A/N: Alright guys, so I'm back with another chapter. Sorry I couldn't reply to the reviewers individually this time cuz I've been busy but Thank you all for reviewing.
I've got a bad news for all my readers though. Classes are gonna start this Monday and I've got a really tough schedule to keep up with this semester so the updates are gonna slow down a bit. Like instead of a new chapter every week, you guys will have to wait two weeks. Sorry about that but at the rate I'm writing I think it's better if I slow down with the updates instead of posting all the chapters and putting the fic on a Hiatus or something.
Anyhow, this chapter has got a cute SxS moment near the end but being the evil, slightly crazy author that I am, I'm gonna leave you all hanging at a cliffie. *insert evil laugh here*
Ahem so yeah, enjoy!
Sakura was unable to sleep that night because her thoughts refused to leave her alone for long.
Voices kept echoing in her mind. Most of them belonged to the children she had identified as herself and the two hunters, but occasionally a kind voice belonging to a much older woman would join in. Sometimes a much older man would be with her as well.
Whenever the man spoke, a pair of bespectacled brown eyes would flash through her vision. For the woman, it was a pair of sparkling emerald eyes much like her own. Rubbing her eyes and groaning in frustration, Sakura sat up in bed, letting the sheets pools about her waist as she glared at the starry sky visible outside her window.
What the hell was wrong with her?
If these were her memories trying to return, why couldn't they just get the hell over with and come back to her already? If not, then they could just stay locked away. She would find out about who she was from external sources. She had no desire to be tortured by her memories.
A beep alerted her to an incoming transmission. Sliding out of her bed, she walked over to the table where her laptop was placed. With precise, practiced motions, she turned it on, gaining access to a secure line before accepting the incoming call.
The face of a man around fifty cycles old appeared in the screen. He had rather long, graying hair, small, beady eyes, rather large droopy ears and a very unattractive goatee.
Sakura masked her annoyance and revulsion with a fake but pleasant smile.
"Ryanban," she greeted with a polite nod.
"Cherry," the man replied, a leer spreading across his lips as his eyes took in her appearance.
"To what do I owe this call?" she spoke, letting a little bit of frostiness slip into her tone to let her client know she did not appreciate the way he was looking at her.
"You promised to get me the information I required by the twelfth of this month." His eyes snapped back to her face.
"And that is not for another six days," Sakura answered, narrowing her eyes in anger. "What is the meaning of contacting me like this?"
"Can't an old friend check in every once in a while?" he laughed loudly though Sakura could tell it was more than a little forced.
"Emphasis on the word friend, Ryanban." She replied in a tone cold enough to freeze a blue-dwarf "Last I checked, you do not fall in that category."
"Come now, Cherry," his gaze travelled a little lower, "no need to be so cold."
"If you were worried I might have forgotten about our deal," she folded her arms across her chest. Noticing how his expression grew a little disappointed a small smirk appeared across her lips, "I'm afraid you might have to contact someone else. When I say I will get the information you want at a specific time, I will get it for you. Now if that was all, I think I have other urgent matters I need to attend to."
"You should keep in mind that I will not tolerate trickery." The man glowered, no doubt feeling offended at having been dismissed like a commoner.
"And you should keep in mind that I don't tolerate unfounded suspicions. I will have the information by the twelfth of this month."
"Oh, but we have a change in plans, Cherry," Ryanban smirked as he leaned back in his seat.
"What sort of change?" she frowned, not liking at all the way his eyes glinted in twisted contentment.
"I need that information by the ninth."
"I'm afraid that is not possible." She replied instantaneously. "Our deal was to get you what you want by the twelfth and that is what I intend to do. It was decided before the contract was finalized that the date can not be changed under any circumstances."
"Surely you can overlook that clause in favor of me adding fifty percent more to the agreed price." He coaxed.
"Fifty percent?" she cocked a brow. "Boy, you must be desperate if you are willing to part with that much of your precious money."
"I expect to see those files by then." He nodded, pleased that she had agreed to his terms so easily.
"I'm sorry, but I have some personal matter I will be dealing with at the time. You will get your files on the twelfth, for the amount of money agreed to in the contract and not a dram less or more. Have a good day now." And without waiting for his response, she cut off the connection.
"That bastard," she murmured, running a hand through her hair as she flopped at the edge of her bed. "Who the heck does he think he is? Just because he rules a whole planet, he thinks he can boss me around like that? Pfft… what an idiot." She laughed, shaking her head as she stood up again.
Her stomach rumbled and she looked down at the growling beast.
"I should have finished dinner at least." She sighed, heading towards the door, wondering if she could find something to eat at this time of the night.
"No shit, Mr. Obvious ," she heard the hunter's bitter voice as she passed the door to the room that held him, making her stop in her tracks. Who was in there with him this late?
"Not her fault." And that provided her with the answer.
"What?" she heard the hunter question.
"They took it away from her." Syaoran answered softly and her gut knotted painfully.
Why was he telling that to that hunter?
"Are you on drugs or something?" the imprisoned man asked but Sakura only heard it vaguely.
"And she broke." Sakura's heart skipped several beats, leaving her rather breathless. What the hell was that hunter doing? Why was he asking Syaoran? "She can't help it," she heard the teen say.
"What?" the captured hunter asked eagerly, "What did they take away from her?"
"Her past." Syaoran answered without a moment's hesitation.
No. No. No! The hunter wasn't supposed to know.
He was the enemy, and she could not afford to let her enemy know her weakness. That would be stupid and suicidal.
"Who did it?"
She had to stop Syaoran before the hunter found out anything else. Without any conscious thought, her hand slammed on the panel to unlock the door. Quietly she stepped inside.
"The-" the amber-eyed male started but she cut him off.
"Syaoran? What are you doing in here?" Her gaze travelled to the hunter bound to the bed, a steel mug placed next to Syaoran. Had he perhaps called him in here on the pretense of getting water? She narrowed her eyes, letting the blue-eyed man know that she did not trust him.
"You're supposed to be in bed." She looked back at the brown-haired boy and couldn't help but soften her tone. This wasn't his fault, so she shouldn't be angry at him.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the hunter glower at Syaoran and her dislike for the man rose even further. "Stop glaring at him." she used the same cold tone that she had used with Ryanban.
"Or what?" he sneered, "You'll throw a couple more knives at me?"
Throw knives at him? How could her Nii-san think that of her…
Nii-san? What the hell? She had to get out of there.
"Let's go, Syaoran," she grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him to his feet, leading him towards the door.
"What's wrong with the Gaki anyways?" she heard the hunter ask curiously.
He is not a brat! A voice in her head protested and her whole body froze.
Gaki meant brat. But how did she know that?
"He had an accident." She heard herself answer in a quiet tone.
"Oh," the hunter's reply sounded condescending, "so he went loco."
Sakura had difficulty controlling her urge to beat the bastard senseless. How dare he… His boss was the reason Syaoran was in this state in the first place. So then, what gave that hunter the right to make fun of him?
"You're mean," Syaoran's tone was quiet but was there was anger in it. Not the sort of anger she had felt him radiate near those hunters when his seal had activated, but the sort of anger that hinted at underlying hurt, as though he had not expected the hunter to say something like that to him. That much was clear in his glare as he looked at the blue-eyed man.
"And you're a Gaki." The hunter retorted casually, though he was returning Syaoran's glare. But there was no hurt in it, only satisfaction. As she saw a smirk spread across his lips, she felt irritated and disgusted by the man. No, not disgusted. Just irritated.
Why couldn't he just accept Syaoran for who he was? Why was he being so mean to him?
Wait a second. Why did it matter to her how that hunter acted? Why was she feeling this irritation for him not accepting the amber-eyed teen? That hunter meant nothing to her. So it shouldn't matter, right?
A small voice in her head answered that it did matter but Sakura pushed it away.
"Ignore him, Syaoran." She advised the teen to do what she had done and pulled at his hand. Immediately, Syaoran turned and began following her.
"Sakura," He called after her, but she ignored it.
"Sakura," he called again, "don't leave." His voice sounded so broken right then, and for a fraction of a second she wanted to listen to him and stay by his side forever, but the moment passed and she pressed the panel to slide the door open.
"Sakura, wait," she could hear him struggling behind her but she had examined his bonds earlier and she knew they would hold.
"Don't go." He begged, but Sakura turned a deaf ear to his voice. This wasn't right. He was a hunter. She wasn't supposed to feel anything for him except anger and hatred. Her heart wasn't supposed to break and shatter at the thought of leaving him alone.
She had to get out of there and get something to eat. And then maybe take some sleeping pills to get some rest. Hunger and a lack of sleep was messing with her head.
"He thinks I stole you from him," Syaoran said in that quiet, husky voice of his, making Sakura jump. She had forgotten he was still with her.
"It doesn't matter what he thinks," she replied, her tone betraying her annoyance. Next to her, Syaoran stopped walking, freeing his hand from her grasp as he looked at her with an expression of hurt.
Confused, she met his stare. It took a couple of minutes for her to realize why he looked so upset.
"Oh, I'm not mad at you, Syaoran," she smiled, softening her tone. "I'm just angry at that jerk in there." She nodded her head towards the door that they had just exited from and a soft chuckle formed in Syaoran's throat. A small smile spread across his lips as he grabbed her hand again.
"He's just angry and scared," Syaoran confided seriously as he led her to the galley. Once there, he dropped her hand, pulling out two plates from one of the cabinets before opening the chiller next to the stove and extracting a plastic container. Setting all three things at the counter, he opened the container and ladled the plates with the noodles that had been left at dinner.
"I bet he is," she laughed lightly, wondering how he knew that she was hungry as he handed her one plate after replacing the now-almost-empty container back in the chiller. But instead of walking over to the table, he walked out into the corridor, towards the viewing bay.
Quietly, Sakura followed, sitting down next to him as he slid down the wall opposite the glass window. The two ate in silence, staring outside at the beautiful spiral disc of stars that occupied more than half the visible space outside. They were currently travelling next to the Milky Way.
The galaxy that housed the Solar System. The place where the first of the humans were thought to have lived on a small planet named Earth. But that was millennia ago. The Solar System was no more. It had been destroyed in some sort of calamity so even if humans had originated from that place, they could no longer return to it.
"Magic," Syaoran spoke up all of a sudden.
"Huh?"
"It was destroyed by magic." He replied, staring at the cluster of stars with a distant gaze. "The Home Planet."
A chill went down Sakura's spine as she heard him say that. "Home Planet" had been the name given to Earth by the few scientists who vehemently defended the theory that their ancestors had actually occupied that place. How did Syaoran know what she had been thinking about?
"You drew Mother," he abruptly changed the topic, tearing his gaze away from the window to look at her with an intense look in his eyes. Sakura felt like she was drowning in the depths of those pools of liquid amber. A faint fluttering feeling welled up in her stomach as her limbs felt paralyzed.
"You can keep the sketch if you want," she answered, not even realizing how breathless she sounded.
His face inched a little closer to hers.
"I can keep it?" he asked, sounding surprised and a little confused.
"Yeah." She breathed as she felt herself lean closer to him.
Her shoulder prickled unpleasantly but she ignored the feeling as they drew even closer.
"Thank you," he murmured before lightly pressing his lips against hers in a sweet and innocent peck. His lips felt soft and warm, but he pulled away before she could decipher anything else about him.
Slowly she opened her eyes, not having realized when she had closed them but she squeezed them shut almost immediately when without any warning the seal on her right shoulder exploded in white-hot, burning pain.
She stifled the cry before it escaped her mouth, but she knew there were tears running down her face as she clutched at the mark. She waited for the counter-seal to start its work but was only disappointed when it did not activate. Her heart pounded against her ribs as her ears rang and her head spun.
A couple of minutes went by in this manner but she found it difficult to draw a breath.
"Syao-ran…" she managed to say, "get…help…" and then she collapsed.