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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
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter 9

‘revelations’

Evening had come. It was so difficult to tell that, these days, with the clouds obscuring the sun, but Li was good at estimating the passage of time and knew sunset was drawing near.

“Are we going to be stopping for dinner soon?” Sakura asked hopefully. She was gamely trying not to show how tired and hungry she was, and Li had to smile.

“In a little while, Sakura. But there’s something I want to show you first.”

“Ooh, a surprise? What is it, give me a hint!”

“You’ll just have to wait and see. It’s something my mother was very attached to, so I think you will like it too.”

That got her attention and she promptly quieted, wrinkling her nose in concentration as she tried to guess. Just watching her face screw up like that made him want to smile more, so he was careful about keeping in front so she couldn’t see. Through a couple of twists and turns he led her, to one of the best-kept secrets of the labyrinth and his mother’s favorite resting spot.

“Does it feel warm to you?” Sakura asked, fanning herself with a hand. “Suddenly I’m rather hot. The air is so -” She followed him around the last corner and shrieked, loud enough to make his ears hurt. Kero, with his even finer hearing, cringed. “It’s a hot spring! You found a hot spring, this is a hot spring!” She jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

“Yes,” he said, because he couldn’t really think of anything else. He thought she would like it, but her reaction startled him; it was as though he’d led her to a secret pile of gold. It didn’t seem like such a big deal to him, just a small steaming pond nestled between the walls of the labyrinth, but bathing had always been very important to his mother. She insisted on visiting it every night. He figured that since Sakura was a girl too, she might like it, and it seemed that he’d figured right.

“I can take a bath!” Sakura marveled, and tugged on a lock of her hair. “I’ll have clean hair again! Oh, this is so wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Syaoran!”

She jumped him without warning, before he had a chance to evade her, and planted a kiss on his cheek. “You’re the best. Do you mind very much if I go first? Oh, please? It would mean so much to me.”

The searing heat of her lips had shot straight through his body and transfixed him, struck him dumb. If he could have spoken, he might have admitted he didn’t ever want to wash again, especially not his left cheek where the skin still burned with her kiss. Instead, all he did was nod stiffly. She beamed and backed away, to stand at the edge of the water. What was she doing? Why was she just standing there and looking at him as though waiting for him to do something?

“Ahem,” Kero coughed. “I think she’s waiting for you to scram, kid. So she can get undressed?”

“Oh! Right! Sorry. I’ll, uh, just be right around the corner. Take as long as you like, I’ll keep watch.” He took a step and then stopped, remembering. “Oh yeah. A woman in the city gave me this, when I kicked a goblin off her baby. She calls it, um, soap.”

He dug into the pouch he kept under his shirt, and produced the sharp-smelling cake of white stuff.

“I think she was trying to tell you something,” Kero snickered, and Li kicked him without looking. Sakura looked absolutely ecstatic.

“Oh, and soap too! This is so wonderful. I’m going to enjoy this so much, Syaoran, thank you!”

She whisked the soap out of his hands and this time Li remembered to turn around and leave, dragging Kero with him by the scruff of his neck. They were barely on the other side of the wall when they heard a splash, and her uninhibited moan of delight.

“Stop picturing it, you little pervert,” Kero admonished, and Li whacked him hard on the head with a fist.

“I am not!”

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t listening for every sound, even the softest of sighs, from the far side of the wall.

Sakura sank into the hot water with a moan and tipped her head back, relishing the shiver of delight that had just run down her body. “Oh, this is heaven. I am in spa treatment heaven.”

The heat enveloped her, penetrated deep inside her body and into each muscle, soothing away the aches and cramps in her legs. More importantly, all the filth and grime and sweat that had clung to her body for over a day was being washed away. Too bad she couldn’t wash her dress too, she thought wistfully, but then she would have nothing to wear while it dried. This was good enough, though. After a few heady minutes of simply soaking it all in, Sakura started working up a lather with the soap. It smelled of lavender, sharp but clean, and she crooned as she worked the suds through her hair. Then all over her body, every inch of it, because she could not be sure when she would get a chance like this again.

Then she went back to simply wallowing happily in the water for a while, but the light was fading and surely Li was waiting for his turn. She shouldn’t dally so selfishly. With a reluctant sigh, Sakura climbed back out and tried to push the water off her skin, and squeeze it out of her hair. Making do without a towel was troublesome, but after a few minutes of air drying she tugged the dress back on and shook her hair a final time.

“All finished!” she announced, sailing back out into the corridor glowing and immaculate. She had no mirror, but from the way Li gaped at her, she guessed it really was an improvement. It was all she could do not to giggle. Li was always getting so flustered, and she thought it must be because he wasn’t used to being around girls – or for that, matter, anyone at all. What a strange, lonely life he had led.

“Much better, don’t you think?” She pirouetted for his benefit. “I really can’t thank you enough. Go on now, I know you must be really wanting your own bath.”

“Un,” he grunted, and let Kero nudge him back around the corner as if he couldn’t quite remember how to walk on his own. Sakura repressed another urge to laugh and sat herself down on the ground once they had gone, combing fingers through her wet hair. Some ivy that had partially covered the wall was looking a little brown and decayed, and Sakura rubbed the vine between her fingertips. Within seconds the leaves had grown out, thicker and greener and full of life.

“Much obliged, your ‘ighness!”

Sakura almost jumped right out of her skin, but then she saw the little pink worm crawling out from behind the vine. He wore a scarf and spectacles, and took an enthusiastic bite out of one the new green leaves.

“Mm. Now that really does ‘it the spot, nice and fresh.”

“You can talk!”

“Well now, wouldn’t be too much fun if I couldn’t.”

“You’re one of those worms Kero-chan talked about,” she remembered, scooting forward to get a little closer. “The ones that live in the walls, and spread news all over the labyrinth.”

“Our reputation ‘as even reached the ears of the princess? It’s an honor, luv.” He winked and took another bite. It made her blush to hear him, even though she’d gotten used to Li and Kero talking about her like that. To think that she was princess to all these creatures; it made her feel like a celebrity.

“So, can you tell me any news? What’s going on in the rest of the kingdom?”

“Well now, wouldn’t be much of a worm if I couldn’t! That storm king bloke, he’s still got his men out looking for you. Ordered them to take the Little Wolf alive, for some reason, but no one knows why.”

Sakura knew the answer to that much, at least, but did not speak up. That was Li’s secret, she reasoned, and he probably wouldn’t want it told to a lot of gossiping worms.

“King ‘imself, though, rumor ‘as it he’s been a bit peculiar today. All his men are complaining about it. Apparently he’s been missing for hours, and left the troops to wonder where he’s gone off to. Bloody strange, for a king trying to take over a kingdom, you know.”

Sakura didn’t know, not having much experience in these matters, but she supposed it was a little odd.

“What about my brother? I haven’t heard anything but that he escaped the castle last night, and nothing at all since. Has anyone seen him? Is he okay?”

“More or less! Gotten ‘imself into a number of scrapes, they say, but he’s still up and walking. Started a terrific fight between the gargoyles and trolls today, would ‘ave liked to see that most awfully.”

Sakura arched her eyebrows in confusion, but wasn’t really sure she wanted to hear the details. “I hope he’s not doing anything too dangerous or silly. I know he’s smart, and pretty strong, but he’s terrible at admitting it when something else is stronger. And he’s already been captured once. I don’t want it to happen again.”

“Not to worry, luv, he’s keeping his ‘ead down well enough.”

“Where is he? Is he close?”

“Oh no, hours away last I ‘eard. Sorry, luv.”

“I see.” Her shoulders slumped a little, then she perked up. “Oh, what about Yue? Have you heard anything about him?”

“Not for five years, princess. Wherever he’s ‘idden ‘imself, we worms can’t find it. But there’s rumors, you know. Some of the blokes say that now Yue’s most beloved ‘as returned to the labyrinth, he’s the one that will find the king. They’re saying it must be why he came back.”

Sakura ducked her head bashfully, and flushed. It was a little thrilling, to be thought of like that, but the worm had made a mistake. “You mean ‘she’, not he.”

“Say what, luv?”

“You said ‘he’, I think you mean ‘she’. I am a girl, you know.”

“Well I can see that, your ‘ighness. But it’s Yue’s lover we’re ‘oping can find him.”

“Yes, and that’s me. I’m his…” Sakura blushed pink at the word, unable to say it out loud. It was a little more adult than she cared for. “I’m what you said. Right?”

“No.” The worm was looking at her rather strangely. “Shouldn’t think so. There’s only one that Yue wants, and that’s the one bearing his royal mark on his neck: the brother of the princess.”

Sakura’s heart wrenched to a sudden, terrible stop. “What?”

“You must ‘ave seen it. Little crescent moon, just over the collar? They say Yue did everything he could to keep him ‘ere in the labyrinth five years ago, even marked him as his own, but he still left to go back to his own world. And the king was so ‘eartbroken, his pain shook the labyrinth down to its foundations. Then he disappeared. That’s why we’re all on pins and needles to see if the boy can find him – now that he’s come back.”

Sakura heard every word, but it was as if the little worm spoke from the end of a dark, deep tunnel. She kept falling deeper and deeper into the darkness, and any second she would fall out of the bottom of the world.

“Yue… loves my brother,” she whispered.

“Course he does, everyone knows that! Even the Storm King knows that, it’s why he was so fire-popping angry when the boy slipped out of the castle. Lucky thing he did, eh? Rai would not ‘ave gone easy on him.” He interrupted himself to snatch another mouthful of leaf. “Well, I suppose that’s enough gossiping on my part; the missus’ll be expecting me ‘ome by now. Pleased as punch to ‘ave met you, your ‘ighness. Best of luck to you.”

He nodded courteously and wriggled in between the stones, disappearing back into the wall. Sakura was left alone, kneeling on the ground, very still and silent.

It began with a tiny crack, a thin fissure threading its way across her heart. Then more and more, until it could no longer bear up against the pressure and shattered completely. She broke the silence with her first sob, and buried her face in her hands.

- - - - - - - -

The daylight had nearly gone. Soon there would be a few, brief rays of sunset and then the darkness of night would come… and Rai was still here. Tomoyo finished folding her laundry and looked at him again, but he did not show any signs of waking. The king had dozed off some time ago, mumbling something about how little sleep he’d gotten the night before, and she didn’t dare disturb him. Something told her that the Storm King could be a dangerous person to surprise out of his sleep.

She didn’t completely mind, however. Now that he’d drifted off, the hard expression had melted away, and lines had faded. His face was peaceful, and more handsome to look at. From what she had heard, eavesdropping for a month, Tomoyo estimated Rai was over a hundred years old. And when she looked into his eyes, she could see it. But now, like this, he didn’t look a day over thirty.

She wondered how much longer he would sleep. She had finished all her chores for the day and very much wanted to bathe; she took great pains to wash herself at least once a day in spite of the difficult circumstances, and she was eager to get clean. If she’d known he was going to sleep for so long, she would have done it earlier. Now every minute that passed made the next minute only more likely he would wake up, and who knew how long he intended to stay? Tomoyo wavered back and forth on the issue, nearly talked herself out of the bath completely, then finally decided to just go ahead and do it – but do it very quickly.

She poured her last jug of water into the wooden washtub, and stripped down to her waist. First she knelt at its side to wash her hair, rubbing her homemade liquid soap into her scalp and then repeatedly dunking to wash it out. When she was satisfied it was clean, she removed her dress completely and stepped into the tub, using a soapy sponge to scrub herself from the neck down and then splashing herself clean.

Feeling much better, she was just stepping back out onto the floor when she heard a rustling of movement. “Sparrow?”

She squeaked and grabbed the closest cover she could find, which happened to be a sheet atop a stack of freshly folded linens. She swirled the sheet about her and clasped it tightly against her chest, then turned. He was awake, she could see that much, but in the fickle evening light it was impossible to know if he’d seen. Was that a smile, tugging at his lips, or just a trick of the shadows? Rai straightened his arms over his head and stretched, but settled back against the cushions rather than getting up. He lifted one hand, and beckoned.

“Come.”

Heart beating nervously in her chest, Tomoyo shuffled closer. “D-do you wish for another drink, your majesty? Or dinner?”

“Not just yet. Sit.” He patted a corner of the cushion on which he rested, and her heart thumped a little harder. It was too close, and there would not be enough for room for her. She didn’t move.

“I said, sit,” Rai repeated, a thin edge of steel in his words, and she cringed. Hastily she closed the distance between them, but when she tried to kneel properly on the indicated corner he shook his head and twirled a finger. “Turn around.”

Obediently, but dry-mouthed, Tomoyo turned and sat on the cushion with her back toward him. He was so close she could feel the motion of his lungs as he breathed, and the warmth of his body. When she felt his fingers in her hair, she flinched and hugged her meager sheet closer to herself.

And then, quite strangely, she heard him sigh.

“I was dreaming.”

“Oh,” she ventured, after a short pause, “your majesty?”

“Yes. I dreamed of a woman I knew, many years ago. She had hair… just like yours. Long, thick, and black. I remember that it smelled like jasmine.” She felt a section of her damp hair lifted from her back, and heard him inhale. “Yours is more lavender, I think.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“I had almost forgotten the memory of that hair, how I could lie in bed surrounded by that scent, and never grow bored of running my fingers through it. She was a gift from her family, to buy my favor, a concubine and not much more than a slave. But she was my favorite. Something about her fascinated me.”

“Did you love her?” Tomoyo asked softly, drawn to the surprisingly gentle tone in his voice.

“Hmph. Love? No, a king does not love, that would be weakness, and look at what that’s done to Yue. But a king can want, and I wanted her very much. She was beautiful, of course, but it was more than that. She had this strange… pride about her. Not that futile, silly pride that drives people to scream and beat their fists no matter how useless it is. She never fought me, not once, but no matter what I did to her she could still hold her chin up and face me with a strong, steady gaze. It was pride with dignity. That’s why I never tired of her, that’s why she spent most nights in my bed. And I think – or at least, I once thought – that she enjoyed my touch too. That it wasn’t always an unwelcome task.”

His voice turned darker, losing its softness. “But then she conceived and bore my son, and ran from me as far and fast as she could.”

“You must have felt betrayed.”

“I swore that when I found her, I’d strangle her myself. What she did was unforgiveable.”

“Do you think she knew?”

“Knew what?”

“How angry you would be. How dangerous it was to try and leave.”

“She was a very intelligent woman. Of course she would have known.”

“Then, why do you suppose she did it? Took such a risk?”

Tomoyo heard him take a deep breath, rather than answer immediately, his fingers still absently fondling locks of her hair.

“She asked me questions; I remember that now. As I pressed my hands and my ear against her skin, listening for his heartbeat, she asked me what plans I had for my son. Naturally I told her he would be trained to fight, and to rule, second-in-command of my forces until the day of my death.”

“She must not have liked that answer, your majesty.”

“As if it was any of her concern. She had served her purpose in bearing my child; he was mine to raise how I saw fit. She stole him from me, and now I will never have the chance to confront her for it. I learned today that she is dead.”

The weight of the final word seemed to press in on them, demanding a moment of silence – if not in respect, then at least somber acknowledgement. Tomoyo bowed her head.

“I am sorry, your majesty.”

“For what? I told you I would have killed her myself. Her death is no loss to me.”

“Perhaps. But I think, in her betrayal, she hurt you deeply. I understand that you are a king, and cannot admit to it. I wouldn’t ask you to. So that’s why I say I’m sorry, for your pain. No matter how much you hated her, after she left, you must have missed her too.”

He did not reply for a frighteningly long time, and Tomoyo felt the stirrings of worry. Had she overstepped her bounds? Spoken too freely? All this time she’d spent wishing for someone to talk to, why did it have to be the enemy king? A more dangerous companion did not exist.

A low chuckle startled her. “I’ve made up my mind, little sparrow. You are very brave, much more so than you look. And how you look… is not wanting.”

She felt him move, and the warmth of his body against her back, and started when his lips pressed against her lower neck. They parted, exerting some pressure, and sizzling new feelings shot through her bloodstream. She was afraid, desperately afraid, but even if she thought she could have escaped she was unable to move. Eyes closed, trembling, she waited for it to end and wished that it never would.

When it did, at last, Rai did not even put his hands on her. Instead he only nudged his cheek against her hair, like an affectionate cat, and spoke softly into her ear.

“Ah, and here I’d made up my mind to not let myself be distracted, when I first came to this kingdom. Now look at what’s happened. You and my son will be the end of me.” He stood up, unexpectedly. She nearly fell over at the motion, and had to hurry to keep her sheet wrapped around her.

Looking thoughtful, Rai wandered away from her and towards the edge, where her little hiding place opened out into the air. The sun had dipped low enough to be free of the overhanging clouds, but was not quite beneath the horizon. It was probably the most light the labyrinth had seen all day.

“Your majesty, will you tell me why you came to the Labyrinth? Why did you invade?”

“Because I am a king, of course. It’s what we do. We conquer.”

“But Yue has never invaded another kingdom.”

“Yue conquers something other than kingdoms,” he muttered, so low she wasn’t sure if she’d heard him correctly. “Besides,” he went on to say, “how could anyone resist such a prize?” Unmindful of the deadly drop beneath him, Rai put one hand against the edge of the wall and leaned against it. Wind teasing his hair, he gazed out at the kingdom. “It’s infuriating, really, but rich with magic. Beautiful too, in its own way. You certainly found yourself a hiding place with a stunning view.”

“I suppose.”

“You don’t think so? I think it’s impressive.”

“I did not choose the hiding place for the view, your majesty. Actually, I haven’t looked out over the labyrinth in a long time.”

“Why’s that?”

Tomoyo stood, her hand involuntarily going to her neck. She didn’t even have to look in a mirror to know where his lips had touched, her skin still burned with the memory.

“Because it makes me sad, your majesty. The labyrinth has always scared me, but at least I could appreciate its wild beauty. Every year since Yue’s disappearance, though, it withers and dies a little more, and I don’t take any pleasure in watching that. How could anyone?”

“So that’s what you see, when you look? A dying labyrinth?”

“Yes.”

“Shall I tell you what I see?”

“What’s that?”

His dark eyes were so intense, even when he wasn’t looking her way. “I see a part of the labyrinth where the trees are green again, and growing more thickly. Only a small part. And I am wondering why.”

The sun dropped below the earth, and the labyrinth was cloaked in twilight.

- - - - - - -

“Here it comes.” Kero arched his back expectantly, wings already outstretched. From his vantage point Li couldn’t even see the sun, but Kero never failed to sense the oncoming changes to his body. The wings wrapped around him, cocooning him, and when they opened again he’d returned to his tiny nighttime form. “Ah, much better. I always like bathing in this body more. My handsome lion’s coat is kind of a pain to dry.” Happily he dove into the spring and then bobbed back up to the surface, floating on his back.

“Do you mind? I’m trying to take a bath, I don’t want your fur in the water.”

“Eh, you can’t make me believe you care that much about a bath.” Kero smirked at him without lifting his head. “Not when you do it so very rarely.”

“At least I don’t wash my hands with my tongue.”

“Speaking of washing, do you intend to? Or are you just going to sit there with your hand on your cheek like a lovestruck idiot?” Li hastily ripped his hand away from his face and scowled viciously at Kero.

“I was just… thinking.”

“About what is not hard to guess.”

“Shut up.” Li rubbed the soap between his hands to work up a lather, and started with the neck. His mother was always so adamant about doing this every night when he was a boy, even though he found it tiresome, and since she died he only bothered to return occasionally. Most days he just made do with a quick dip in whatever stream was handy, if that. But since Sakura seemed to value it so much, he would clean himself especially well tonight. He didn’t want her to wrinkle her nose at him or anything.

“Ya know, since she forgave you for that whole betraying her brother thing, you’re kinda out of excuses not to confess.”

“Except for the one about Yue forbidding it.”

“Yeah, except for that. I still can’t figure out why he did that, though. Are you sure you got that part of the message right?”

“Very sure.”

“I don’t get it. What does he care? He always was so hard to figure out. Even when we were young, he would spend all day with his nose stuck in those boring books and then he’d try to tell me about them until my brain hurt and he called me an idiot. Just because I’d rather eat than read. And if you ask me, those books filled his head with a lot of dangerous stuff. He especially loved that one, by that one guy… Ma-something. It sounded like a pasta. Matortellini? Mafettucine?”

Li was not listening. He rubbed handfuls of the fragrant lather into his wet hair, then dipped his head back to dunk it. This soap stuff was not bad, actually. The city woman that gave it to him said she’d gotten it from a castle servant. Apparently she was an expert in making it. It sure had made Sakura happy.

He stood up, then promptly dropped back down into the water when a passing trio of fairies pointed and cooed. He could feel his face flushing the color of a tomato.

“Shit. I hate it when they do that. Can’t they ever go ogle some other guy taking a bath?” He splashed some water at them to make them go away, which they eventually did. With the fading light, their wings had begun to glow. That made him remember the previous night, and he groaned.

“You know, it was probably the fairies that sold us out to Rai last night.”

“You think so?”

“I do. Those gargoyles were coming right for us, when I saw them, knew exactly where we were. The fairies were the only ones that saw us there, and they’re the sort that would rat us out. Now they’ve seen us here, which means we’ve got to get moving. We’ll have to find somewhere else to spend the night.”

“Not to mention find some dinner. I’m starving.”

“Kero, if you were actually starving every time you said that, you’d have wasted away to a skeleton by now. I’m not worried.”

He shook his head rapidly, scattering droplets from his hair like a wet dog, and pushed the water off his skin until he could get back into his clothes. Kero was in the middle of making some rude retort when they came around the bend, but the remainder died on his tongue the second they saw Sakura. Collapsed into a pitful little huddle, her head bowed, tears were streaming down her face and dripping onto the stones below.

“Sakura!” Both of them rushed forward. “Are you hurt?”

“What’s wrong?”

She lifted her head and looked at them, but the tears didn’t stop flowing.

“Wh-what’s wrong? I think you must know already. The worm said that everyone knows.” Her shoulders convulsed with a fresh round of sobs, and Li got a very uneasy feeling in his stomach.

“Sakura -”

“You knew.” Uselessly she wiped at her cheeks. “Everyone knew. Yue doesn’t love me at all. He loves Onii-chan.” She dissolved into her tears again.

“I’m gonna let you take care of this,” Kero decided, and zipped over the top of the wall before Li could catch up.

“Hey!” Too late. Li was left alone with her, and there could be no escape. She had buried her face in her hands, each pitiful, wretched cry tearing at his heart. More than anything he hated to see Sakura sad.

Li knelt before her, and put an awkward hand on her shoulder.

“I- I’m sorry, Sakura.”

She knocked his hand off and lifted her head, her face pink and blotchy with tears. “Why didn’t you tell me? You let me go on and on about it, I feel like such an idiot! You knew, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated stupidly. “I am, Sakura, I didn’t… I knew, but I didn’t want to be the one to tell you. You were so happy when you talked about him. I didn’t want to make you cry.”

“I’m crying now!”

“I know, I’m sorry!” God, couldn’t he think of anything else to say? Helplessly he watched the tears streaming down her face.

“I don’t understand,” she wept. “He-he made me his princess. I thought that meant… why did he do that? If it was Onii-chan he loved?”

“I don’t know, Sakura. Yue is… not an easy person to understand.”

“Why did he take me to his castle, if he never wanted me at all?”

“Because you were the one your brother wished away. Yue took you so he could force your brother to come through the labyrinth; if he couldn’t get to you in time, he would have to stay in Yue’s castle too. That was the deal they made.”

“Why didn’t Onii-chan say anything?”

“I really don’t know. I don’t even know how Touya feels about it; I think he was a little scared of Yue’s feelings. Yue wanted him so badly -” He bit his tongue too late when Sakura started crying harder.

“It was always my brother he wanted. The dress, and the pretty ballroom, and making me princess, none of it meant anything. I was bait, nothing but bait!”

Yes, Li very nearly agreed, because of course that was how Yue operated. Just in time he remembered something else.

“No, Sakura, not just bait. Yue told me, actually, that he liked you very much. He said you were pretty.”

Finally, it seemed he said something right. The force of her tears eased off, and she looked up again. “H-he did?”

“Yes! He did, he told me that he liked you very much. He would have chosen you, but he just couldn’t help it- he was already in love with your brother. He even said you were very precious to him. I think it was important to him that you were happy.”

One hand closed over her diamond necklace. It looked as if she might be trying to get control over her tears, and Li waited with bated breath.

“So, it was Onii-chan he was sad to lose, when that earthquake came.”

“Yes.”

“And he’s spent five years hiding, because he lost Onii-chan.”

“Yes.”

“I see.” A teardrop rolled down the bridge of her nose and she drew it away, staring at it. “I- I shouldn’t even be crying, you know. In a way, I- I’m really happy, because Onii-chan has someone. I was always so worried, back home, because he never went out with girls and I thought he must be so lonely… I worried about him all the time. So it’s good to know that he has his special person. I’m just crying because I’m – I’m a little selfish, that’s all.”

“Don’t say that. You are the most selfless, kindest person I’ve ever known, Sakura. You’re so much better than your brother, and you’re a million times better than that sadistic king of mine. He doesn’t deserve someone as nice as you. You should be with someone that doesn’t use you for his own purposes, someone that cares about you more than anything else in the world. Someone that would do anything for you. Someone…” He watched her try to wipe the tears from her cheeks, her hands trembling from emotional exhaustion. “Someone who…”

He tipped forward and kissed her. It was so sudden he did not even have the time to panic over it; one second he was watching her fight back her tears and the next second his lips were on hers, warm and wet and salty. The next second after that he realized what he’d done, and shoved himself back again. To be more accurate, they both shoved themselves back – Li aghast at what he’d done and Sakura just as shocked, her hand over her mouth.

She stared at him with round eyes and he could do nothing but stare right back.

“I’m sorry,” he bleated, for the millionth time. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry.”

She said nothing, hand still clapped over her mouth. Li wanted to curl up and die for what he’d just done, but all he could do was stumble to his feet and get away as quickly as they could carry him. When he found Kero, waiting around the bend, he slumped to the ground next to him and stared glassily into the darkness.

“Well? Did you fix it?”

“No, made it worse.”

“Oh, that’s just great.” Kero heaved a sigh, and shrugged. “Well… I’m gonna take off.”

“What?”

“I can’t spend all my time looking after you two, I’ve got my brother to look for, ya know?”

He flitted just out of reach when Li tried to grab him. “Kero, no! You cannot leave me alone with her, not now!”

“See ya later!”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Only if you can catch me. Ta ta!”

He vanished into the dusk, leaving Li alone. Alone but for the princess who, at long last, knew the truth.

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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

As you can see, Hinata’s Twin, I have hardly begun to be cruel to Syaoran. Nobody said being the hero was easy.
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