Lost Soul
Prologue:
AN: I changed the summary since I wasn't happy with the old one. Anyways enjoy the chapter any feedback is always welcome. Excuse me for any errors you encounter in the story, just keep in mind that English is not my first language, but I do try ;)
Disclaimer: I knew I forgot something the first time I uploaded this thing… Anyways don't own any of it besides the characters I made up (poor them) Mumbles something 'bout the dog eating the ownership's papers….
A horrendous war raged through the lands of the Kinomoto Kingdom. Peasants were running for their lives as the last line of defence tried to hold their ground against the overwhelming forces of their opponents, knowing that they were the last hope for their King and Queen.
Many people died that day and the ones who managed to survive fled to neighbouring countries hoping against hope that they would offer them a place to stay.
Inside the castle the royal guards were protecting the chambers of the King and Queen Kinomoto. The Queen was desperately crying, holding her youngest daughter in her arms who was crying herself. Their eldest son Touya not knowing what to do stood quietly next to his father.
"What should we do?" the Queen sobbed looking at her husband whom in turn resumed his pacing. "We can't just let them die! They're children for god's sake! The soldiers won't be able to hold the enemy off for long and once they break through the royal guard won't make a huge difference either!"
In her desperation the Queen had started to yell, even though she knew that wouldn't help their situation any either. Big tears continued to roll down her cheek as she looked at both her children.
Touya went over to his mother trying to comfort her but once she embraced him as well, he too shed a few tears, which he quickly whipped away, not wanting to show his father such weakness.
Finally the King stopped his pacing and, with a grave face, looked at his wife. "There is only one thing we can do now." and with that said he called in one of the royal guards and whispered something in his ear.
At once the guard saluted and dashed out of the room to fulfil the King's wish.
The battle cries were coming closer and closer as the King kept looking back and forth at the door where the guard had walked through only moments before.
Not much later the guard returned with another person. The Queen recognised him as Clow Reed the royal advisor of her husband whom had managed to save their Kingdom more than once.
"Reed my friend, do you know why I have summoned you?" inquired King Kinomoto.
"Yes your majesty, it would be my honor." The man replied as he slightly bowed his head to the King.
"Very well," said the King "then please allow me a moment with my wife." and without waiting for a reply he turned around and faced his wife.
After several moments of talking silently he said "It will be for the best this way. He's the only one I trust with such a task. I am sure he won't disappoint us. He will do whatever necessary to ensure their safety."
The Queen, not being able to hold back her tears any longer, burst into a new set of tears all over again. "My babies!" she cried falling to her knees hugging them both once more.
"Come on now dear, you want them to be safe don't you?" the King asked gently putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
At that moment one of the royal guards burst to the door announcing more bad news. "They managed to break our final line of defence your majesty, they're coming!" he yelled before adding "Please get yourself into safety, we'll do whatever necessary to protect you." and left the room to assist his men outside.
The Queen let go of Touya and after taking one final glance at the young girl let go of her as well.
"Son," the King said making the young Touya turn around to face his father "whatever happens to us, remember this day and come back some day to claim your rightful title. But far more importantly, protect your sister, promise me."
The boy nodded trying to be brave for his parents and grabbed his crying sister by the hand as he followed Clow out of the door and into a secret passage way to get out of the castle.
"No mammy, daddy!" the young girl screamed trying to break free of the strong grip her brother had on her.
"Don't worry," he told her trying to comfort her a little "it will be alright."
Without a word Clow turned around and picked the crying girl up into his arms. "Come on now Princess, we're going to play a game." he gave a meaningful look at Touya who followed suit. "We're hiding for the guards and you have to be as quiet as possible." he told her putting his finger against his lip with a shushing sound.
The little girl quickly dried her tears and smiled a little at the man, and thankfully quieted down.
It didn't take them long to get away from the palace. Touya managed to keep up with the brisk pace of Clow-san and every now and then spared a glance back at his former home.
They had safely left the grounds and by now the only thing that was still visible were the flames engulfing the castle.
"Mom, dad, don't worry I'll keep my promise." he whispered quietly trying to stifle a sob.
"Follow me young Prince." said Clow as he took another turn moving further and further away from the castle. "Don't look back, it will only be more difficult to move on." he told him not looking at Touya's face.
They had been moving from town to town for a few weeks now. It was hard to accept for Touya that his parents were gone, and adapting to life as a peasant wasn't easy for the young Prince either. But none the less it only took him a few days with a little help from Clow-san.
They were in a small town which wasn't too fond of strangers. There had been some trouble with robbers in the town recently and ever since then they had been weary against strangers. It wasn't hard to understand, but even so they needed to make some money in order to eat.
Ever since that day, Clow-san had been looking after them, finding a new job in every town to provide the two of them with food before they moved on to the next City.
What had happened in Tomoeda (Kinomoto Kingdom) was still big news in the local towns and therefore it wasn't safe for them to stay in one place longer than necessary. Because what would happen if anyone recognised the two children or even Clow-san himself? That was a risk they couldn't take.
That evening Clow-san returned to the place where he left Touya and his sister Sakura with empty hands. "I'm sorry Touya, but there is nothing I can do. We'll have to move tonight. If we walk through the night we can be at the next town tomorrow morning."
"But what about my sister?" asked Touya "She's only four, she doesn't understand why we've been living the way we do." Clow-san looked at the hopeful eyes of the young girl, picked her up, walked back into the town and knocked on the first door he saw.
Touya had followed him and when the door opened he saw an old women looking down at him. He smiled up at her shyly before she looked away at Clow.
"I didn't mean to intrude," said Clow-san "but do you have a little bit to eat for these kids? We are going to the next town and won't get there until dawn, and I'm afraid this young girl won't be able to go that far on an empty stomach."
Without a word the woman closed the door on them. Touya sighed and was about to walk away when the door opened again and the woman gave them a bit of rice. Just enough for Sakura and Touya.
Clow smiled knowingly, yes pity always worked on elder people.
Touya on his turn had a bright smile on his face and walked over to the woman looking hopefully at her. She smiled warmly back at him "Here for you and your sister, now go." she said as she gave him the rice and closed the door once more.
Clow-san led them back to the edge of the town where the kids sat down against a tree to eat the rice.
After finishing their dinner Clow-san led the kids into the forest. It was all he could do at the moment to keep them safe. Well as safe as two little kids and an elderly man could be at night in a dark forest.
The next day at dawn Sakura was still sleeping soundly. It hadn't taken her long the night before to fall asleep in the arms of Clow-san, as they made their way towards a new day, a new chance, and a new town.
Once they had finally arrived at the village, Clow-san had managed to find them an old shed, in which they could spend a few days to recuperate, before they had to continue their journey towards Clow-san's old manor.
The people that had offered them their shed had little children themselves, which Touya and Sakura could stay with while Clow-san was out doing what he always did.
Not many days later some soldiers passed through the town they were currently staying in. They were originally passing through, until one of them noticed some children playing on the street.
"Hey, would you look at that." he said pointing at the kids. "I haven't had anything fun to do since we conquered the Kinomoto Castle."
His fellow arms-men all nodded in agreement and got up. They made their way over to the children who were playing tag.
Sakura who was 'it' was running around trying to catch her older brother Touya, who kept taunting her, and called her a monster from time to time to annoy her a little bit more. The two were so wrapped up in their sibling thing, that they didn't hear the other children telling them to be careful. In fact, they didn't even notice, until Touya finally bumped into something rather hard and was lifted off the ground by his collar.
Sakura gasped and didn't move from her spot. "Run!" was all Touya managed to say to his little sister, before the guard shook him back and forth roughly.
"Shut up you brat!" was all he said smacking him across his cheek.
Sakura didn't understand what was going on, and looked worriedly at her brother as she heard him make strange sounds. "Oni-san are you alright?" she asked while she approached the big scary man, who was holding her brother up in the air, slowly.
"Stay away!" Touya yelled before he got smacked in the face again.
"I think we have a tough guy here." the soldier said and turned around to his friends with a smirk on his face. "He wants to defend his little girlfriend, how brave." he mocked.
The other soldiers laughed when Touya was thrown to the ground harshly and ended up at Sakura's feet. The little girl seeing her big brother get hurt, started to cry and on a whim, kicked against the boots of the soldier and yelled "You big meanie!"
"Don't!" yelled Touya only seconds too late. Sakura too, was picked up and given a good rough shake by the guard, before being tossed back at Touya who tried his best to catch her.
"Sakura!" he shouted before he realized it was a big mistake.
The soldiers who had been laughing stopped abruptly and looked straight back to where the kids were now.
Touya had taken Sakura by the hand and was now running away towards the forest.
"Say guys, didn't those kids look sort of familiar?" one of the guards asked his comrades still looking at the place where the kids had been only moments ago.
"Hum now that you mention it, they kind of do… now, where have I seen those faces before?" he asked no one in particular, immersing in deep thought as he put his hand against his chin.
"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, I'm sure I know that name as well." said another also starting to think.
Then their Captain suddenly yelled: "You idiots! Get those kids! They're the heirs to the Kinomoto castle!" "At least what once was their castle" he thought mischievously.
When he noticed that none of his men had started the pursuit yet, he sighed and chased after the kids himself, his men of course following him as they couldn't very well stay behind.
Touya was trying his hardest to stay out of the hands off the soldiers. He should have been more careful! Now what were they going to do? He spotted a cave and without a second thought, rushed inside and didn't stop until they couldn't see where they were going.
Sakura was still crying and this way the soldiers would have found them in no time. There was only one thing he could think off. He would run back towards the entrance and after deciding that, he told Sakura to be very quiet until he came back.
Touya started to run until he felt something cling to his leg. Looking down he saw his little sister with big pleading eyes looking up at him. "Don't go." she said snivelling.
He unhooked her arms and legs from the death grip around his own leg, and kneeled down looking at her. "Sakura, listen to me. You don't want the evil guys to find you right?" he said softly. "Now don't worry, I'll lead them away from you while you stay here, and then I'll come back to you as soon as possible. Clow-san will be able to help us." he told her confidently.
And with his mind set, he saw his little sister crawling away behind a big rock, and then she stuck her head out from behind it to watch her brother leave her there, all alone in the dark.
Sakura had no idea how long she'd been hiding behind that rock, but she was scared and wanted to go find her brother and Clow-san. That wasn't the only thing, but she was also starting to get hungry, all the running, playing and more running thanks to the chase, would do that to you.
"Touya?" she called out softly into the darkness. When she received no answer she tried again a bit louder than the first time "Touya!" still nothing.
Carefully she got out of her hiding spot and, while holding her hand against the wall, she tried to find her way out of the cave. She was getting cold, and not to mention very scared, being all alone in the dark cave.
Every now and then when she interrupted some bats in their sleep, she'd scream as they flew over her head and luckily away from her. She was very grateful for that.
After several hours, she reached the entrance and looked around her. It was already dark and she couldn't see her brother anywhere. As if being all alone in the forest wasn't bad enough, the scary noises all around her sure made it worse.
She took a few steps out in the open and then suddenly spotted her brother, lying motionless on the floor. She run over to him as fast as her little legs would carry her, and dropped on her knees next to his still form.
"Oni-chan! Oni-chan!" she yelled again placing both hands against his chest as she started to shake, trying to wake him up. "Wake up, I'm scared!" she yelled again fresh tears spilling from her eyes freely.
"You make too much noise little girl." a voice snarled at her from behind and before she knew what was happening, her world turned black.
AN: I went back to fix some of the very stupid errors I made in this chapter lol. It's a miracle no one complained O.o Anyways thanks for reading my story, and I hope you enjoyed it :) Any reviews are very much appreciated )