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Return to the Labyrinth	By : Capitalist Category: +. to F > Card Captor Sakura Views: 8619 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, nor any of the characters from it, nor do I own Labyrinth. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 1

‘target’

It was a pretty bird. Half-obscured by frothy pink cherry blossoms, it darted through the wind-tossed branches with ease and settled onto one of the bigger ones to preen its white feathers. One came loose and skittered away in the breeze, so airy and light that it might travel for hours before it ever fell to the earth. Sakura followed it with her eyes, wishing she could see how far it would go and where the wind would take it on its journey. If she could, she would have run to follow it.

“Kinomoto-san!”

“Hai!” Sakura snapped to attention in her chair, her head whipping away from the windows so fast her neck hurt. Most of the class giggled, and her very annoyed teacher crossed his arms.

“If it isn’t too much inconvenience for you, of course. Anytime you’re ready.”

Wha..? She dropped her eyes to the book open on her desk, same as everyone else’s, but her attention had wandered so long ago she couldn’t begin to guess where they were.

“Line fifteen,” Naoko hissed, and Sakura nearly collapsed with relief. Naoko loved reading the most; she always kept up in class. Later she would thank her, profusely.

“Hai, sensei. The princess had walked too far into the garden, and now everywhere she turned there were only flowers. She could no longer see the gate, and she realized she was lost. ‘Now what shall I do?’ wondered the frightened princess.”

The bird cocked its head and dove off its perch, gliding away on the breeze.

Chiharu couldn’t stop giggling about it, even after class had finished and they were changing their shoes.

“You have the funniest expressions when you’re surprised, Sakura-chan! Your hair practically stood on end, it was like you stuck your finger in the electrical socket. Anyone could see you weren’t paying attention with a look like that. Why can’t you learn to hide your feelings better?”

“But I was caught off-guard,” Sakura said ruefully. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if I knew he was going to call on me.”

“I think if you knew he was going to call on you, you would have read the lesson instead of looking out of the windows all class,” Rika pointed out. “I was watching you stare at that bird.”

“Birds again, Sakura-chan? You’re always looking at birds, why are you so fascinated by them?”

“Do you want a pet bird?”

“I don’t think so.” Sakura shouldered her bookbag and shrugged. “It’s not that I ever think about buying one. I just like to watch birds fly, I don’t know why.”

And that was the truth; she really didn’t. But she also knew she hadn’t always been so compelled to watch them, that she’d only started five years ago. The day after she and her brother came back, she was pretty sure.

“Sakura-chan, do you have lessons today?”

“No, my teacher is still on her trip, so I won’t have another dance class until next week. I’m still supposed to practice on my own at home, though.”

The four of them left the school, basking in the late April warmth and the promise of a weekend stretching before them. “You’re so lucky,” Naoko was complaining, looking envious. “I wish my piano teacher would take a trip too. I’ll have to practice tonight, or she’ll know at tomorrow’s lesson.”

“But your piano playing is really pretty, Naoko-chan.”

“That doesn’t make practice any easier. Or fun. I’d rather finish my book instead.” She shrugged and waved when it came time to take a different path. “See you on Monday!”

“Ja ne,” they all chorused, and continued on. Rika had piano to practice too, though she liked it better than Naoko did, and then after she had gone on Chiharu and Sakura discussed the upcoming practice schedule for the cheerleader squad. But she had a date with her boyfriend to get ready for, and soon took her leave too. Finally it was only Sakura, taking her time about it as she cut through the park on her way home. The sky was so blue, and every brisk breeze sent hundreds more cherry blossoms showering over her head. It was just too nice of a day to go straight home and get started on homework, though Sakura knew once her brother got home that’s exactly what he would make her do. He just kept getting stricter with every passing year. It had been that way ever since that night.

Sakura’s shoulders drooped at the thought of it, and with a small sigh turned away from the trees. At that moment a shadow swept over her and Sakura stopped short, face turned up to the sky automatically. Another bird? The sky was empty, though, and anyway it couldn’t have been a bird. The shadow had flickered over her like quicksilver, too fast to see properly, but it was big. Much too big to be a common pigeon.

Sakura frowned and started walking again, a little more quickly. The wind had stilled and the park seemed much quieter, her footsteps the only noise. Sakura kept looking up, but of course she saw nothing, and after a while gave it up. Really, what was she afraid of? A vulture, here in suburban Tomoeda?

Sakura’s eyes dropped to a tempting drift of fallen petals, and swept her foot through it so she could watch them scatter and float back down to the sidewalk. Then again, and they had just begun to pile up on the cement when a horrible screech split the silence of the park and something attacked her.

Sakura hadn’t seen more than a blur of movement in the corner of her eye before it was already on her, its inhumane scream blasting directly into her ear and claws raking at her blouse. Panic shot through her and Sakura screamed too, instinctively swinging her bookbag at the thing behind her, still unable to see what it was; her whole world was a blur of that awful noise and frantically beating leathery wings. She didn’t swing hard enough to knock it away, but maybe she’d confused it because it started to attack her bag instead and left her free to run. And Sakura could run; she’d always been the fastest girl in her class. She was a full three paces away before it realized its mistake and screamed again.

Sakura saw its shadow bearing down on her and tried to cover her head with her arms, blindly sprinting down the sidewalk in her terror with no notion of where to go or how to escape. Another scream joined the first and Sakura glimpsed a second one flying toward her. Adrenaline crackled and her body reacted faster than her mind did; like a hunted hare she broke stride and darted into the trees, weaving in and out of the trunks. She’d never run so fast in her life.

But it wasn’t fast enough, not even adrenaline could make her move faster than those two horrible monsters with wings. She could hear the beating of their wings getting closer and would have screamed if she had the breath, begged someone to help her. There was no one to hear anyway. No one could save her from this.

Another yell startled her and she broke to the left, away from its source, but this yell was human. She didn’t quite see it – or him – but glimpsed a brown blur moving past her and directly toward the two monsters, then heard a startled squawk of pain. Against her better judgement she tried to look over her shoulder and promptly tripped over a root, hitting the grass hard.

But someone had come to help her. The new arrival pushed himself up off the body of one of those creatures and jumped at the other one, kicking it hard in the chest and nearly knocking it flat on its back. He kicked it again upside the chin and then spun, catching the first one with the heel of his boot when it tried to attack him from behind.

They were- they were- what were they? No such animal existed on this earth. Their build was vaguely human in shape, but they stood much shorter, no higher than the boy’s shoulder, and had ugly clawed hands. Their skin was a dull greenish-gray and their ears pointed like goblins, but they had wings… what was that word? Gargoyles. Gargoyles had attacked her and she didn’t know why, and now a boy had come to fight them and she didn’t know why that was either. Wheezing for breath, palms stinging with the brunt of her fall, Sakura lay sprawled where she’d fallen and watched him do battle.

He was not afraid. The two circled him and tried to attack from above, like diving birds of prey, but he didn’t even duck. Efficiently he twisted to one side and grabbed at one as he did so, driving it head-first into the earth, smashing his elbow into the other’s face when he stood. Stunned, it stumbled back on its feet and shook its head, then snarled. Both wore ragged loincloths, long blades tucked into their belts, and this one whipped it out and slashed at her rescuer. Sakura smothered a shriek in her throat when he jumped back out of range, and snatched at something hanging around his neck. From out of nowhere a sword materialized in his hand, like magic. It was longer and looked sharper, and with almost casual ease he deflected the next attack, turning to block the other’s sword without even looking. How did he know? It seemed he had eyes in the back of his head.

Again one of them tried to slash and he darted in, prompting a horrible scream of pain though she couldn’t quite see what he’d done. It opened its hand and dropped the sword, blood gushing out of a long cut on its arm, and then he nearly cut the other one in half with a cruel slash across its belly. Both of them were making ghastly noises now in their agony, and flapped higher out of reach before he could finish either of them off. Gnashing their teeth with rage, they looked at her again, but when he lifted his sword they turned their backs and flew as fast as they could.

The park was very quiet again.

He looked at her, then, breathing a little hard but otherwise unaffected, still clutching his inexplicable sword in one hand. Her age, maybe, about fifteen, with unkept brown hair and dark eyes that made her feel self-conscious as he stared.

“Are you injured?”

The question was perfectly sensible but Sakura had to concentrate to understand what he was asking, and that he was waiting for an answer, and she didn’t even know what that answer was. Adrenaline had absorbed any pain from her fall, but now she noticed her stinging palms and scraped knee, all minor and mundane. Remembering the initial attack, she patted her chest and back, but found only her blouse had been ripped. It must have missed tearing open her flesh by mere molecules.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, aware that her voice shook and so did her hands. He closed the distance between them and held out a hand, in offer to help her up, but she felt nervous about touching him and got to her feet using the nearest tree for support. He took the hint and immediately took a step back. At long last the wind returned, and a snowstorm of cherry petals swirled around them.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Li.”

“Wh-what were those… things?”

“The enemy,” he said curtly, and a quick scowl flashed across his face. “Your enemy. They came to kill you if they could. Yue sent me here to protect you; I’m sorry I almost didn’t find you in time.”

“Yue?” she echoed, almost startled out of her fear, and her hand flew to her throat. Underneath her school blouse collar rested the diamond necklace, a comfort to the touch. She hadn’t taken it off once in five years, irrationally afraid she might lose it if she did, and the memory of when he gave it to her brought a light blush to her cheeks. She’d never forgotten the feel of his hands on her skin. “Yue sent you here? For me?”

“Yes.”

“You saved me,” she whispered, and noticed tears pricking at her eyes in gratitude. This was so much more than Naoko’s help in English class. “Thank you… Li, er, Li-kun. My name is -”

“I know who you are.” Another gust tossed more petals through the air, and Li dropped to one knee and bowed his head. “You are the princess.”

- - - - - - -

It wasn’t even four o’clock yet, Sakura saw with some surprise, when she opened the door to her home and entered the front hallway. So much had happened, but the entire attack hadn’t lasted more than ten minutes. Hugging her shredded bag and books to her chest, she stood aside and gestured for Li to enter. He looked nervous, and edgy, and spent the rest of the way home watching the sky as if he expected another attack any minute. He still clutched his sword in one hand. What was she supposed to say, she wondered, to any neighbor that might have spotted them?

“Here we are, home safe. I think we’ll be alright now.” Li didn’t look so sure, eyeing his new surroundings with wary caution. He watched her kick off her shoes but did not move to imitate her, and followed her silently into the living room. “Please, make yourself comfortable. I’ll make us some tea, and- uh, I think I might have some cake in the fridge. Excuse me.”

She scurried out of the room and into the kitchen, fumbling to turn on the hot water heater. She did have cake, she was relieved to see; her brother hadn’t managed to polish off that strawberry cake just yet. Quickly she prepared a tray, then ran back to the living room to check on her guest. He’d ignored the sofas in favor of kneeling on the floor by the coffee table, his sword lying in easy reach next to him.

“I just want to, um, go find a new shirt. Okay? I’ll be back in just a minute, don’t move.”

Still he said nothing, and she turned her back on his stare to dash up the stairs. Her uniform blouse had gotten badly ripped, and that was a problem she’d have to deal with later, but for now she couldn’t keep company with Yue’s servant looking like this.

Frantically she pawed through her closet and selected a short white sundress, the one with lace trim and fell just short of her knees. White was Yue’s favorite color, she remembered, and it looked nice with the diamond hanging around her neck. Hastily she swiped at her hair with a brush; she’d begun to grow it out last year and now it swung just below her shoulders, already lightened by the sun thanks to hours of cheerleading practice over spring vacation. She took another minute to apply some lipstick, so recently allowed to her on her fifteenth birthday over her brother’s loud objections, and blotted carefully. She’d done the best she could; this would have to do.

Back down the stairs to pour the tea, and she levered a generous slice of cake onto each plate. Feeling pleased with herself, she sailed back into the living room bearing her tray.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Li-kun. Do you like strawberry cake? It’s homemade, so I hope it doesn’t taste too awful.” His eyes never left her face, and there was something slightly unnerving about his watchfulness. She was having a hard time meeting his gaze directly, and busied herself arranging their snack. “Please do try it.”

“Your highness does not need to feed me.”

“I told you, my name’s Sakura. Please call me that.” Still he stared. Sakura swallowed a tiny sigh. “Ano, I’ll be very sad if you won’t have some, because that makes me worry you won’t think it’s good.”

He hesitated. “That is important to you?”

“Yes, very.”

She felt a little awkward sitting on the couch with Li kneeling on the floor like that, so she arranged herself on the rug in a mermaid position. When she flashed a hopeful smile at him, his resolve seemed to disintegrate.

“Then I will.” He reached for the cake with a grimy, calloused hand, and Sakura hastily nudged his fork closer.

“Er, use this, please.”

“Is it a weapon?” He picked it up and frowned thoughtfully, pressing a fingertip against the tines. “It’s not very sharp.”

“No, it’s not a weapon. We use it to eat. See, like this.” She demonstrated with a small forkful of cake, and watched him try to copy her. He couldn’t quite understand how to hold the fork properly, his scuffed leather palm guards getting in the way, and awkwardly transported a bite of food into his mouth. Not wanting to be rude, she bit her lip to thwart a giggle.

“Is it good?”

“Yes, your highness.”

“Please, stop it. I promise you, I’m not a princess.”

“Yue says that you are.”

“Does he? Really?” Another blush colored her cheeks as she watched him struggle with his fork. “Does he talk about me a lot?”

Li uttered an annoyed noise somewhere in his throat. “Lately, yes.”

“I’m so glad he hasn’t forgotten me. It’s been five years, you know. I think about him, and the castle and Tomoyo-chan, all the time and I always wondered if he would ever come back. I’m glad he sent you. Are you good friends with Yue?”

Li had just managed to get another chunk of cake in his mouth when she asked, and some of it must have gotten stuck in his throat because he began to cough violently. Alarmed, she clapped him on the back until he’d managed to get it clear, and take a shaky breath.

“Goodness, are you alright? You almost turned blue for a second there; better drink something.”

Obediently he reached for the teacup, but drew his hand back in surprise when he touched the rim.

“Your drink is hot. How can you drink this?”

“Of course it’s hot, it’s tea. Haven’t you ever had a cup of tea before?”

Li looked slightly flustered and dropped his eyes. Sakura wished she could take that back.

“Oh… you haven’t. I guess they don’t have tea where you come from. That was silly of me to say.” But they did have tea there; Sakura remembered sharing a cup with Tomoyo. They also had forks.

Sakura would never be so purposefully rude as to make an issue of it, so she just picked up her own cup and and smiled sweetly. “Hold it like this. Take small sips. You’ll like it, I promise. My father always buys the best teas when he goes on his trips.”

Nervously he tried again, and managed a small sip. His expression of surprise and pleasure was so cute, Sakura was tempted to giggle again.

“So… does Yue have a message for me? Did he ask you to tell me anything?”

He grimaced and put down his cup. “Not exactly a message, no, but there are some things I have to tell you. Yue sent me here because -”

Down the hallway, someone slammed the front door. “Tadaima,” her brother announced, and she could hear him kicking off his shoes. “Sakura, you home?”

Whatever Li was about to say died in his throat, and he stiffened. His face had such a strange expression on it, something akin to dread, that Sakura was distracted and didn’t even answer her brother.

“Hey, Sakura! Can you hear -” Touya appeared in the doorway and saw her first, then Li. Startled disbelief and dark fury crossed his face in quick succession, and before Sakura could even catch up he was closing the distance between them in long strides. Li jumped to his feet.

“You. What are you doing in my house? How did you get here? How do I send you back?”

Li had brought his fist down on the overhanging fork handle and flipped it into the air when he stood, snatching it and holding it out like it really was a weapon. “Stay back! I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Onii-chan, what are you doing?” Sakura wailed, ignored. Her brother and Li circled one another warily, faces dark with hostility.

“Like you’ve given me so many reasons to trust you,” Touya snarled. “Sakura, has he given you anything to eat?”

“What? No, I gave him something to eat and we were enjoying it until you -”

“Don’t be stupid,” Li growled. “You really think I’d do such a thing again?”

“I don’t know, sure didn’t think I’d ever see you again and I’m sorry enough to be wrong on that count.”

“Onii-chan, stop it! He’s a friend!”

“It’s not like I wanted to come here; I had to, there was no other way.”

“Had to? You mean you were ordered to? Yue pulling your strings again – that sure didn’t take long.”

Li snarled and poked his fork against Touya’s chest threateningly. “I do not serve Yue, not now, not ever.”

“But you said Yue sent you here,” Sakura spoke up, and her brother hissed.

“I knew it. Get out, now, before I throw you out. And tell your king when you go back that I haven’t made any wishes, so he can just keep his hands off my sister.”

“Yue is not the one you need to worry about,” Li shot back, and her brother hesitated. Sakura took the opportunity to throw herself between them.

“Both of you, stop it! Onii-chan, what is the matter with you, why are you being so rude? Do you two know each other?”

They both uttered scornful noises of disdain, then exchanged glares over her head. “Yeah… we’ve met. Sakura, say hello to the kid that walked me through the labyrinth.”

“Oh!” Sakura turned her delighted gaze back on Li. “Nii-chan did tell me about you! You’re the one that helped him to rescue me. I didn’t realize that was you; I had thought you were very short.”

From behind her Touya snorted; Li scowled. “Glad to see you finally hit a growth spurt, kid. Now it won’t be such a reach to hit you.”

“Try it,” Li suggested coolly, and a dangerous look glittered in his eye.

“No! No hitting, please.” Sakura held out her arms as if to keep them apart. “Anyway, if he’s the one that helped you then why are you so suspicious of him?”

Touya looked away rather than answer, and when she looked she saw Li had dropped his eyes too. Awkward silence prevailed until she spoke again.

“And he also just saved me from the gargoyles. So I trust him.”

“Saved you from the what?”

“Like I said,” Li muttered tersely, “Yue is not the one you should be worrying about. Things have changed for the Labyrinth since you saw it, and they’re not good things.”

“Changed?” Her brother took a step back, finally looking like he was ready to listen. The tone of his voice was uneasy. “What kinds of things?”

“We’re at war,” Li answered simply. Sakura gasped, and in the corner of her eye she saw Touya swallow. “Actually, I shouldn’t say that. I wish we were at war, but there’s not much fighting going on. The truth is the Labyrinth has been invaded.”

Sakura realized rather suddenly that she needed to sit down. Stiffly she collapsed onto the couch, and her brother sat down next to her.

“By who?” she heard him ask, grateful for the sturdy comfort of his arm around her shoulders.

“They call him the Storm King. His name is Rai; that’s pretty much all I know. That, and he commands an army of gargoyles and has been making life pretty damn difficult for us in the Labyrinth, lately.”

“I don’t understand. Yue wouldn’t allow something like this, he’s too strong to allow some other king to invade -”

“Maybe once. Not so much anymore. But then, you took off, so I guess you don’t know.”

“Know what?”

Li shuffled his feet, looking uncomfortable. “About twenty minutes after you went into that room, five years ago, an earthquake hit the kingdom. Didn’t last long, just a few seconds, but it did some damage. Kero figured that meant you’d won, and he lost.”

Sakura sensed her brother tensing, and tried to help by squeezing his hand. After all, Nii-chan had every right to come rescue her. But was Yue really that upset to lose her?

“I went back to the maze and waited. I figured any day Yue would come find me, to kill me or throw me in his dungeons for helping you like I did, but months passed and he never came. People in the city started to notice that they hadn’t seen him in a while, and then Kero flew to his castle to check on him and couldn’t find him at all. Yue had disappeared.”

Sakura squeaked in dismay. Also in pain, because her hand was still in her brother’s and his grip had tightened considerably. He looked stricken.

“He’s alive,” he insisted, in a low voice. “I know he’s alive.”

“Sure he’s alive, but no one knows where. Without him to discipline his stupid ugly troops, they got out of control, started tormenting the city dwellers. I couldn’t see anything else to do, so I started fighting them, driving ‘em off when I could. Kero helped, when he could, but it was tough going. The people started to… eh, it’s not important. What mattered was that Yue was hiding somewhere, weakened, his kingdom falling apart, and it was only a matter of time before some power-hungry bastard from another realm took his shot at conquering the Labyrinth. He and his minions marched in last month, on the new moon, and took over the castle and the city.”

“How horrible,” Sakura whispered.

“Yeah, it sucks, but I don’t see what that has to do with us. So why are you here?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with you.” Li shot her brother a withering glare. “It has everything to do with the princess. Rai’s only occupied the Labyrinth; he can’t control it, not yet. To do that he’ll have to kill the king, and, since the king has designated an heir, he’ll have to kill her too.”

Li glanced at her while he spoke, and Sakura felt cold dread curdle in her stomach. Touya looked confused.

“I don’t get it. What princess?”

“Your sister, of course.”

Touya’s first reaction was to stare, the next a slightly nervous laugh. “There’s been a mistake, kid, my sister is not the princess of the Labyrinth. Right, Sakura?”

“Right,” she affirmed quickly.

“But she is,” Li insisted. “Everyone in the Labyrinth knows it. Yue designated her as his heir five years ago.”

“Sakura?”

“No, he didn’t!”

“Are you sure?” Her brother twisted partly on the cushions to face her directly, his forehead creased with anxiety. “He didn’t ask you anything… if you’d like to become a princess? His princess?”

Oh… Sakura clapped a hand to her mouth when she remembered that moment in the garden, and the anxiety on her brother’s face blossomed into genuine fear. He rocketed to his feet. “Sakura! How could you?”

“I’m sorry, Onii-chan, I didn’t mean it! He didn’t say anything about becoming an heir, or magical powers or anything like that. He just asked me if I wanted to be the princess of his castle, that’s all!”

“And you said yes? I nearly got killed trying to find you that night and you were promising Yue to become his princess? Don’t you know that once you promise Yue something he’ll never let go?”

Li snickered. “I think you had to learn that the hard way, too.”

“You can just shut up,” Touya snapped, and cupped her face in his hands. They were shaking. “God I could just kill him for doing this to you. What’s going to happen now? Did something really attack you today?”

She nodded, and he pulled her close in a fierce hug.

“He’s going to try again, too,” Li said. “In three nights it will be the new moon again, and Kero thinks that will be when Rai puts a serious effort into hunting Yue down and killing him. It’s best for him that the princess dies before that, so she can’t inherit Yue’s power.”

“Onii-chan, I don’t want to die!”

“You’re not going to die, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You fought them off, right kid?”

Li nodded. “But I can’t stay. Yue sent me here, and when my time is up I’ll be pulled back to our world.”

“Then what?”

“She comes with me.”

“NO.” Touya almost pushed her out of the way to stand between them, hands curled into fists. “No way, no way in hell am I letting her set foot in that place. It’s a deathtrap no matter what, and now you tell me there’s some king there looking to kill her? Not a chance.”

“It’s not perfect, but it’s safer than staying here. This world is bare of magic, even I know that much. The princess stands out like a beacon, it was easy for his moronic soldiers to find her. In the labyrinth she can hide, and I can protect her. You should know better than anyone, Touya, that the maze is the best place in the universe to get lost.”

“Came up with this plan all by yourself, did you?”

“This is Yue’s command.”

“Thought you said he’d disappeared.”

“He has.” Li hesitated. “But he’s… left me several messages, lately. I know this is what he wants.”

“And you’ve always worried so much about what he wants.”

“This isn’t about me, or Yue. The labyrinth is my home, and its first king was bad enough. I don’t want some new warlord that’s even worse, and if guarding the princess is what it takes to stop him, then that’s what I’ll do. You know there’s no one else in the kingdom that can.”

This time it was Touya’s turn to hesitate. “I’d feel better if I had some kind of proof that I can, you know, trust you.”

The expression on Li’s face darkened, but then the clock in the hallway began to chime the hour and he glanced toward the sound. “My time is up. Your highness, take my hand.”

He stepped forward and held out his hand; Touya was quick to pull her back. “Oh no you don’t, we haven’t agreed to anything yet! How dare you try to hold my sister’s hand? Speaking of which, Sakura, go upstairs and put on something with sleeves, for crying out loud. And wipe that stuff off your mouth.”

“Onii-chan!”

Still the chime melody continued. “Touya, we don’t have time for this! You have to let me take her back!”

“I don’t have to anything. You can tell Yue to go to -”

Her brother never had a chance to finish. The living room window shattered into a hundred pieces when a gargoyle soared through it, clawed hands eagerly outstretched for her neck. Sakura shrieked and felt herself being yanked bodily backwards, her brother trying to pull her out of its path. A teacup hit it in the face and the hot liquid must have splashed into its eyes, because it squawked and covered its face with its hands.

One…

Li followed up his attack by jumping onto the coffee table and slashing with his sword, narrowly missing its flesh when it darted back.

Two…

Recovered, it tried to pounce before Li could bring his sword back up but Li twisted and ducked. Quite easily he threw the monster over his shoulder and past the two of them, right into the potted fern.

Three…

It shook its head to clear it, and lunged for her again. Li’s hand closed over her wrist first, though, and Sakura felt another sensation of being pulled backwards, by a force a thousand times greater.

Four…

The final chime of the clock was the last thing she heard before she hit the ground, rather hard, and yelped. How could the carpeted floor be so hard?

The floor, though, was gone. So was the carpet. Sakura stared uncomprehendingly at the hard-packed dirt and pushed herself into a sitting position, conscious of a stiff breeze she shouldn’t be able to feel in her living room. It whisked her hair in her face, and she had to push it back in order to see, which was when she realized her house was gone. Before her, at the bottom of the hill, was the kingdom of the Labyrinth.

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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters
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