Chapter 4: Mikado Keito
Disclaimer: See Prologue
AN: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews everyone! Ok so it took me a while to get this one out and I'm sorry, but it was a pain to write this chapter :S I rewrote it like 5 times, deleted and started all over again, to finally get it sort of to my liking. Then when I thought I was finished, I let my Beta Lahmikhara (thnx btw) check it over, and he pointed an obvious something out to me which was sorta important but I forgot all about it so I had to fix that too. But now finally here's the next chapter for Lost Soul! Hope you enjoy! And Kurai as usual thnx for the support and getting me off my butt lol. Now on with the story!
Warning: Quick warning, some adult themes in this chapter, so if you aren't old enough to be reading that, or if you're just against it, don't bother reading the chapter :-)
"This must be my lucky day," said a nasty voice from the shadows.
The bone chilling voice had Saku frozen to the spot. Her stomach was still doing flip-flops and her head was throbbing worse than it had been doing when she woke up earlier. "If only I hadn't woken up…," she thought grimly as she tried to ban all the horrifying images out of her mind.
After she fell down from the rocks - where she usually hid anything that was somehow important to her - lost consciousness and after seeing everything that she'd seen afterwards, she just wanted to go home and nothing else. But it didn't seem like luck was on her side…
Trying to focus she anxiously scanned the area but saw no one. Just in case, she hid herself behind a bush. Still high on adrenaline from her earlier experience, she held her breath and listened intently, willing her ears to pick up anything that would let her know more about the whereabouts of the person who'd spoken only moments ago.
"So we meet at last. Why don't you come out and face me?" said the nasty voice, sounding pleased for some reason.
The voice sent shivers down her spine. "Who are you? How do you know me? What do you want from me?" she asked apprehensively. She flinched at her own voice, in which her fear was painstakingly obvious. Saku tried to swallow the knot that had nestled itself in her throat and waited with bated breath.
"My, my, where are your manners little girl? Didn't your parents ever teach you, that it is very impolite to answer a question with a question?" the person lectured her with a mocking voice as he stepped out of his own hiding place.
To Saku's great dismay, she couldn't get a good look at him, but one thing was for sure. She got some very bad vibes from this guy. She had to think of something, anything to get away from him, but what?
All sorts of crazy thoughts were running through her head as she started to question herself where the man came from, what he wanted from her and more things like that. He couldn't be from the other gang could he? Or worse… was he one of the people responsible for the horrible events that occurred at the castle? Saku's blood ran cold at that thought, and quickly shook her head trying to rid herself of such frightening thoughts and the images that came with them.
With the adrenaline still rushing through her blood, Saku eventually decided to swallow all her fear as best she could, and face the situation bravely. "Help…" she thought before she really pulled herself together. She appeared from behind her bush and stopped at a seemingly safe distance away from the creepy man.
She completely ignored his earlier question and asked him once again. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" This time she actually managed to sound a bit more confident.
"So, you finally came out to play…" said the man with glee in his voice and took a step in her general direction.
Saku took a step back, not sure of what the man's intentions were. "Just forget everything you saw earlier…," she thought as she tried to calm her raging heart, which currently felt like it had settled itself in her throat and somehow had managed to get stuck there.
It wasn't as easy as it had sounded in her head though. For starters, her head hurt like someone had tried to open up her skull to look inside, and the man in front of her was scarier than any of the stories Shino had ever told her when she was little.
Saku took several deep breaths, hoping that they would help her to calm down enough in order to compose herself once more. "Just focus on the matter at hand," she thought determinedly. It wasn't as if this was the first time she had managed to get herself into trouble, even though this time, she wasn't quite sure how this was her fault… As long as she could stay focussed, she should be all right. After all, even the scariest of men should have a weak spot somewhere, right?
"Just keep your cool and remember what you've learned over the years" She might have been a girl but that didn't mean she didn't know how to fight. After all, you didn't grow up around 20 male 'role models', or as she called them, her brothers, without picking up a thing or two about fighting. No, they, especially Kai, had made sure she knew how to defend herself, and had learned her all the dirty tricks there were when it came down to fighting. All she had to do was keep her head cool long enough to actually use them.
He slowly started to advance on her, one confident step at a time. Saku threw a fearful glance over her shoulder back at the castle. Going there wasn't an option. She was not going back there, no matter what! With that option out of the way, she anxiously looked around her, trying to think of another escape route.
"I see you've found our handy work." he said with pride evident in his voice when he saw her throw a fearful glance back at the castle. "That's what happens when people refuse to cooperate." he told her smirking.
Saku was taken aback by his comment and thanks to that, she didn't notice how far she had backed away from the man, until her back hit the wall, effectively stopping her retreat. He was one of them… he was responsible? She couldn't believe it… things had just gotten worse, much worse.
Her blood ran cold the moment her back touched the wall. "Oh no!" she thought starting to panic. What was she supposed to do now? The only thing that came to mind was running … There was only one minor problem to overcome before she could proceed with her carefully laid out plan though… and that was 'how to get past the creepy man who was blocking her only exit'.
It seemed like her best option would be to run past him. Therefore, instead of thinking things through as she should have, she simple went for it. Everything was working out great; accept for one minor detail…
Saku was on the ground trying to catch her breath before she knew what went wrong. Looking up she saw the man looming over her, a big smile on his face, one arm still outstretched, from where she had probably ran into him only moments before.
Slowly, she got up and backed away from him once more. Now that he was this close, she got a very good look at his face. That was anything but comforting… she whished she hadn't seen it. Now more than ever, did she want to run as far away from him as possible.
His face bore a huge scar across his right eye, which wasn't even visible. He approached her and placed his right hand beside her head, and placed his left knee against the wall, effectively trapping her.
"Fancy meeting you here." said the man and started to stroke her face with his free hand. "And where did you think you were going?" he crowed and looked at the disgusted look on her face with glee.
Saku turned her face away from his touch as far as possible. God this was gross. The man was gross! It wasn't just the fact that he grossed her out, but the things he said… the way he seemed to be pleased with the horrifying things she'd seen, but were currently hidden behind the large castle walls… and she was very grateful for that.
"Home…" she said softly and immediately cursed herself for letting the fear creep into her voice once more.
"Oh really? It doesn't look like you're going anywhere to me." he taunted and let his hand travel down to her body, where it made its way to her breast and fondled it. "Feels exactly like I imagined it would feel… so soft." he whispered.
Saku gasped the moment she felt his hand move downward and anticipated where it was going to go next, never really hearing the words he whispered more to himself than anything else. When he started to fondle her breast, she couldn't take it anymore and screamed. She screamed with everything she had in her, even the birds in the trees got a scare and took flight.
With his ear being so near her he stopped momentarily, shook his head trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears and continued with what he had been doing.
Saku was starting to panic. What was she supposed to do? His breath was so close she could feel it against her cheeks. She didn't dare look him in the eye, afraid of what she would find there. Even screaming hadn't made him step back, not even an inch!
She didn't get any time to recover from her shock when his hand finally left her breast alone. Instead, it travelled further downward and came dangerously close to her abdomen…
"Let me go!" she screamed in his ear once more. She no longer cared about showing him whether she was scared or not. All she wanted was to be somewhere else, anywhere else, but here with him.
His hand stopped momentarily and instead he looked at her face as a malicious grin appeared. "Now, now, no need to get so upset," he told her and moved his face even closer to hers. "this isn't going to hurt one bit…" he said with a smirk. "This morning you were chosen and doomed. Your fate is sealed. Now whatever you do… don't scream." and with that said he stuck his tongue out and licked her face.
Saku turned her head away in disgust and tried to push him away with all of her strength. "Leave me alone you creep!" she yelled but the man smirked at her futile attempts.
"No can't do, little girl. Now tell me… I need to know. How does it feel to be helpless? How does it feel to scream for help and know no one's coming to your aid?" he asked her.
"W... what?" Saku asked bewildered. What was that guy talking about? This guy was nuts! However, she could do little. He had a point… not many people ventured to this part of the woods, not at this time of night anyways.
"How does it feel to know that you lack the power to save yourself? Don't you just hate to be as weak as you are?" he continued to ask her, desiring an answer more than anything. "Don't you just hate to be a girl… a woman?" he continued now whispering in her ear.
"Let me go you freak!" Saku yelled and started to hit his chest with everything she had.
"Yes, resist, struggle, show me your fear!" he said sounding thrilled. "Tell me what you feel!" he demanded closing the distance between them even more.
His breath was close enough for her to feel, just like the growing bulge in his pants which was even more unnerving. "Go away, leave me alone; let me go! Help!" she screeched but she knew it was useless. No one would hear her, there was no one around; not a soul, and she knew it… The sinking feeling in her stomach got worse the more she despaired.
"Now why would I let a sweet little kitten such as yourself go?" he asked her and let his eye ravish her body before he forcefully tried to kiss her.
"No! Leave me alone!" she yelled, and out of a reflex, she did something she should've done immediately. She kneed him in the groin and shoved him away from her harshly.
Groaning the man fell back and doubled over in pain. "You wench!" he growled looking at the spot where the girl had been only moments ago, to find that she was gone. "I'll get you for that!"
A string of curses rang through the woods, but Saku couldn't care less. The moment the man had dropped to his knees to hold his precious balls, she took the opportunity and slipped passed him. She didn't dare look over her shoulders, afraid that she'd trip and end up on the floor. Afraid that he'd catch up to her…
Her breath was coming in ragged gasps and the stitches in her sides were only getting worse, but she didn't dare stop. She had to get away. To make things worse, her head started to throb much worse than it had done so far. She reached up and touched the painful spot, only to find dried up blood there. Her panic didn't allow much room for thinking so she shrugged it all off and focussed on running.
"Get back here you little wench!" The man yelled. It took him about a minute to get over the initial pain and give chase after the girl.
Scared out of her wits she started to run faster and faster, ignoring the stitches in her sides and not much later, she arrived at the edge of the forest. "Come on Saku, just a little further and you'll be home safe!" she thought trying to encourage herself.
Upon reaching the town, Saku ran blindly into one street after another. All she knew was that she had to get away from that guy. She didn't want to think about what would happen if he got his hands on her again, and with that in mind, she strained herself even more.
She turned another corner, looked back over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't still following her even though she had told herself not to look back, and ran smack into something hard. "Damn that hurt," she thought as she rubbed the bump on her forehead. "I just had to look back didn't I!" she thought angrily.
"What the hell...?" she heard from whatever it was she ran into. A wooden door opened and when she looked up, she saw a large carriage in front of her.
"Like the throbbing in my head wasn't bad enough without me running into something." she thought trying to get up but being to dizzy to do so.
"Here, let me give you a hand." said a strangely familiar voice as he offered her his hand.
Saku gladly accepted the help for once and got up, still slightly dizzy but she managed to hold her own.
"Thank you." she said and started to dust herself off.
The man in front of her waited to see if she was truly alright. He had noticed the wound on her head which didn't look too good. When she looked up in the face of her savour she gasped, while he tried to get a better look. "You? Great, this is just great! Of all the people I could've ran into, it just had to be you! I could've been well on my way by now, miles away, but here I am stuck with you!" she snapped.
"And to think that you were happy to see me only moments ago." he said shaking his head at her. "But here I am, helping you to get up generously and I don't even get a thank you in return." he said with mock disappointment. He'd have to ask her about that wound later.
Syaoran was amused to say the least. It wasn't often that a girl would actually complain about being in his company. Well make that never, he was a perfect gentleman and he knew how to please a lady, thank you very much.
"But yes, I totally agree." he said suddenly with a gleam in his eyes. "You could've been running,"
"Yes!" Saku agreed not really giving him the chance to continue what he was saying.
"But instead you're stuck with me. Just like last time." he said with a contemplative look on his face.
"Yes, exactly!" Saku agreed hastily, not bothering to really listen to him.
"And you missed me so much that you just had to see me again. In fact your need was so great, that you just had to run into my carriage to get my attention." he told her in a matter of fact tone, bearing a smug look on his face.
"Yes!... I mean no! What is wrong with you! Idiot! Does it look like I'm throwing myself at your feet!" she said but instantly regretted it when she saw that coy look on his face.
"Hmm, as a matter of fact, you did throw yourself at my feet. After all you were the one on the floor only moments ago, were you not?" he asked her with the most innocent voice he could muster.
"Argh! Just shut up and leave me alone! I don't have time to play any of your mind games right now!" she yelled and was about to start running once more when he reached out for her wrist and hauled her against his carriage.
"Don't leave me already. It was just starting to get fun Milady." he told her and pinned her against his carriage.
Okay, not the most subtle way to get a closer look at that head wound but it worked, and she wouldn't be any wiser. The blood was already dried up. Good at least she didn't get it from running into his carriage. But then where did she get it?
"What are you, mad? Does it look like I enjoy this sort of violence? Besides how many times do I have to tell you, it's Saku. Saku! Not milady or whatever else you can think of." she said sounding exasperated that he wouldn't let her go. "Besides weren't you going somewhere this morning?" she asked suddenly looking thoughtful.
It was tempting to say that it looked like she did enjoy that sort of violence when he looked at her head injury but he refrained himself. Instead he answered her question.
"Why yes I was. I must praise you for your memory, I knew you cared deeply for me. You are even expressing your concern for my business, I'm touched milady, I honestly am." he said giving her a coy smile. "But as you may or may not already know, things don't always go the way they are planned. And sadly enough by the time I finally got at my destination, my boat was already gone, thanks to certain… complications." he said giving her a meaningful look.
Ok so that wasn't the entire truth since his ship had taken a detour to avoid the storm but she didn't have to know that.
Saku looked unimpressed. "Aww too bad you missed it." she replied.
"No need for the sarcasm milady." he told her and rolled his eyes at her.
Saku looked ready to explode. Why couldn't he at least try to remember her name? Was it that difficult? Well considering whom she was talking to she guessed she had to accept that he wouldn't understand it, even if his life depended on it. After all not everyone was fortunately blessed with an actual IQ…
"You know, that wasn't sarcasm," she told him pointedly after she managed to cool down enough not to blow up at him once more. "I was actually serious. It is a shame that you missed that boat of yours."
At that comment he looked at her surprised. Was she serious? But then she continued…
"It's too bad for me. If you hadn't missed your boat, you wouldn't be able to continue harassing me! I would be well on my way, and I would've never ran into that stupid carriage of yours!" she finished yelling at his face and reached up to rub the bump on her head out of habit..
"You know, for someone who's been nice enough to save you from a trip to jail, you're not being very grateful." he said sounding hurt.
All Saku did was quirk an eyebrow at him, wondering what he was talking about.
"Don't tell me you already forgot your little adventure at the fountain this morning… bathing?" he exclaimed astonished. Really how could someone forget something like that, so easily?
"Ah that…" was all she said and turned a nice shade of red. "Maybe that was what that creep was talking about when he mentioned this morning…" she thought and froze. Immediately she started to struggle against Syaoran's grip.
Let gofmm…-" she started to yell but before she could finish yelling at him he'd already covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shht!" he whispered urgently looking serious all of a sudden.
Saku was more than annoyed now. What did this Li guy think he was doing? Holding his hand over her mouth and shushing her.
By now, she was convinced that he had lost it and was just trying to come on to her. She was about to knee him, followed by a nice sucker punch, but to her great dismay, he was prepared for her. She was getting so worked up that she didn't even hear anything he was saying, or noticed the things going on around her.
Behind them, someone else had joined the bickering duo.
"Where's the boy?" Lord Kon asked his eyes holding an eager look on the doors, which were staying empty to his great annoyance.
"There is a storm raging. The boat had to take a detour and won't arrive for another couple of days." said the Captain looking calmly at the by now fuming Lord.
"A storm? And exactly why are they going around it? No one's ever died from a little gust of wind and a little bit of water before, let them go through it." the Lord sneered dissatisfied.
"The storm has already killed the crew of several other ships who got caught in the storm. If you want that boy to arrive here quickly, going around the storm will be the faster way." the Captain said a solemn look gracing his features.
Lord Kon was anything but happy with this news but agreed to it eventually anyways. Anything was better than that boy not arriving at all. After all he needed someone else in China to do his bidding… besides that bloke Keito. He was too expensive for his liking… Then again anyone whom required paying was too expensive for his taste, at least the boy would work for free. His family owed him.
Lord Kon turned back to his Captain. "How are things going in China?" he asked looking expectantly at the Captain.
"Yes Milord. Everything is going according to plan. According to the messenger we sent she hasn't been found yet, but our man is on it. He also agreed to your terms." the Captain finished and bowed.
"Good. That's very good Captain. I knew you'd come through in the end. Now where is Yue?" the Lord asked his mood lightened quite a bit.
"He is still working on that little errand you send him on Milord. I'll send for him right away." the Captain said and was about to walk away when Lord Kon stopped him.
"That won't be necessary Captain. I'll just send someone else to the kitchen then. You go and ask what's taking them so long with my diner. I'm starving!" the Lord yelled back in his usual grouchy demeanour.
The sweat drop which had formed on the back of the Captain's head went unnoticed by Lord Kon. "As you wish Milord." he said, bowed down and left the throne room in a rush.
If that little princess wasn't found soon, she'd mess up all his plans. He had taken care of her brother long ago, and her guardian wasn't a problem either. But with the princess still missing, he just couldn't rest. There was too much at stake.
"Find her damn it!" the Lord yelled frustrated at the first person who dared to enter.
The poor servant boy who came carrying the food for the Lord, was so frightened that he dropped the food and scrambled away from the Lord as quickly as he possibly could. He silently hoped that the said Lord, would never figure out exactly who it was that had dropped that tray of food on him.
A string of curses was heard through the entire castle, but no one was in the slightest bit surprised. It was a daily occurrence.
Syaoran had clapped a hand over her mouth the moment he had sensed another person's presence. The man gave off an extremely evil aura. Shutting the girl up seemed like the only thing he could do at the time. Who knew? Maybe the girl would've screamed for help or something else, and would have gotten them in trouble. After all it didn't look to good from someone else's point of view. Here he was, the Li heir, pinning a girl with a head injury against the carriage… She seemed to have a special talent of dragging him into the strangest kinds of things anyhow.
"Why thank you my good man," said the man looking mischievously at the girl who was trapped between the carriage and Syaoran, successfully ending their bickering.
Okay so much for staying unnoticed. Maybe if he just replied and stayed polite he'd go away. "And who might you be?" Li asked with his back still turned.
Saku who had been oblivious to the newcomer, went ridged in his grip the moment she heard his voice. He had caught up to her. She had been so caught up in her bickering with this Li person, that she had momentarily forgotten that she had barely escaped from the scar faced man and now it was too late. He had her right where he wanted her… Trapped.
Syaoran on the other hand noticed, that the moment the man made his presence known, the girl's entire being had gone rigid and she was currently staring at the man with a fear struck expression. Maybe he was responsible for the injury? He decided to turn around and had to do a double take at what he saw. That was the ruffian! He was the man from the docs! No wonder the girl was scared of him… every sane person would be.
But what did he want with this girl? Could she have anything to do with that whole assassination thing they'd been talking about? Or maybe she was the one they were trying to kill? If the head injury was any indication, he'd go for the latter. One thing was for sure, this girl knew more about this whole deal and he was going to find out what. The cold but smooth voice from the stranger snapped him out of his train of thoughts.
"Mikado, Mikado Keito is the name." the man said in reply to Syaoran's earlier question, and he bowed his head ever so slightly by sort of greeting. "You have just saved me a whole lot of trouble, young man. I was afraid I wouldn't catch her anymore but here she is, safe and well."
"Why would you care for the safety of this Lady?" Syaoran asked cleverly masking his face with indifference. "After all she is but a woman. There's plenty more where she came from." he said sounding casually.
Saku's head spun around and glared at the back of Li's head. "How could he say something like that!" she thought enraged.
She was already planning his very painful and slow death when she noticed his grip on her tighten. She tried to free herself but his grip was too firm. Firm enough for it to start hurting. Why couldn't he just let her go? Was it that difficult to understand that she wanted to get away from that man? Sure he had already noticed the bad vibes the man gave off? He wouldn't…. just hand her over to him would he? Was that the reason he wasn't letting her go? God she hoped not….
The man laughed at Syaoran's words. "Why yes I'm sure there's plenty more where she came from… But the moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew she was, how should I say this,… special." the man said giving Saku an almost malicious smirk.
The moment the words left the man, Syaoran snorted. "Special? Yeah she's special alright. She talks back when she's not supposed to, she puts up a fight instead of bowing her head down and apologising and she acts like a guy. Not to mention she has very … peculiar bathing habits." Syaoran said disdainful.
"Ah yes… her bathing habits." he said as a sly smirk spread across his face.
Saku by now had horror written all over her face. It was bad enough that Li had caught her there, but this Keito person had seen her too! At least now she knew what he had been referring to when she first ran into him… So that's how he knew her.
"I have to agree with you though, she is a feisty one." Keito said with an almost appreciative tone of voice.
"You know of her bathing habits?" Syaoran said and quirked an eyebrow at the man.
"Why yes, with me being her fiancé, you'd think I'd know about her peculiar habits, don't you agree?" he said with a sly smile. "Besides it's not like everyone else didn't get a good view of her." he muttered under his breath, but both Saku and Syaoran caught every word of it.
How had this girl managed to get herself involved with a man like that? That Keito person… He smelled like blood, and not just because Syaoran had overheard him talking about assassination earlier. His entire being screamed battlefield all over.
"Her fiancé?" Syaoran said more than asked.
"That's right, her fiancé." Keito said with a satisfied smirk, already congratulating himself on his own brilliance.
"So do you always have this affect on women?" Syaoran asked.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Mr…. I'm sorry but I didn't catch your name the first time." Keito said.
"I never gave you my name." Syaoran replied shortly. "But if you must, you can call me Li." Syaoran said with a tone of superiority. "And I was simply referring to the fact that you had to give chase after your fiancé…" he said a bit slower than necessary.
At this Keito quirked an eyebrow; the only one he had left in fact; "Li? The Li family?" Keito asked interested. "You're from the Li family who're second only to the emperor himself?"
Li smirked. "I take it you've heard from my family." he said his arrogance once again resurfacing.
"Why yes, who hasn't. So tell me, how is your father doing these days?" Keito asked with another one of his malicious smirks showing.
"My father? My father died many years ago… What's it to you?" he asked with growing suspicion.
If possible the smirk on Keito's face only grew wider. "Yes, that's right… You look like him. Just as arrogant… You're the heir are you not?" he asked sounding interested.
"You knew my father?" Syaoran asked uncertain. Why would his father have known dark figures as this Keito person?
"Only briefly I'm afraid. Now hand over the girl… my fiancé, I have some unfinished business with her." Keito said with that same malicious grin he had been carrying the entire time.
Saku, who had followed the entire conversation closely, afraid that Li would hand her over to the man had other things on her mind. For some reason she thought that maybe Li's father had died at the hands of this man, just like all those other people back at the castle… She shuddered at the thought. That action made Li turn around and look at her.
"Don't hand me over, please." she mouthed hoping he knew what she was saying, and kept looking at him with those big, scared, pleading eyes.
"No need to beg my dear, I'll take you off his hands in a second." Keito replied enjoying every second of it.
"You say she's your fiancé… Do you have any claims on her?" Li asked and Saku could've smacked him, if she wasn't too worried about seeing another day she would have.
"As a matter of fact, yes I do hold claims over her. I saw her father this morning and everything has been arranged. Now hand her over. I hate to be kept waiting." Keito said growing rather impatient and threw a meaningful look at Saku. This brat was in the way of his fun and he didn't like it one bit.
"Don't make him any angrier than he already is!" she whispered urgently in Syaoran's ear, but he simply ignored her.
"That's odd. Her father died the same time mine did. Don't you think it's rather strange that you seem to know so much about my family, and yet you don't seem to recognise my own sister?" Syaoran said a challenging look in his eyes.
"Damn brat!" Keito muttered under his breath in a foreign language.
"I'd be careful with the things you say around me, sir Mikado." Syaoran replied in the same foreign language. "There might be others around that can actually understand Japanese." he said arrogantly.
"He's dangerous! You don't want to make him angry!" she whispered. She could smack him for being so arrogant. Didn't he see the man was dangerous? He had an entire massacre on his name for crying out loud! But if he wasn't scared of this man… Did that mean that she was supposed to be afraid of him instead? And why could she understand them, if she grew up in China, without ever learning Japanese in the first place?
AN: Few okay that was a shorter chapter than most my chapter so far, but I think this was a good point to break it off. I hope it wasn't boring and I hope you all enjoyed it :-) Don't forget to leave me a review, or two or more ;) lol they're SO motivating! But I think all you other author's out there know exactly what I mean :)