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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
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter 7

‘the prince and the princess’

Sakura set the freshly iced cake in the center of the kitchen table, and smiled hopefully at her guests. “Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone. Do you like strawberry cake?”

“It looks marvelous,” Tomoyo complimented, sitting in the chair just to Sakura’s left.

“It’s homemade, so I hope it doesn’t taste too awful.”

“I’m sure it will be delicious.”

Sakura ducked her head bashfully, settling herself in her chair. “Onii-chan? Li-kun? Please do try it.”

“And me!”

“Yes, and you too, Kero-chan.” Sakura carefully cut a slice for everyone’s plate, reasonably sure that this must be a dream. It was the only way to explain Li, Tomoyo, and a tiny winged plushie sitting at the table in her family’s Tomoeda home. Li-kun looked even more out of place than Kero-chan did, sitting stiffly in his chair with a nervous look in his eyes.

“Li-kun, I wish you’d relax. You don’t have to worry about fighting here.”

But Li shook his head. “Go left. Less risky.”

“Cup of tea, Sakura?” Tomoyo offered, already pouring.

“Thank you. Onii-chan, do you want tea?”

But Touya was scowling at a Rubik’s cube in his hands, hands rapidly twisting the different sections. “Busy,” he said succintly.

“Kero-chan?”

“Yes, please!”

“Li-kun?”

“Tea is too good for me.” He dropped a live fish on the table and sliced it open with his knife, much to Sakura’s dismay.

“Li-kun!”

“Something the matter, your highness?”

Touya snorted disdainfully. “This is why I told you not to invite him.”

Li stabbed his knife at Touya’s arm and Sakura flinched, but Touya just moved his elbow out of the way and let Li stab it into the table instead. He rolled his eyes in irritation and went back to solving his puzzle. Li looked at Kero, busily inhaling cake.

“She’s sliding off again. Slow down, and try to be more careful.”

“I am being careful,” Kero retorted. “If you’re so worried, why don’t you get on and hold her? You know you want to.”

“I have told you to shut up about that!”

“Sugar in your tea, Sakura?” Tomoyo dropped a sugar cube into her tea and stirred it for her. “I’m so happy you’re wearing my dress. I’m pleased that you like it.”

Sakura was distracted from the boys’ conversation and looked down. Sure enough, she was wearing the beautiful dress Tomoyo made for her all those years ago. “Of course, Tomoyo-chan, I love it. It’s the prettiest dress I’ve ever had.”

“And you’re growing your hair long, too, just like how Yue prefers it. Can I brush it later?”

“It’s not like she’s taken. You know he only wants her brother.”

Touya muttered something under his breath but didn’t look up.

“It doesn’t matter,” Li huffed, looking tense and unhappy. He kept playing with the fork in his hands. “Yue forbid it. He’s said so a dozen times over.”

“Oh, and what he forbids has always mattered so much to you.” Kero grinned wickedly. “Syaoran.”

Li glowered and flicked Kero soundly on the side of the head.

“But something’s missing, Sakura,” Tomoyo pressed, distracting Sakura again. Her brow was wrinkled with worry. “It isn’t perfect. Where’s your necklace?”

Panic gripped Sakura’s heart and she slapped at her throat, feeling for its cool touch. It was gone! Her precious gift from Yue was missing. Frantically she looked all over the table, then under it, but she couldn’t see it anywhere.

“I think she’s slipping off again,” she heard Li say, as she leaned over to look under her own chair. Then she lost her balance, and tumbled to the floor with a shriek.

“Got you,” he said, and Sakura’s head snapped up. The house and the tea party were gone, she was in the labyrinth again. Li had her shoulder in a solid grip, holding her back from falling face-first onto the stone tiles, and she was half off Kero-chan’s furry back. Her hand flew to her throat, found the necklace securely in place, and she sagged with relief.

“Ohh… thank you, Li-kun. That was scary.”

“Have a nice nap?” he asked, helping her sit upright on Kero-chan again. She smiled ruefully.

“Was I asleep for a long time?”

“Not long. You looked like you needed the rest.”

“And Kero-chan, I’m sorry I’ve been riding on you all this time. Is it tiring? Do you want me to get off?”

“I wouldn’t worry, your highness,” Li answered, before Kero could open his mouth. “Compared to hauling his own weight around, you’re an afterthought.”

“Watch your mouth, you little punk!” Kero snapped his teeth together where Li’s hand had been just a second earlier. “See if I ever let you ride again.”

“I’ll manage just fine on my own two feet.”

“And no, Sakura, you are not tiring me in the slightest. My strength is unbeatable!”

She smiled and stretched. “That’s good. I’m really grateful for it.” And she was. She’d lost her slippers when the gargoyles attacked them this morning, and already her bare feet were blistered and sore. Around midday Kero insisted on carrying her, and she was so tired that his steady gait had lulled her to sleep. What a funny little dream.

“What did you call Li-kun, just now? Syaoran?”

Li tripped on his own feet and rolled once across the ground. He jumped up again before Sakura could cry out.

“What?”

“Syaoran,” she repeated, carefully noting his suddenly white face. “I didn’t mean to startle you or anything, I just thought I heard Kero-chan call you that.”

“You heard?” She thought she saw a mild flash of panic in his eyes, but what could he have to panic about? “You heard… that? What else?”

“Um.” She rubbed her fingertips against her scalp as if to stimulate brain activity, but got distracted by her tangled, lanky hair. She felt disgusting. “I can’t remember. You were talking but it was all mixed into my dream, and none of it made much sense at all. We were having cake; that’s all I can remember.”

“Good dream,” Kero piped wistfully. Li exhaled, looking relieved.

“So… Syaoran?”

“Oh, that- that’s nothing, your highness. It’s nothing.”

“Well, I thought it was pretty. Is it a nickname?”

“Most famous in the kingdom,” Kero snorted, and Li shot him a baleful glare.

“Do shut up, monster mouth.”

“He doesn’t like it because he was having such a bad day when Yue gave it to him,” Kero explained to Sakura, over his shoulder. “But it’s Syaoran that means Little Wolf, in one of those languages he knows. He’s the reason everyone calls the kid that.”

“Oh, I see!” She smiled brightly at Li, who hunched his shoulders and started walking again. “But I don’t see why you wouldn’t like it, it has such a nice sound. And it was Yue who gave it to you.”

“He’s the only one who calls me that,” came the muttered reply. “Just Li is good enough.”

“Well, it’s better than ‘little monster’, at any rate,” Sakura ventured, after a short but awkward pause. “That was one of my brother’s nicknames me for me when we were younger. Isn’t he horrible, to say things like that to a little girl?”

“Horrible!” Kero agreed vehemently. Some of the tension left Li’s shoulders, and he stopped staring so fiercely at the stones.

“He told me that you stomped on his feet when he teased you. Do you do that, still?”

“Oh, sometimes. But he doesn’t tease me so much anymore, not since the night Yue took me away. It’s crazy to say, but sometimes I really miss that… Everything between us changed after that night.”

In front of her, Kero’s ears pricked up with interest. “Oh? Did you two fight?”

“No, not at all! That’s what was so different. Onii-chan became a completely different person, starting with the next morning. He didn’t pick on me anymore, he started looking after me. He made dinner for me even without Dad asking him to, and he walked me to school holding my hand – he would never let me touch him in public before. Sometimes he just came up to me and hugged me tight, for no reason at all.” Sakura sighed and tipped forward a little, bracing her hands just behind Kero’s rippling shoulders. “I loved it, at first. My whole life he always acted like I was such a pain, and he ignored me or he was mean to me. All this new attention made me feel really special. I didn’t think I’d ever want it to change, but then I started junior high. A school for older kids,” she explained, when Li shot her a quizzical look.

“That’s when I started to notice just how protective he’d really gotten. He fussed when he saw me talking to boys, and sometimes he threatened them to stay away from me. He argued with my dad about my curfew time, to keep it earlier. He even fought to keep me from wearing makeup! And he still insisted on giving me a ride to school every day.” Sakura huffed. “It was like he didn’t want me to get older. I know that what happened five years ago really scared him, but it’s no reason to punish me. I can’t help that I’m growing up. And now that I’m Yue’s princess, he can’t stop me and Yue from getting married.”

She nodded firmly on this point, missing the look Li and Kero exchanged. “Maybe when he realizes that, he’ll relax and start thinking about getting his own girlfriend. That would be a nice change.”

“Pretty unlikely one, too,” Kero snickered, and for some reason Li swatted him on the ear. Sakura sighed.

“You think so too, huh? I don’t care how great he is at football or playing the piano, it won’t matter if he never goes out on dates. He’ll just end up alone.”

“And wouldn’t that make a certain someone so very sad?” Kero jeered, and this time Li hit him even harder. This was starting to confuse Sakura, but before she could open her mouth to ask who the certain someone was, Li turned back to her.

“He still does the football, then? He told me about it, last time he was here. It sounded, um, interesting.”

“Sure, it’s a fun game, I guess. I’ve watched more matches than I can count, most of them his. Nii-chan doesn’t play so much anymore since he started college, but he still likes it a lot. He’s pretty good at it. You’d be good at it too, I bet.”

“Why is that, your highness?”

“Well, I’m a cheerleader, so I’ve seen a lot of good players. You have to be fast, and able to run for a long time, and I’m sure you can do that. And you definitely have to have really quick reflexes. I’m sure you’ve got those.” She grinned and Li flushed, looking pleased.

“Do you think I’d be able to do the football as good as he can?”

“Play the football- I mean, ‘play football’. And I don’t know.” She giggled at the thought of it. “I’m sure it would be a fun match to watch, at least.”

“Who would you cheer for?” Kero pressed.

“Hmm, that would be difficult.” She snuck another smile in Li’s direction. “I do love him, but I like annoying him too. I’d cheer for you to win, Li-kun.”

A goofy smile spread across his face, then he promptly walked into a wall.

“Li-kun! Oh my- are you okay?” Hastily she scrambled off Kero’s back, not difficult because he’d collapsed to the ground in hysterical laughter. Li was holding a hand over his nose, trying to regain his balance and looking more than a little stunned, but at least she couldn’t see any blood. “Let me see.”

“Doh, doh, it’s fide!”

“But you walked right into that stone wall! You might have even broken it.”

“Do- no, it’s not broken, it’s fine.” He kept twisting away every time she tried to look. “Just fine, your highness, never been better. And shut up.” He kicked Kero viciously in the gut, which if anything just made the laughing worse.

“Li-kun, you should at least sit -”

“It’s alright! I swear it!” Face obscured, he darted back from her hand and nearly ran around the next corner. Kero did not seem especially bothered about following, or even attempting to get up just yet, so Sakura scurried after him alone.

“Li-kun, wait!”

“I’m fine!”

“I know, but if you could just -” She glimpsed him just before he vanished around another bend. “You’re going too fast… wait, Li-kun! I’ll get lost!”

That finally struck a chord, and by the time she’d come around the edge of the wall he slowed back down to a walk. But even as she drew up alongside, he couldn’t quite bring himself to make eye contact.

“You know you don’t have to be embarrassed, Li-kun. Kero-chan is just being rude.”

“Your highness must be wondering just how well I can protect you, if I can’t even see a wall coming at me.”

“Of course not! It was an accident, that’s all. You think I don’t ever have my klutzy moments? Think again. My brother would be happy to tell you all of them; I think he keeps count.”

Still he wouldn’t look at her.

“You know at my very first cheerleading performance in junior high, I dropped the baton on my head? It’s true. I practiced for hours that weekend, I wanted to get it right so bad… oh, I guess you don’t know what a baton is.” She held her hands apart to indicate length. “It’s just a small stick and we twirl it in our hands, like this, and then we throw it up in the air.” She pantomimed it, and finally succeeded in making Li look at her. It was a very baffled look.

“Why do you do this thing?”

“Uh, to cheer on the football players. No, I guess it doesn’t make much sense, but that’s what we do. And I was so sure I’d get it, I’d practiced so much, and up it went…” Sakura smacked herself on the crown of her head and grinned ruefully. “Bonk! Right in front of everyone! My brother laughed so hard he almost fell off the bleachers, and later on I hit him with the stupid thing.”

“I would too.”

“So there you go. It happens to all of us.” She moved quickly, before he could jump away, and pulled his hand from his face. It didn’t look too bad, maybe just a little pink and swollen. She crinkled her own nose at him and grinned. “If this is the worst you’re injured while taking care of me, then I guess we’ll have good reason to be happy.”

“I guess we will.” The pinkness seemed to be getting worse, for some reason; it was spreading onto his cheeks. He looked at their hands, still linked, and after a second’s hesitation pulled his away. “Shall we keep going, your highness?”

“But what about Kero-chan? We’ll leave him behind.”

“Don’t even mention it,” he muttered sourly. “You’ll give me false hope.”

- - - - - - -

Tomoyo was bent over her embroidery, repairing the rip in a sleeve, when the king returned. As before, she neither saw nor heard his approach, one moment she was alone and the next he was standing before her like a specter in black. She accidentally stuck herself with the needle when she scrambled to her feet to curtsy.

“Still here, little sparrow?” He looked almost amused. “I thought you might try to flee, now that you’ve been discovered.”

“Your majesty ordered me to stay.”

“So I did. But I did not think you were obedient to such a fault, considering how ready you were to help Yue’s lover escape.”

Tomoyo trembled and kept her eyes down, not sure how to reply. It would do no good to tell the truth, which was that she would have loved to escape, but the labyrinth terrified her even more than Rai did.

“At any rate, you’re here, so you might as well make yourself useful.” He tossed a dried plant to the floor at her feet, then sauntered over to her sitting cushions. “Boil that in fresh water.”

Tomoyo knelt and picked it up, trying to identify it and not succeeding. The plant was so dark it was nearly black, and its shriveled buds were a dark, ominous, crimson.

“What is it?” she asked, handling it as delicately as she could manage.

“It’s a contingency plan,” he answered simply, and briefly smiled. “It never hurts to be prepared. Don’t you think, sparrow?”

“Yes, your majesty.” He watched her pour water into a pot over coals, and stoke them. The water would take a few minutes to come to boil. “Wine, your majesty?”

“Oh? You had none this morning.”

“I fetched some from the cellar,” she said softly, pouring the dark red liquid into a goblet that she’d also had to steal. “In the event that you returned. As your majesty said, it never hurts to be prepared.”

To that he actually chuckled, and extended a hand for the glass. “You are a surprise, aren’t you?”

“Only a well-trained servant, your majesty.”

She tried to give him his wine and stand up again, but his hand had caught hers and wasn’t letting go, keeping her where she was. Tomoyo’s heart thumped nervously in her chest and she tried to swallow some dryness in her throat, not really succeeding at that either. She had already given this man reason enough to kill her.

“You left this place, then,” he mused. “If you went to the cellar.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“To get wine for me.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“And then instead of running, you came back. To wait for me.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

His voice kept dropping in timbre, and unconsciously Tomoyo followed suit, until she was speaking in close to a whisper.

“Fascinating,” he murmured, and she was suddenly aware of the softness of his kid leather glove, as he rubbed his thumb across her palm. “I’m not sure if that makes you very cowardly, or very brave. What do you think?”

“I…” Tomoyo had to swallow again, trapped by the question and too distracted by his touch to produce a clever answer. “I- I think the water is boiling, your majesty. Will you excuse me?”

He smiled again. “By all means. You are excused.”

He let go and she nearly stumbled getting back on her feet, inwardly cursing her clumsiness. Was she not a royal servant? Flustered and embarrassed, she returned to her fireplace and shifted the pot a little further from the direct heat, then dropped in Rai’s mysterious ingredient.

“Let the boil die down,” he instructed. “Let it steep, until the water is black.”

“Yes, your majesty. Is it a tea, then?”

“I suppose it is one, technically, but it is not a tea for tasting. And you needn’t grimace at it, little sparrow, because it is not meant for you.”

- - - - - - -

Li sank down onto a tuft of grass, grateful beyond belief that they’d finally reached this resting place. Walking beside her all afternoon had become nothing less than exhausting, fraught with the danger of making a complete fool of himself again. As desperately as he tried to pay attention to his surroundings, he kept catching himself staring at her instead and then he’d have to quickly look away again. That blasted Kero, periodically breaking into stifled laughter, was not helping matters any. When Li dropped down onto the earth, he didn’t think he’d ever want to get up again.

“What a cute little place!” the princess marveled, charmingly oblivious to his troubles. She took in the peaceful glade with delight, and skipped across the grass so she could dip her feet in the cool water. It gushed from the wall through a sculpted spout, pouring into a pond covered in lily pads. At least, it used to be covered. Some of the pads had withered and sunk, now, turning the water murkier than it once was. “Ooh, the water is so cold. It feels nice.”

She braced her hands behind her on the grass and leaned back, sighing contentedly. It took Kero clearing his throat, quite loudly, to make Li notice he’d been staring at her chest while she did this.

“Kero-chan, are you alright? You’re not getting a cold, are you?”

“Oh, not me, Sakura. Don’t you think the kid looks feverish, though? Check out that red face.”

“I’m fine!”

“Are you sure?” she asked worriedly.

“Very sure,” he growled, leveling vicious looks at Kero. Mentally he was promising himself that he’d make the beast eat his own tail for this, later.

“Well, we should make sure to rest for a little while, just in case.” Idly she lifted one leg out of the water, and watched it drip off her foot. “I sure hope Yue does something very nice for you, for all your hard work. How do you think he’ll reward you?”

“Reward me?” Li grunted, and leaned back against the stone wall. “I don’t think so; that’s not Yue’s style. If I’m lucky he’ll choose to forget about my past crimes and just banish me back into the labyrinth.”

“Don’t be silly, Li-kun,” Sakura chided, in that naïve way of hers. “He wouldn’t be that mean, not after you fought so hard to keep me safe. I’m his princess, after all. How could he not reward you?”

“Because he’s Yue,” both he and Kero said simultaneously, with some exasperation.

“He really is a cold-hearted bastard, Sakura.”

“He’s cruel.”

“Hates happiness.”

“Uses people however he likes.”

“Unfeeling.”

“Manipulative.”

She turned her head back and forth between them, trying to keep up, then unexpectedly broke into giggles. “You two are so awful! Poor Yue, does everyone in the kingdom talk so badly about him? It must be difficult to be the king, when he has to make decisions that not everyone likes.”

Both Li and Kero stared at her, and she smiled and shook her head. “Honestly, it would be nice if the king’s own little brother could at least stick up for him. And you, Li-kun, when he trusted you so much he even sent you to my world to protect me. Shame on you both.”

“She’s serious,” Kero hissed out of the side of his mouth.

“I know.”

“Show her your scars.”

“Not a chance!”

“What?” Sakura asked, and Li’s head snapped up again.

“Uh, nothing. What is the king like in your world, then? Is he so much crueler than Yue?”

“My king?” She laughed. “We don’t have a king where I come from… well, I suppose we do, but we don’t think about him much. He doesn’t really have the power to do anything, when it comes to making laws and such. He only performs ceremonies. We elect the men that make the laws – or, I don’t, because I’m too young. My father does. My brother could, but he doesn’t; he says he doesn’t care enough to bother about it.”

“You choose the lawmakers? You have more than one?” Li could scarcely comprehend it. “Why does the king not make the law?”

“They won’t let him, I guess. It’s been that way for a long time. If the people choose the men that write the laws, then the lawmakers have to be good to the people.”

“And the king… he doesn’t hurt anyone? Order his soldiers to lock people in dungeons?”

“No, never.”

“Is he kind to you?”

She laughed again. “Of course I’ve never even seen him! He lives in another city and everything. There’s no way he could ever meet all the people in our country.”

“So he doesn’t even know you.” Li sighed wistfully. He would give anything for anonymity like that, unnoticed and unimportant to his calculating king. “Your world sounds nice.”

“Maybe when I’m queen, we can arrange the kingdom to be a little more like it. I wonder if Yue would mind?”

Li and Kero shared a look of silent agreement, neither caring very much to answer Sakura on that one.

“Well, it’s something to think about for the future, anyway. Don’t worry, Li-kun, no matter what I’ll make sure Yue rewards you. You are my friend, after all.”

“Friend,” Kero echoed, wicked gleam in his eye once Sakura turned her gaze back out on the pond. “Now doesn’t that just thrill you to the bottoms of your feet, Li? You’re her friend!”

“I will kill you,” Li promised him. “Slowly. Painfully.”

Kero stuck his tongue out at him.

“This place is pretty,” Sakura decided, unaware of their muttered exchange, “but it’s too bad that none of these flowers are blooming. Why are they all shut up so tight in the middle of the day?”

She gestured to one of the many lily buds alongside the pond, tightly closed and drooping toward the earth. “They look as though they would be beautiful if they were open. What kind are they?”

“Those are songflowers, your highness, but they haven’t bloomed in years -” Sakura reached to touch the closest of them, but quickly yanked her hand back when the little flower moved and straightened on its own. Right before their astonished eyes, the bud tilted up and opened its petals to the world. From it pealed the beginning strains of a violin melody.

“It makes music!” Sakura gasped. “The flower is making music!”

“Y-yes, your highness, they all do, but I don’t know why it opened up -”

“Of course!” Kero smacked a paw against his broad forehead. “Why didn’t we see it before? Yue designated her as his princess; she has the royal magic in her blood now. Wasn’t she leaning against that plum tree last night?”

Comprehension sank into Li as he spoke, and so did disquiet. Of course, of course the labyrinth would respond to her touch. It was not quite the power Yue carried within himself, but she was his heir and that must be enough for the plants. She really was the princess, in every way. He was a fool for even wishing he could be more than her friend.

“You mean, all those dying plants here in the labyrinth – they could come back to life just because I touch them?” she whispered. “Just because I told Yue I would be his princess?”

“A verbal contract is all that’s needed, here in the Labyrinth,” Kero explained. “He offered, you accepted, hey presto, you are his royal heir. If anything happens to my brother, you’ll inherit all the control he possesses over the kingdom.”

She looked as if she didn’t know whether to be thrilled or frightened. “That sounds like a lot of responsibility. I don’t know if I can handle all that.”

“Eh, don’t worry yourself too much over it. Nothing’s going to change as long as Yue manages to keep himself alive, which he bloody well should be able to.”

“Why aren’t you next in line for the throne, Kero-chan? You’re his little brother.”

“And quite opposed to the concept of ‘responsibility’,” he added, with a grin. “Which he knows. I’m sure he’d rather put the crown on the kid here than ever see the kingdom in my hands- er, paws.”

Li rather doubted that last part, not that it mattered to him one way or another. He was still watching Sakura, as she tentatively stroked a second flower. It too opened its petals, adding a second musical voice to join the first. Then more and more, until every flower in the glade was blooming and they were surrounded by a symphony of sound.

“It’s all so magical,” she marveled. “And to think that I helped it happen! I’ll touch every plant we see now, bring them all back to life. At least now I know I can do that much.”

Humming lightly along with the music, she began to sway and move to the melody. Soon her feet were moving too, carrying her across the grass with lightness and grace. She looked so happy that Li couldn’t help himself, he smiled to watch her.

“You still like to dance.”

“Oh, yes, very much. I practice for hours every week, and my teacher thinks I might even be able to go to college on scholarship for it…” She paused, mid-twirl, and looked at him curiously. “How did you know that I liked to dance?”

Shit. Li could feel the warmth rising in his skin, and he cursed himself for his stupidity. “Uh… your brother told me. He- he talked about you and he said that was, uh, something you liked. Teddy bears, pink, and dancing.”

“Oh. Well if he also told you I was no good at it, and I bet he did, then he’s a liar. I practice whenever I can.” And to Li’s absolute, immediate horror, she held out her hand in invitation. “Come here.”

Li plastered himself flat against the stone wall behind him; if he could, he would have pushed himself directly through the bricks. “Oh no, your highness, I couldn’t, I don’t know how to do that.”

“But this is a waltz, it’s a dance for two people. I can’t do it by myself. Please?”

“I can’t,” he repeated, all too aware of Kero’s sadistic grin. “I couldn’t, ever.”

“Don’t be so silly, Li-kun, it’s not as if there’s anyone else to even see. And Kero-chan won’t laugh, right?”

Kero-chan quickly shook his head, his mouth clamped shut to contain the laughter no doubt already threatening to burst forth. He was literally quivering with the effort of it. Not seeing this, Sakura marched forward and grabbed Li’s wrist, pulling him to his feet.

“Now then, it’s really very easy. A waltz is a three-count: one two three, one two three, one two three. Just hold my hand like this, and put your hand here on my waist like that, and step forward when I say. Ready, now.”

Li stumbled forward when she tried to move, barely avoiding her bare feet. “Whoops, a little more smoothly than that, Li-kun. Just one foot forward at a time, and they’re always going to be mirrored by my own steps backward. Don’t worry, if you can learn how to fight without anyone to even teach you, I’m sure you can do this.”

Again she stepped back, guiding him to move forward, and he managed to do it a little less clumsily than before. “Very good! Now we just keep doing that, turning to the right every time, and remember the three-count. One two three, one two three.”

His feet moved as she directed, but all he could think about was the dip of her waist under his hand, and the closeness of her chest to his, so close they nearly touched. A fire was raging away inside his body, threatening to burn him alive from the inside.

“And pause for just a moment, lift your arm like that, and I’ll twirl underneath it. Perfect! See, it’s not hard at all.”

Kero buried his face between his front paws, shoulders shaking, tail whipping back and forth in a frenzy. Li wished he could close his eyes but Sakura’s face seemed to hold his gaze like hypnosis, and with every step he fell deeper into her green eyes. One two three, one two three, pause to let her twirl, hold her close again. Now they were touching, her breasts lightly bumping against his shirt every time she drew a new breath, her hips occasionally brushing against his. It would be the work of a second to seize her and kiss her, take her to the ground and cover every inch of her body with his own. He would take her, and make her his own just like Yue offered him all those years ago.

“Li-kun?” The word came like a soft invitation to his ears, beckoning him closer. He vaguely noticed they’d stopped moving, even more vaguely noticed that this was because the music had dwindled to a stop. Far more significant was the beat of her heart, which he could just barely feel through the material of their clothing. Her hand was still in his, her waist under the other, and he had no intention of letting go. He had to kiss her. He had to.

“Sakura…”

His lips were nearly on hers when a delighted squeal shocked him into immobility, and she threw her arms around him in an exuberant hug.

“You finally did it!”

Huh? Too confused to do anything but freeze, he caught Kero’s astonished stare over Sakura’s shoulder and felt dread in his heart. What had he nearly done?

“You called me Sakura!” She squeezed him a final time and stepped back, glowing. “I was beginning to think you might never. That makes me so happy, Li-kun. I hope you’ll only call me Sakura from now on.”

She turned away from him so that she could gush to Kero about it, so she didn’t see Li sinking helplessly to his knees. Inside, the fire still burned.

- - - - - - -

“What do you think he’s doing, right now?”

The king drained the last of his wine and set the goblet on the floor, and Tomoyo looked up from her needlework. Rai had actually ordered her back to it, apparently unconcerned about whether she paid more attention to her chores than to him, and seemed content to simply sit and listen to her sing as she sewed. Not until she finished her song did he speak.

“Who, your majesty? Your son?”

“Of course my son. What do you think he’s doing right now, out there in that accursed labyrinth?”

“I could not say, your majesty. I suppose he is guiding the princess through it.”

He frowned briefly. “But he must at least be thinking about me. Has he figured it out, I wonder? Does he understand what I am to him?”

“Did the Little Wolf not know before, your majesty?”

“No, I’m sure of that. I saw it in his face, this morning.” Rai rolled up onto his feet and started to pace. “Anyone would. He was as surprised as I was, and utterly bewildered. Perhaps by now he’s guessed, and perhaps he hasn’t, but either way his head must be full of questions. I want to see him again, now that I know, and talk to him. I want it very badly.”

He noticed her expression and narrowed his eyes. “What are you smiling at?”

“Forgive my impudence, your majesty. I was smiling because you are so eager to meet him again. Discovering your son has made you happy, I think.”

“Proud,” he corrected, and without warning he was kneeling directly in front of her, eyes aglitter with enthusiasm. “I am proud, to know that boy is my son. All that you’ve heard doesn’t even begin to compare to what I saw in him today. He’s strong, fast, and a talented swordsman. Lacks in real training, that’s obvious, but certainly not in courage. He stood against me and all my men, and did not so much as flinch. What a gem he’ll be, in my forces. After all these years, I finally have my chance at a competent lieutenant. And even more importantly, an heir. Here is a prince I could entrust with my kingdom. Now do you see?”

“I do, your majesty.” If she had dared, she would have reached to push aside a lock of hair falling over his forehead. “And I’m glad that you feel pride like that for your child, for every father should. But your majesty, he serves Yue. He is royal bodyguard to the Labyrinth’s princess.”

Unhappily she watched the storm gather in his eyes again, and his face settle into a hard, determined look. “Yes, but that will change soon enough. Yue has had enough of me. I will not let him have my son too.”

He stood, and returned to the fireplace. She nearly jumped when he pulled a knife from its sheath, but all he did was lightly prick his forearm and squeeze several drops of blood into the black liquid. Then he knelt, and drew a pretty jade pendant out from underneath his shirt. Perplexed, Tomoyo watched him dunk it thoroughly and then loop the chain over the pot handle so it could drip dry.

“It never hurts to be prepared, little sparrow,” he repeated, and once again he smiled. “It’s how I’m going to win.”

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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

Oooh, what’s he gonna do? Mystery, intrigue, obsession! If only Rai knew how much more preoccupied his son is with his crush than his own dad… heh. I bet he’d be rather miffed.

I apologize if there was any confusion for my readers this week. My story got hidden away by the KGB because, apparently, it’s not enough to disclaim owning the characters, one must disclaim owning the fandom as well. I say ‘duh’, but lawyers say otherwise. Authors, make sure you disown CCS in your own stories, or (threatening music) you’ll be next!

Don’t sweat it, Vix. You didn’t know Rai had wings because I never mentioned them pre-chapter 6. Unlike Yue, he only brings them out when he needs them. But they’re black, and they’re sexy. Yue has white wings, Rai has black wings, yeah… no parallelism there or anything. Watch for falling chess metaphors.
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