by SAKURA AKA MICHELLE
Syaoran sat alone on a bench in the forbidden Li garden as he stared into the clear blue sky, watching the white clouds float graciously across the sky. All these days without Sakura with him had made him restless and a little lethargic. Things are so different and boring without her around... he thought with a loud sigh.
Hearing the bell that signaled the start of their breakfast, Syaoran took his time standing up and stretching himself. He stifled a yawn and sighed again. Just when he stepped out of the garden through the door, he saw a suspicious looking guard who was looking around him as if he was trying to steal something. It took him a few moments to recognize the guard.
“You are the guard working for Meiling?” Syaoran asked aloud, his strong voice suddenly echoing through the hallway. He frowned at the guard’s action. “What are you doing here? This place is only for...”
“I apologize for my presence in such a sacred place,” the guard stammered as he looked around him once again. “I have something important that I wish to inform you, Li-sama. It concerns Princess Meiling and the commoner Sakura... Princess Meiling has held her captive in the old hearing room that hasn’t been used for years. I was hoping that you might drop by that hearing room accidentally sometime later. I’m afraid that she might not hold on any longer...”
“What do you mean she cannot hold on any longer?” Syaoran demanded anxiously, his concern for Sakura shown clearly through each word he spoke.
The guard hushed Syaoran when he raised his volume but unfortunately he was heard. He guard cringed when Meiling’s sharp voice pierced his ears, “May I know what are you doing in this part of the castle, Tanaka? You are supposed to do the job that I have assigned to you.”
Tanaka bowed low in front of Meiling as a sign of obedience and tried to explain himself, “I was taking a shortcut to the kitchen, Princess Meiling. I assure you that there is nothing else. I was stopped by Prince Li.”
Meiling nodded and narrowed her eyes at Tanaka as if she was not convinced by his explanation. “Why are you still standing here? You are supposed to do your duty!”
“Yes, Princess Meiling,” Tanaka bowed again. “I’ll go right away.”
Meiling watched Tanaka until he disappeared around the corner where he made a turn into a path, which would lead him into the kitchens, before turning to face Syaoran with a sweet smile. “It’s time for breakfast,” Meiling chirped and hooked her right arm over Syaoran’s left arm. “Shall we set off now for breakfast? You just cannot imagine how hungry I am right now.”
Syaoran pulled his arm away from Meiling’s tight grasp, despite her protests and told her in a serious voice, “I have got something important that I need to do. Could you please tell my mother that I will not be present for today’s breakfast? I am not hungry anyway.”
“Where are you going?” Meiling asked hurriedly as he turned to walk away from her. “Why aren’t you having breakfast with us? You always join in for breakfast everyday without fail. This is the first time you are doing this, Syaoran.”
“I make my own decisions and no one shall ever make me change my decisions once it is made. No one,” Syaoran emphasized on the last two words. “Make sure you tell my mother.”
Syaoran turned around and walked away after that and that was why he missed the expression of hatred on Meiling’s face. He must be trying to look for that Sakura... But he will not be able to find her so easily... She hissed out loudly for no one in particular and walked to the dining room, where they would have their breakfast together.
Sakura leaned her arms on her bent knees and tried to ease her own boredom by blowing the dust away from the floor under the watchful eyes of the other guard who seemed to be serving Meiling faithfully. She frowned at him when she caught him looking at her and she stuck out a tongue at him in order to make him angry or irritate him.
“Untie my arms, Takase-san,” Sakura said and raised her bounded hands up to him in a silent command. She pouted when he curtly refused. “It’s not as if I’ll bite you once my hands are free...”
Takase crossed his thick hairy arms and replied sternly, “It’s Princess Meiling’s order to keep you bound and gagged in this room. Just be glad that you are not gagged yet but I will gag you if you continue to spout nonsense.”
“Who would want to bite you anyway? So disgusting,” Sakura commented and pretended to vomit on the spot, making some noisy gagging sounds for him to hear. Takase rolled his eyes in response but made no other movements. Sakura frowned at his lack of response and tried to think of another way to annoy him. “Takase-san, I want to go to the restroom.”
“No,” he simply answered without looking at her.
“Please?” Sakura asked again. “Pretty please? It won’t take long.”
“Since it won’t take long, use the chamber pot over there,” he said, pointing to the small pot in the dark corner of the room before turning around in order not to face her.
Sakura gasped aloud and stared at the chamber pot with wide eyes and when she recovered from her shock she shouted at the guard, “How dare you do this to me? I have done nothing to you and yet you dare to deprive me of my own privacy? Please tell me, of kind sir, what did I do to deserve this? Just what did I do? I really want to know what I did to deserve this treatment. Please enlighten me!”
Takase felt his temper snap as he advanced towards Sakura with a purpose and that was to shut her up. If threatening her was of no use, then he might have to use force. “You are merely trying my patience lady. This is what Princess Meiling ordered us to do; to never let you out of this door ever again. We will follow all her orders without asking her, neither should you.”
Sakura rose to full height and refused to be intimidated by Takase. “I bet you’ll jump off the castle if she asks you to,” Sakura retorted and glared at him. “After all, you are Meiling’s loyal servant.”
“Last warning, Lady,” Takase warned. “Don’t make me do things that both you and I don’t like.”
“I really pity you, Takase-san,” Sakura said with a pitiful sigh for him. “You don’t even own your own life. Not only you have to do as Meiling had said, you also follow her every order. If I were you, I surely would not be able to stand it. I mean, I could not stand Meiling’s numerous orders. How could anyway carry out so many different orders at the same time? I would collapse.”
Takase suddenly raised a hand to slap Sakura while she was in the middle of her long speech. She was caught unaware and she screamed out loud in fright. She lost her balance and went hurtling to the floor, landing in an awkward position. She lay on the floor for a few moments, totally dazed, before she stared daggers at Takase who landed her in this undignified state. Takase did not even bother to look at her as he returned to his post by the door.
Sakura tried to push herself up into a sitting position and winced aloud when she tried to move her right leg. Must have sprained it just now... Stupid Takase... “What’s so great about Meiling anyway? Why would everyone want to serve her so eagerly?” Sakura asked aloud for no one in particular. “Must be her wealth that attracted people and that great pay that she has for her servants…”
She started scooting as far back as possible when she saw Takase approaching her with venom in his eyes. When she saw him raise his hand in preparation to hit her, she shut her eyes tightly to wait for the blow and could not help herself but to scream loudly in fright. She heard a loud crash and automatically assumed that Takase tripped on something and fell onto the ground. She risked herself to open one eye slowly to look at what has happened. Her heart gave a lurch when she saw Syaoran standing behind the fallen Takase, his chest heaving with exertion and panting from the run.
“Are you all right?” he asked worriedly as he jumped over Takase and ran towards her. “I heard you screaming.”
Sakura could only nod her head as she was still reeling for the shock of seeing Syaoran in this secluded hearing room. She had heard Meiling telling the guards that this hearing room was not in used for many years. “I’m fine. I just want to get out of her as soon as possible. I cannot stand this room any longer.”
Syaoran fumbled with the ropes that tied Sakura’s hands together. “You have no idea how worried I was when you did not turn up for breakfast that morning. Seems that you have lost some weight,” he said as he hoisted Sakura to her feet and frowned when she winced in pain. “Are you sure you are all right?”
Smiling sheepishly, she admitted, “I sprained my ankle from my fall just now but I still can manage so far.”
“Tell me who did this to you,” Syaoran demanded as he lifted Sakura into his arms, bridal style. “I’ll bring hell into his life.”
“Well,” Sakura drawled. “It was Takase-san who landed me in this plight,” she said, rubbing her sore cheek.
“No, I want the name of the mastermind.”
Sakura was silent for long moments, torn between telling him and protecting the mastermind. Seeing her hesitation, Syaoran replied for her. “It’s Meiling, isn’t it?”
Sakura nodded her head slowly and hurriedly added, “She meant no harm. She only wanted me away from you so that you could be hers.”
Syaoran shrugged as he carried Sakura out of the hearing room, “I roughly have an idea of what was going on in her mind. Even if you are not around, the two of us would not have a future together anyway.”
If Sakura thought that his statement was strange, she did not ask. She was contented to be in Syaoran’s arms even for a short moment. “I thought I would stay in that hearing room forever,” she confessed with a contented sigh. “I am so glad to be out.”
“Of course you are,” Syaoran replied. “I’ll bring you to see mother once I have bandaged your ankle. We’ll go to my room.”
“Your room?” Sakura almost shouted. “But this is inappropriate!”
Syaoran smiled, “I don’t care.”
That was how Meiling found the two of them at the corridor outside Syaoran’s room. The two of them were still squabbling but they had a carefree expression. Meiling frowned when she saw Sakura. “How did you get out? Oh, I shouldn’t have asked. Syaoran must be the one saving you.”
Sakura was about to reply when Syaoran hushed her and replied instead, “Whether or not I did save her is none of your concern anymore. I do not have to report to you whatever things that I have done in your absence.”
Meiling was infuriated when Syaoran walked into his room with Sakura in his arms and he purposely slammed the door into her face, thus making her even angrier. She stomped away at the delightful chuckles coming from inside his room.
To be continued...