogane and Syaoran walking a couple of feet ahead of her.
Tomoyo and Fai had separated from them around half an hour back, since Tomoyo needed to restock the galley and needed Fai to help her carry the purchase. Kurogane on the other hand was making his way towards the part of the bazaar where spaceship repair and spare parts workshops were located.
The pirate attack had damaged the Little Dragon quite a bit and Kurogane did not deem it safe to travel further without getting the necessary repairs. Syaoran was tagging along because the eighteen year old could not be left alone on the ship for the whole day. Right now he was walking on Kurogane's right, watching everything around him with a delighted look on his face, his eyes round in amazement as he took in their surroundings. It was pretty clear that the boy had not seen anything like this before.
Sakura, on the other hand, was walking behind the pair, with a thoughtful frown on her face, scrutinizing everything as though trying to figure something out but not being able to put her finger on it.
She knew she had never been here before, but for some reason, she could not shake of the feeling that she knew this bazaar. Had she perhaps been here before she had lost her memory? She looked to her right and saw an old man selling lobster-apples piled high on top of a wooden cart.
His eyes always crinkled when he laughed.
Now how the hell did she know that? She had never met the man before.
"Would you like to buy a lobster-apple, Miss?" the old man looked up when she approached him and gave her a smile. His eyes crinkled just like she remembered.
Wait a minute… Remembered?
"Do I know you?" she asked, her frown deepening as she scrutinized the worn out lines of his face.
"I'm sorry, Miss," he laughed good-naturedly, "but I can't seem to recall having met anyone with eyes as blue as yours."
Blue eyes?
Oh. That's right. She had changed their color right before she had left the ship. It was necessary to avoid detection by the scanners that hunters had put up in all parts of the town. Her eyes would be matched immediately.
Sakura never could understand it, since she had never gone out on a job as herself. She always took care to alter her appearance through magic but her real appearance had somehow been saved in the hunters' databases. Why else would she end up getting chased by them more than half the times she went out as herself? In order to avoid that, whenever she was on a planet under the rule of the Bat Lord- Fei Wong Reed- she would always change her appearance.
"Oh," she looked to her right and noticed that Kurogane and Syaoran had stopped walking a little ways ahead. "Um, no thank you." she shook her head, turning away from the fruit seller to make her way over to the captain and his charge. "Not right now."
"Ice-cream?" She heard Syaoran ask expectantly. As she neared the two, she could easily make out the hopeful look on his face as he peered at his red-eyed mentor. Both his hands were worrying the hem of his shirt.
"Kid," the captain started in a gruff voice, attempting to give him a stern look to match. Sakura watched on in amusement as Syaoran's lower lip began to tremble, his wide, honey-colored eyes staring longingly at the ice-cream parlor to their right.
In her brief stay on the ship, Sakura had learned that it was very hard to sway the captain once he made up his mind to do something, but the look on the chocolate-haired boy's face was something apparently not even the stone-hearted Kurogane was able to resist.
"Fine." He sighed, shaking his head as the amber-eyed male's face immediately transformed into a wide grin, his eyes shining in excitement as he hurriedly towards the door.
Once at the entrance to the quaint little shop, the eighteen year old stopped and looked over his shoulder, wordlessly questioning the captain on why he was not moving when there was ice-cream to be had. A deep chuckle emitted from his throat as Kurogane crossed the street and led his adoptive brother into the shop.
Sakura observed them as the two approached the counter and Syaoran excitedly pointed out the flavors that he wanted. She shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her baggies, the fingers of her right hand closing in around the familiar texture of a plastic diskette. Turning her back towards the pair inside the shop, Sakura made her way down the zigzagging streets towards a café t that provided inter gal-net services.
She had been working her ass off to crack the codes that kept the stolen files safe, but so far she had little, next to no luck whatsoever, in decoding the data. So now, she was heading over to the café to get this information to the only person she knew of that was capable enough to do the job.
Stepping into the cool, air-conditioned building, Sakura pulled off her cap as she headed towards a booth at the far end of the shop. Slipping in a few coins into the slot next to the door, she eased it open, punching in the expected amount of time that she needed to get her job done.
A hollow-screen flickered to life before her and displayed a startup menu.
Murmuring a small spell that scrambled all monitoring devices attached to that single communicator, she inserted the disk into the ridge near the top of the projector as the hollow-screen flickered once more before displaying the image of a pale, pixie-faced blonde with soft, chocolate-colored eyes and a warm smile.
"Sakura," she greeted warmly, "How did it go?"
"Better than expected," the currently blue-eyed girl smiled back, "the data was right where she said it would be."
"That's good to hear." The blonde nodded, "So, what are you doing on Clow?"
"Long story, I'll tell you when I get back, Chi," the brunette replied as her fingers flew across the virtual key-board attached to the hollow screen. "I'm sending you a few files that I need you to crack by tomorrow."
"Got it." Chi turned her head to the right of the screen to watch something Sakura couldn't see.
"I'll come get them in twenty four hours then." Sakura let her fingers dance on the virtu-pad.
"I'll let you know if she has any other jobs for you," the blond informed her.
"Of course." The blue-eyed, brunette smiled. "Tell Yuzuriha and Chun-yang I said hi. I'll try to get to Infinity as soon as I can."
"Will do," Chi nodded. "Take care of yourself, alright?"
With that the screen flickered out of existence as Sakura retrieved the disk and placed it back in her pocket. Murmuring a simple spell, she exited the booth, hoping that no one detected the small magical surge that had been a product of her small, private inter gal-net chat.
Once upon a time, Clow was the safe-haven for magical beings everywhere but around a decade ago, give or take a few cycles, it was conquered by the Bat Lord. The whole royal family was assassinated. No one survived. And now, because of the change of leadership, it had become a quite dangerous place for magicians, wizards, sorcerers, mages and witches.
A long while back, before Sakura was even born, a law was passed by the Bat Lord that declared the use of magic as something illegal. In a lot of places, mostly the planets that fell under his jurisdiction or under the jurisdiction of his associates, this law was immediately put into effect.
All magical beings had to register with Bat Lord and get branded by his symbol which ensured their loyalty to him. There were many planets that opposed this law, protecting the magical humans, providing refuge to those who fled and helping those who tried to resist.
But sadly, one by one, they were all conquered. The law was modified. Anyone caught practicing magic was to be brought before the federal agents, aka the hunters. The ones that got caught were branded, their freedom taken from them the instant the mark of the Bat was burnt into their skin through magic. Those who tried to resist the effects of the seal died a slow, painful death.
There were rumors of magicians powerful enough to resist the killing effects of the seal but that's all they were: rumors. Even if there was some truth in them, Sakura was pretty sure that those magicians would be rendered powerless as a side effect of the resistance. After all, one had to have exceptional skill and mental strength to keep their own magic from destroying them. Sakura had read about resisting seals and knew that that in itself required strong magic. So the existence of such magicians was an impossibility in Sakura's eyes.
Heaving a quiet sigh, Sakura walked through the quickly emptying streets of Clow Bazaar.
She wondered why everyone seemed to be in such a hurry. Shop vendors were busy gathering their products while the few who sold their produce on wheeled or hover-carts were busy making their way out of the marketplace. Women were hurriedly dragging their children along while men seemed to be equally anxious to get out.
Sensing something wrong, Sakura ducked into a small alleyway that led towards a park that she had spotted on her way to the Bazaar earlier on, when she had been with Kurogane and Syaoran. She remembered how Syaoran had stopped walking when he had seen kids and teenagers fooling around on hover-boards.
She had caught the sad look in Kurogane's eyes as he had watched the younger male observe the children with a wistful look on his face. But then the captain had taken hold of Syaoran's hand and led him to the market.
It was towards that park that Sakura was currently headed but around ten feet from the exit of the alley, her path was blocked by a pair of burly, thick muscled, hunters.
"Freeze." Ordered one of them as he held up his badge. "You are under arrest."
"For the use of illegal, unrestrained magic," The hunter recited, "You have the right to remain silent and anything- Ooof!" he flew across the street and crashed into the wall of a shop that sold hover-boards. His partner let out an enraged cry, aiming his gun at Sakura but the brunette erected a magical barrier to prevent the shot from harming her.
Leaping to the side to avoid the second blast shot at her, she lowered her shield and sprinted to close the distance between her and the hunter. When she was four feet away, Sakura jumped to her right, bounding off the alley wall like a predator ready to sink its claws in the flesh of its prey. The next second, the man was slumped on the gritty side walk, unmoving and pale, a steady stream of crimson flowing from the gash on his throat. "Sorry," Sakura said as she straightened up after cleaning the blade of her throwing knife on the shirt of the now dead hunter, "but getting captured is not part of my to-do list for the day."
A/N: And that marks the end of this chapter. Something unexpected will be heading you way in the next update so if you want to know what it is, you know what to do. ;)
Review if you thought Syaoran was adorable when he convinced Kuro to buy him ice-cream.
Review if you squealed when you thought Syaoran was adorable when he convinced Kuro to buy him ice-cream.
Review if you-
Kuro-annoyed: Alright! Alright! They get the point. Stop wearing it out.
Me: I'm not wearing it out. I'm just telling them to-
Kuro-angry: If you say that one more time, I am not gonna care about how crazy you are.
Me: oh? And what will you do Kuro-pattie?
Kuro-meatball: Pattie? *reads his name* Meatball?
Me: *shrugs innocently* I'm hungry.
Kuro-spaghetti: Stop mutilating my name you crazy ****!
Me: Hey! I am not a ****!
Kuro-kebab: Yeah you are.
Me: Am not.
Kuro-egg salad: ****!
Me: Stop it!
Kuro-ice cream: ****!
Me: Kuro-cupcake!
Kuro-fondant: What the hell?
Me: Hey! That's the title of my fic, Kuro-mango.
Kuro-grapes: ****!
Me: Is that all you can say?
Kuro-ladyfinger: *wtf face*
Fai: *mutters* This is gonna be a while.
Me: *grins* Kuro-ladybug
Sakura: *groans* Not again.
Kuro-ballerina: *draws sword* DIE!
Syaoran: *still eating ice-cream* Chocolate. Yum!
Me: *runs* Kuro-butterfly!
Mokona: Why don't we just end this A/N before things get messy?
Kuro-kitty: Die! Die! DIIIEEEEE!
Sakura: That's a good idea but only Nims can end the A/N.
Me: Kuro-pretty!
Mokona: Oh but Mokona can use Mokona's secret technique number 23. 'Ending A/N against the author's will.
Kuro-pink: *screams in rage* I HATE pink!
Sakura: *gulps and looks at the pink dress* I- I… I think I see Chi over there. I'm gonna go say hi. *bolts*
Me: Kuro-pinky!
Fai: Mokona, shouldn't we specify the minimum number of reviews for this chapter first?
Mokona: *ignoring Nims and Kuro-pinkpinkpinkPINKKK in the background as they demolish everything* Hmm… how about seven?
Fai: *nods* That seems like a fair amount.
Mokona: So seven it is. the next update will be when Nims gets seven reviews.
Crash!
Me: Na Na *sticks out tongue* Can't catch me!
Fai: *flinches at the following crash* Which shouldn't be hard considering the number of Favs and alerts this fic has gotten.
Mokona: *nods* So then should Mokona end the note?
Fai: Yes please.
Kuro-dressed-in-pink-tutu: *looks at his clothes* what the FUCK?
Me: *laughs manically* and that is the power of an author in the world of A/N!
Kuro-volcano: *erupts*
*Screen blanks out*
Mokona: Due to the bloody and violent nature of the events that follow, this note is now being terminated.