Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Through A Looking Glass ƽ°²¾©¤Î™ÑÎïÕZ ❯ A promise of returning years later ( Chapter 7 )

Through A Looking Glass

By: Aisaki Sumi

 

Chapter Seven

A promise of returning years later

 

Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours
And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.

 

Sakura knew what the agitation of waiting could bring. She knew how the desired end to that timeless insanity felt like a free fall that would never come even though she knew it inevitably would. Her mind would create agitation as it would question the laws of physics in an illogical thought process.

 

Time never stopped, slowed, sped or leapt. It always moved in a constant manner. Embracing its consistence was an impossible task.

 

The passage of time was always consistent.

 

The passage of time after being filtered through one's heat wasn't.

 

And this moment, with the awkward silence ringing sadistically in her ears, felt like an eternity. Emerald bored into endless blue, she waited, breathed, and watched; he stared back, his chest rising and falling rapidly. To them, time was put on pause.

 

Waiting. Both had different thoughts harbored in their minds and wanted something from each other, yet none ever attempted to make that request.

 

Instead, they waited and waited. For something to change, for the silk to melt into their skin, or for the tatami pad stacked together neatly on the table to catch on fire, or the stars to fall out of the sky they couldn't see from inside this room.

 

They waited for the silence to end so all the masks could be torn off; so everything would be laid down on the table. It was then a quiet knock on the wooden door shattered the heavy silence between them, directing their attentions towards the silhouette projected onto the paper screen door.

 

Eriol's grip on his sword tightened and Sakura eyed him to settle down and lay down on the bed, at the same time cover himself up with the bed sheets while she made her way across the room to see who it was.

 

Opening the paper screened door, a sullen young face came into view. The girl was no older than fifteen. Her long hair like the finest ebony were braided into two buns and pinned in place with two red ribbons. Her eyes were the rarest color of scarlet red, reminding Sakura of the color of the dusk.

 

The girl's eyes widened slightly as she looked up at Sakura's face but it was gone as soon as it surfaced. Sullen and somewhat defiant, she bowed to Sakura reluctantly and held out a box stiffly, gesturing Sakura to take it.

 

Sakura put on her charming smile and muttered a quick thanks to the red-eyed girl, but she dashed away quickly as soon as the packaged she was told to deliver landed into Sakura's hand. Chuckling to herself softly in light amusement, Sakura watched the young girl scampering away as if she had just seen a monster and shook her head.

 

Closing the door behind her, Sakura brought the package to Eriol's bed. “Here, clean up that wound of yours and put on this new kimono.” She started to take out the different things in the package, the new kimono, bandages, and some herbs to clean up his wound with.

 

“Get read fast and we're leaving as soon as you're done. Taira no Syaoran will come back for another round of search soon, for sure, and my plan won't work again.”

 

Eriol nodded in reply. Just when he was about to take off his blood drenched kimono, he flickered a glance up at Sakura unsurely and Sakura immediately understood that he wanted some privacy. Getting up and straightening out the wrinkled fabric of her kimono, Sakura headed for the door.

 

But before she left, she heard a hushed apology. “I'm sorry.” It made her pause for just the briefest moment before she proceeded on with what she was doing a moment ago. She knew he felt guilty for not giving her the antidote she wanted so badly, but he had his reason too.

 

She was his only ticket out of Heian-kyou. And she helped him, not out of the kindness of her heart, but because her life was in his hand. Used and being used was what they were. Thus, words of apology weren't needed. Both of them were merely following the rules of the game of survival.

 

Eriol watched her disappear out of the door and found himself staring at the empty space of where she once was unblinkingly. The seemingly fragile boy kept on surprising him with everything he did and a part of Eriol really admired the boy for his quick wittiness and ability to stay calm even in a life and death situation.

 

The boy was almost… whimsical in a sense. One minute he was smiling brightly and chatting away about the most casual things, and the next minute he could be oppressive and icy cold. So many phases at the same time…and Eriol wondered which one represented the real him.

 

Like deep, still water, there was no way to tell how much the stone had sunk. Likewise, there was no way to know how far one had waded with the boy before the signs became blaringly obvious.

Grinning faintly, Eriol undressed himself and began to clean up his cuts.

 

……

 

Sketchy lines drawn by their long shadows cast upon the empty road far from the main entrance gates of Heian-Kyou. They left through the main gates which were guarded by many Taira Clan soldiers, yet none dared to stop them for a check up.

 

Sakura carried the wooden card which had the Kanji characters of “Taira” carved onto it, and those soldiers knew that only a member from the Taira family had such a card. They respectfully stepped aside and allowed Sakura and a cross-dressed Eriol pass through without further questioning.

 

After all, no one would expect a Taira family member aiding their biggest enemy in his escape.

 

Right after they exited Heian-Kyou, Eriol poured out some water from his water bag and washed off the heavy make up on his face with much disgust, then stripped off the female kimono in which he was forced to wear, since according to Sakura, no one would ever suspect him in that form.

 

It was a direct blow to his pride and dignity, but he had to do it. A part of him regretted getting onto Sakura's bad side and he was almost sure that Sakura did it out of vengeance. But then again, Sakura did keep her words of getting him out of Heian-Kyou safely.

 

He stole another quick glance at Sakura who was standing a few meters away from him and who was waiting patiently for him. Her hands were cupped together gracefully at her back as she stared into the velvety sky. There existed the span of stars - a blurred image of elegant, dull spectacles and a tight smile.

 

He didn't know what was on the card she showed to those soldiers, but the way the soldiers stepped aside so quickly and respectfully confirmed his suspicion of her background. She had to be from one of the wealthy and powerful aristocratic families in Heian-Kyou.

 

But the last name “Sakuma” didn't ring a bell in his head. Probably a pseudonym…but then again, it was quite understandable that she wanted to keep her name confidential. But a part of him really wanted to know who she was.

 

Pushing aside the thought, Eriol approached where Sakura stood and halted into a stop when she looked at him with her head cocked slightly to the right. She kept her end of the bargain, and now it was his time to keep his end of it.

 

Taking out his sword and sliding the blade across his finger tip, the scarlet liquid gushed out of the small wound almost immediately. A few droplets fell onto the ground. “This is the antidote to the poison.” He explained, holding up his hand.

 

Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly. The antidote was right under her nose all along. And all along, she thought it was something that was very hard to get even if she used Syaoran's power to get it. Swerving around to face him fully, Sakura ambled over to where he was and leaned forward.

 

The awful taste of blood entered her mouth. She wanted to cough it out but told herself that it was the only thing that could save her life.

 

When her soft lips touched his fingertip, Eriol felt a spark of some sort jolting through his body. He gawked at her, from her perfect complexion to her chin and down her creamy white neck—and she had no Adam's apple!

 

Even though she had a small and slender form, Eriol was almost certain that she was boy in her late teens. Eriol's eyes popped wide open as he grabbed onto her elbow almost excitedly. “You—you are not a—man?” He stammered out the question.

 

Sakura cringed in pain and tried to break away from his tight grasp. “Of course I'm not, I never said I was one.”

 

But he didn't mind the implicit sarcasm in her voice, instead, his grin only enlarged. Sakura frowned a little and titled her head upward, when her eyes aligned with his, she saw him grinning at her like an thrilled and overjoyed little boy.

 

“Don't get too overjoyed yet, the soldiers are still guarding the gates which isn't too far from here. If you don't want to die, I suggest you go right now.” She mistook his happiness as success of his escape and warned.

 

“Right.” He nodded quickly, but the bright smile was unwavering. “I'll be back.” He vowed quietly, as if to himself, and Sakura raised an eyebrow.

 

“I'll be back, for sure.” He repeated, but with more persistence this time as if he was trying to convince her and left. But before that, he gave her one last look, almost lingering in a sense.

 

She watched him take off and disappearing into the night like a wanderer of the darkness. Rubbing her tired temples, she was ready to call it a night. Sakura headed back to the gates of Heian-Kyou and for the household and take on her sister's identity again.

 

She didn't take his words seriously when he vowed that he would come back one day, but she was soon to be proved wrong.

 

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a.n: Eriol x Sakura x Syaoran. Love tri. Bet y'all didn't see that one coming lolz.

 

And guess who that delivery girl is. If you guess it right, I'll let you know what's gonna happen in the next two chappies before everyone else -winkwink-. Hint: she's a CCS character.

 

Supposed to be typing up English paper and studying for chemistry right now, but I got stuck, so decided to put this supposed “staring down at my keyboard thing for hours long” time into good use. Also, keep in mind this is an AU story set back in 1179, so all the CCS characters have been altered completely to fit the story better.

 

Important notice: this chapter is COMPLETELY unedited. I usually do a skim through before I post it, but I don't have time today, so I'll come back to it a bit later. Please disregard all mistakes and I hope everything make sense…err hopefully.

 

Improtant notice 2: please sign up on my NotifyList (link provided in my Profile Page) if you want to be notified when I post a new chap.