Chapter 21: Freedom to Love

The Princess Bride

Sakura's a normal villager in a little village, like all other girls, adoring the king-to-be, wishing that they were the prince's bride… but then one day she finds herself trying to embrace the fact that she's a princess, she is the prince's bride. But while living in the castle… she begins to fall in love with, not the prince, but the prince's brother.

Quackquill's quilly notes: THIS IS NOT BASED ON WILLIAM GOLDMAN'S BOOK THE PRINCESS BRIDE, THIS IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY WITH NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT BOOK besides a few things.

Enjoy. Cry. Laugh. Smile. Read.

A bird behind golden bars flitted back and forth in confusion as Tomoyo swayed the cage tauntingly, "Aren't you forgetting something, Yue?"

Yue clenched his teeth and flew towards Tomoyo with an outstretched hand, but Tomoyo immediately teleported to the other side of the room.

"Yue, Yue, Yue… calm down!" Tomoyo laughed, teleporting to the other side of the room. "Don't be so excited!"

"Give me that… where did you find it…" Yue snarled.

Yue made another shot for Tomoyo, but this time carelessly smacked Sakura in the face with one of his wings. Sakura tumbled backwards onto the wooden floor. Her vision blurred and her hearing faded as a memory of when she first learned of Yue came into focus.

END OF FLASH FORWARD

A teal amulet dangled from Tomoyo's long, slender fingers. As the bead twirled slowly above Sakura's head, Sakura noticed that the amulet was in fact morphing from the shape of an eye to a tear droplet, and then back again to an eye.

"Never let this leave your body," Tomoyo said in a grave voice as she slipped the necklace back onto Sakura's neck.

"Oops, I was just doing some headstands when it slipped off!" Sakura picked up a comb to straighten her messy hair. "But what exactly is this?"

Tomoyo had given her the charm and the same grave warning the night Sakura escaped from the castle and evil Prince's clutches for good. But Sakura had been in too much shock after hearing Tomoyo's side of the story to think about what the charm was for. Recently, other maids had been noticing this amulet as well as a few hairclips in her hair, as these accessories were just too flashy for a lowly servant to wear.

Tomoyo handed Sakura a glass of sparkling rose wine, and grinned, "Well, as you might have noticed in the past… the Prince pretty much has an all-seeing eye. Though privies and bathrooms are off-limits." She winked. "And I bet he doesn't care one bit about the servants."

Sakura wondered if this was why she got by with jinxing the Prince's soap to make him fall asleep.

"As for that amulet, I paid a hefty price to get that," Tomoyo grinned, proud of herself. "I've been saving goodies just to get that since you arrived at the castle. Just like how I placed a temporary protective barrier over you when we kidnapped you, I can now protect you from his sinister eye at all times so long as you keep this talisman with you." Tomoyo sipped her glass cheerfully.

Sakura's eyes widened. That explained why he knew whenever she was with Naroays. Would that mean she could see Naroays whenever she wanted now? The last time she had seen him was at that fountain. She could still feel his heat against her, oh and his lips and those rough fingers brushing against her…

Tomoyo raised an eyebrow, "Sakura, the wine is causing your face to turn red."

Sakura gulped down some wine and laughed sheepishly. She couldn't tell Tomoyo that she hadn't even had a sip of it yet.

Sakura sighed, "All of you are so handy… Naroays carves wood stuff, you make magical things, and Yuki crafts…"

"Yuki? Is that the little brother you're always gushing about?" Tomoyo chuckled.

"Yeah, want to see his creations? I always carry them so I can feel his and Touya's presence!" She took out the parcel with the two clay figures, one wolf and one bird…

Tomoyo picked them up to admire the young boy's work. When she saw the crest on the bird's beak, her expression twisted into a puzzled look.

"Sakura… who did you say gave you these?" Tomoyo didn't even glance at Sakura, but continued scrutinizing the pieces.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Yah I know, Yuki's work is impressive for a young kid, isn't it?"

"No are you really sure a young boy gave you this?" Tomoyo brought the clay figures into the light to inspect its reflective abilities, which Sakura found odd since it was just clay. But when angled a certain way, the talisman actually glowed.

"Okay, whoa!" Sakura's eyes widened, "What are you doing?"

"It's not me," Tomoyo placed them back down, satisfied. "These are talismans with the aura of a spirit. Not just any spirit but…" Tomoyo mused over how to explain it.

She picked up the wolf figure and waved it in front of Sakura's face, "What beast did you see under a blue moon while keeping this talisman with you?"

"Naroays turned into a… a wolf," Sakura stuttered, wondering where this was going.

"And then did another incident happen with this talisman?" She raised the bird-shaped one.

Sakura explained what happened with the Prince that night…

"Tomoyo, are you saying that these incidents are linked with talismans that a young kid who doesn't know anything made? How could that be?"

Tomoyo swung her back head so low that her long, velvety sheet of hair folded over her bright colored cushions, "Ahh, there were too many players involved in the deal I made! I completely forgot about one of them!" She snapped her head back and pounded a fist into her palm, "Ah-hah! Sakura, I'll explain it to you later when I figure it out myself, but here's what you need to do!"

Sakura buried her face in her hands, "Tomoyo! Why is everything so complicated!"

"No, this makes everything more clear! Sakura, you now need to focus on this one task. We know where the body of this wolf is," Tomoyo raised the wolf talisman again. "Naroays turns into this fierce wolf every blue moon. But I haven't a clue as to where this bird could be." She carefully studied the bird talisman, "But if we find the bird, we might find… the real Syaoran!"

She jabbed a finger at Sakura, "You need to find this bird immediately! And once we find the bird, we might also find the spirit behind these talismans! Then, we will finally have all the pieces that were once involved in this deal together to restore everyone to their rightful place… But to find this bird… you'll need Naroays to help you."

Sakura's face flushed intensely at the mention of Naroays.

"Oh my! Sakura, are you sick? Your face has turned so red!"

The cold and crisp air stung Sakura's ears. The sun was not yet awake and she could still see twinkles at the sky's purple edges.

"Deep breaths," Sakura murmured to herself. She tried to soak up the morning's calmness, but could only feel her heart racing in anticipation.

Finally, a masked figure cloaked in black onyx appeared from the other side of the hill. Strangely, Sakura felt her heart suddenly stop.

Relief, joy, warmth… nothing could describe exactly how she felt.

Two bows and a tube of arrows were slung across his shoulder. The wind tousled his thick dark hair and his coat billowed behind him. He made no movement to acknowledge her, but Sakura could feel his strong presence from the intent look on his eyes. His gaze was locked solely on her.

His eyes settled it for her. She sprang onto her feet and rushed towards him. He made no effort to walk faster or stop moving until her chest crashed into his and her hands wrapped around the circumference of his fit body.

He took a hesitant step backwards and tried to wrangle her off of him, but Sakura clung to him fiercely. She stared up into his nervous eyes and raised the teal amulet Tomoyo had given to her.

"Tomoyo says this will keep him from ever knowing where I am, or who I am with ever again. That stupid deal you made with that wretch is off." She pounded her fist into his belly as punishment, but he barely flinched.

"And take that ridiculous mask off. Nobody can find us here, Tomoyo sealed off this part of the forest," Sakura reached up to lift the mask, but she only managed to slide it up enough to reveal his lips when he suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Where did he hurt you," he growled angrily.

Sakura broke eye contact and averted her eyes in shame. He felt his whole body shake in anger upon seeing her feel ashamed.

His hand traveled up from her wrist to her palm so he could lock fingers with her and grip her cold hand in his. She liked the feel of her leather glove enfolding her bare hands and smiled sadly at their hands' embrace.

"Everywhere you touched me last. To punish me for seeing you," Her voice choked up.

He shrugged off the bows and arrows, those could wait. He ripped off his mask from his face, tore off his gloves, and threw them to the ground. He grabbed her by the waist and leaned in to press his nose against her naked neck. He began to undo the top buttons of her coat and nuzzle his lips in the space between her clavicles. Sakura gasped at his desperate attempts to clean off every possible space the Prince had defiled. His breath tickled her skin, his roaming hands rubbed cloth against sensitive areas, and his tongue left hot wet trails that were then frozen into place by the wind.

"Naroays," She moaned, "I've missed you so much, please tell me you felt the same."

He lifted his mouth from her skin from time to time to speak, "You asked me… last time… if we were just friends…" He glared at her, "Does this feel like friendship?" He pinched her nipple. She shivered and shook her head.

"Last time you asked me if everything was an accident," He caressed a lock of hair behind her ear as he stared deeper into her eyes, "So what if I make this accident over and over again because I can't control myself?"

Sakura grabbed him by the ears and yanked them, "What's with these roundabout questions! I asked you if you felt the same or not!"

Frustrated, he finally dove in for her lips and searched inside of her mouth.

Unable to make cohesive sounds except for grunts and gasps, she continued pulling at his ears for an answer.

"Ow!" He released her and grit his teeth as if she were squeezing words out of him, "Sakura. I. Long. For. You."

"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" She broke into tears. "Why can't you say you love me!"

Exasperated, he rolled his eyes, "You!"

He wrapped his arm around the back of her head and shoved her crying face into his chest. After taking in a deep breath, he bent down to whisper something in her ear that made her stop crying.

Grinning uncontrollably, she looked up at him with a twinkle in her eyes and stood up on her toes to kiss him on the cheeks. "That's better," she giggled.

A/N: Time for Sakura to get some special "education" from Naroays... (;