Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Absolutely Priceless ❯ When The War Breaks Out ( Chapter 1 )

AN: The first chapter's out! My user in Fanfiction.net already has up to four chapters; so if you're interested in reading the next to chapters, then I suggest you read it there instead.

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Summary: Sakura's a princess of a sacred country, Kinomoto. It is said in the legends that its country possesses a priceless object, which has the power to grant any wishes. When a war breaks out, Sakura couldn't do anything but be forced to leave her homeland by her family and take the priceless object with her. There, she meets a cold-hearted prince and is taken to his kingdom, and it didn't take long for Sakura to realize that he, too, is looking for the priceless object as well.

 

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Absolutely Priceless

 

When the War Breaks Out

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"It's because," the King began, a single tear fell onto his cheek. "I just couldn't bear seeing other countries going through pain just as we, the Kinomoto country, are... eventually losing everything. Trust me, Touya, I have thought about discarding The Clow many times."

 

Before Sakura or Touya could even say anything to their father, one of the guards of the Kinomoto kingdom rushed to the peaceful dining room, panting as he wheezed out, "My King... intruders broke... into the country..." and it wasn't long before the guard had fainted, possibly from exhaustion.

 

"My lord..."

 

Sakura quickly ran over to where the guard has fainted and checked up on him, making sure he hasn't died. She let out a sigh of relief when she still felt a pulse in his neck and informed the King and Prince, "He's alright; he just fainted." but both males weren't concerned about the guard that moment; they were too busy worrying about the intruders who just broke into the Kinomoto country, killing the lives of innocents this moment.

 

The King loudly groaned, "Oh lord... how did the intruders get into the country? The trees around the Kinomoto country and the guards should've been protecting us!" he shook his head as he slouched both of his shoulders, not knowing what to do at the moment. While he was worrying, his son was absolutely furious as he pranced around the room, cursing as he threw up his hands in the air.

 

"Those guards are absolutely slacking! If they really do and had cared about their own country, then they shouldn't have been so... flimsy and had let the intruders from the country God knows where to come and kill us all!" Touya yelled in extremely high level of rage as his face turned a tiny shade of purple, causing Sakura to wince of how scary how her older brother can be.

 

The King nodded his head as he agreed with his son as he stood up from his chair. "Yes, that is true, Touya. But, this isn't the time to be spending our time to be cursing at the country's guards when we should be escaping this moment."

 

"Father, are you crazy?" Touya asked as his eyes widened in shock as he took a step back, then narrowed his eyes as he suggested, "I should be out there instead, killing those soldiers instead of just standing here!"

 

"No! You'll die!" Sakura bellowed as she lunged at her older brother and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly as her fear of death took the best of her. She had already lost a mother, and she didn't need to lose a brother as well. "I won't let you go and fight, Touya..."

 

"Kaijuu... you worry too much." Touya smirked as he placed his hand on Sakura's head, ruffling her auburn hair gently, causing her to look up at him with eyes filled with despair. Hoping to calm her, he said, "Don't worry about me, alright? I've trained for a war like this for my country ever since I was fourteen, remember?"

 

"But still!" Sakura protested as her grip around Touya had tightened as her lips whimpered on its own. "I don't want an accident to occur..."

 

The King seemed to be affected by all this since he said while looking at the distressed Princess and the confident Prince, "Touya... if you really do want to fight in a war such like this..." he instantly caught the Prince's attention as his eyes flickered with interest. "I will not let you go with the Kinomoto soldiers, who are probably fighting in the village nor with the Kinomoto kingdom soldiers who are just preparing to fight until a intruder is spotted inside the castle."

 

"Then where do you suggest I fight instead, father?" Touya asked with a slight bitter and annoyed tone in his voice, but the King had completely ignored it as he gave his answer.

 

"Touya, you shall be fighting for your sister if you'd like, protecting her from danger." the King replied, surprising both the Prince and the Princess. "When I will no longer be with you and it's only you and Sakura, you shall protect her as you escort her out of the castle and rush to another country to protect yourselves from the bandits and thieves and possibly other soldiers from the outside country as you will encounter on your way."

 

'When you mean you will no longer be with us, father do you mean...?' Sakura asked herself quietly as she sadly looked over at her father, whose eyes were slightly glossy from the tears that were beginning to emerge. 'No! I don't want to lose anymore lives...' she sadly stared down at The Clow which was now in her skirt pocket, which was tucked in safely from the view of others.

 

"This is all for this..." Sakura whispered, her tone filled with disgust as she put her hand in her skirt pocket, gripping tightly onto the The Clow in her hands as if she had tried to break it...

 

Both the King and the Prince didn't hear the Princess since Touya nodded his head as he understood. "Yes, father. I shall do as you ordered."

 

The King nodded before he warmly suggested, "Now, shall we head to the back of the palace and make our escape before one of the intruders catch any of us?" both of the royals nodded their head in agreement before the King had started to lead them quietly yet quickly to the other side of the palace, a place where both neither Sakura and Touya had ever seen in their lives. He went to a gigantic painting of the deceased Queen Nadeshiko and took it off, revealing a wooden door with a lock behind the stone brick walls.

 

'Mother...' Sakura quietly called out for the Queen while she saw her painting where she had truly looked happy with the King Fujitaka by her side. 'I miss you... I need you right here!'

 

King Fujitaka took out a gold key from his pockets and inserted it to the lock and turning it, a loud click! could've been heard. The lock dropped onto the floor silently only because there was a mat under it as the King opened the door, only to reveal ten soldiers from not his kingdom, but the Li's. He only known they were the Li soldiers as he recognized their amber eyes, staring at them with wicked eyes.

 

All ten soldiers wore the same armor; blue with a black wolf looking as if were to pounce on its victim with silver lines around it. They also had metal shoulder pads and dark gloves with a blue sword attached on their hips with dark silver pants and black boots. They had also worn a black helmet made out of metal with some Chinese writing on top.

 

"Oh shit." Touya cursed under his breath as he hid Sakura from the view, placing himself in front of her as if he were trying to hide her.

 

"Ah, the Kinomoto royals." one of the Li soldiers had said, surprising all three Kinomoto royals of how the Chinese person could speak Japanese as he unsheathed his own sword and pointing it against the King's neck in a blink of an eye. "How nice of you to join us, Kinomoto. We spotted the three of you heading towards the other side of the castle and figured that we should too. We weren't sure if you three were going to come here and figured not following you, but now, we're glad we did."

 

Touya quickly took the sword from a nearby stone soldier and hauled the Li soldiers' sword from his father's neck. He gave them a death glare as he stepped in front of the King of the Kinomoto country and threatened them all in a low voice, "Place your sword once more on the King and I shall cut off your neck before killing you all." he took a step towards the Li soldiers, and before he could attack them, the King called for him.

 

"You will not fight them. " King Fujitaka said, immediately stopping his son who looked over at him. "You will not fight while I take on these soldiers with my own sword and blood."

 

"But father-"

 

"I will not accept any complaints or protests." the King interrupted, sending the Prince a sad glance. "I have already made up my mind." he then whispered lowly that only Prince Touya could hear, "While I distract all of them, take Sakura-hime and run."

 

Touya nodded his head and Sakura, looking up at him with fear-filled eyes tugged on his arm and asked, "Touya, what's happening?"

 

"We're going when father gives us the signal." Touya silently declared, causing his younger sister to gasp loudly.

"No!-"

 

"Shh!" Touya hushed the Princess as he clamped both of his large mouth on hers, preventing them from receiving any attention as they stared at their King, who took a step back from the Li soldiers, placing his hand behind him and wiggling it. The Prince knew what his father was mentally asking for and handed him the sword just as one of the Li solders charged towards him.

 

"Father!" Sakura let out an anguish scream as she saw the King rush towards the Li soldiers with the sword in front of him, ready to strike them one by one... he was doing fine and when all ten soldiers started fighting against the King. Sounds of swords clashing onto one another and battle yells could be heard, but thankfully, it wasn't loud enough to attract the other Li soldiers who are probably looming around the Kinomoto castle.

 

Both Sakura and Touya watched their father weaken three soldiers already, making their hands bleed so they couldn't get a grip on their soldiers, inflicting any harm but made sure not to kill them. King Fujitaka wasn't that cruel. Since both siblings were so wrapped up watching their father battle, they didn't notice one of the Li soldiers slowly sneak up to them with his arms raised with the sword, reading to strike down at the Kinomoto royals.

 

Touya relied on his instinct as he took out his hidden dagger from his boot as he avoided being cut as he pushed Sakura behind him, protecting her from the soldier.

 

"You bastard," Touya cursed, grimacing as he was slowly being pushed towards the ground as the Li soldier above him was pushing him down as he placed both hands on his sword, pressure rushing to his face.

 

The Li soldier said something to Touya, who couldn't understand. Neither did Sakura. But all Sakura understand was that the soldier had said the name, Xiao Lang... who is that? She wasn't concerned at the moment as she screamed out for her older brother, who was having a difficult time with the soldier on top of him. "Touya!"

 

The Li soldier looked up and spotted the harmless Sakura which caused Touya to let out a growl. "Stay quiet, Sakura!" he used his legs to kick the Li soldier off of him as he got up in a flash, appearing in front of Sakura. He placed his arm in front of her as he warned, "Don't you dare get the solders' attention, got it?"

 

"B-but!"

 

"Do you hear me, Sakura?" Touya repeated, his tone sounding serious as his younger sister didn't hear any of his usual playful tone. She gave him a nod which seemed to satisfy him. "I'll stay with you until father gives us the signal, but I'll protect you in the meantime."

 

"Okay," was the simple answer from the Kinomoto Princess who kept her eyes locked on the scene in front of her; her father now fighting against six of the Li soldiers. She could even see him panting as his movements has gotten slower. She noticed in the corner of her emerald orbs that her brother couldn't bear seeing the sight as well. She knew as well as he did that he wanted to go out there and fight with the King instead of just standing around and watch him.

 

When Sakura saw one of the Li soldiers had an opening against her father, she couldn't help but yell, "Watch out!"

 

King Fujitaka then noticed his opening and his eyes widen in fear as he saw a silver sword coming right at him. Before it had a chance to strike against him, Touya reacted quickly as he threw away his daggers on the Li soldiers' wrist, forcing him to drop his sword as he fell onto the floor, cursing in Chinese which none of the Kinomoto royals could understand.

 

"That was a close one," Touya said as he wiped off the sweat against his forehead and Sakura nodded, sighing. "Good thing I keep those daggers nice and handy... right, kaijuu?"

 

"Touché. This isn't the time to be calling me a "kaijuu", Touya!" Sakura said, turning her head away from him as she couldn't help but let a smile form on her face. She was glad that her father was safe, and that Touya's tone wasn't all serious which had made her feel quite awkward around her brother; making her feel as if she were with a completely different person. Someone who she wasn't familiar with.

 

It wasn't long until King Fujitaka was down to last two soldiers and it was when Touya decided he should finish them off quickly. He didn't spot any Li soldiers nearby as he threw two daggers at the Li soldiers behind their backs, paralyzing them before they were knocked unconscious. The King was panting as he said, "Well, that certainly took long."

 

Sakura nodded and the King wasted no time saying his words. "There's a hidden path behind the trees outside the Kinomoto boarder. Outside, there will be two signs; one green, one blue. The green one will lead you to a nearby village, Fushiko while the blue one will lead you to the lands of Li. Since the Li's are the first ones to attack us, I suggest you take the green ones.

 

"Don't tell them you're from the Kinomoto country; tell them you're lost travelers or anything no related to your real self. People right now are after The Clow which Sakura-hime possesses..." King Fujitaka said all in one breath, and both Sakura and Touya nodded their heads as they understood.

 

"Yes, father." Touya said, bowing his head to the King. He whipped around and spotted around twenty more of Li soldiers who had just recently spotted them and quickly made their way towards the three Kinomoto royals. The Prince quickly took out more daggers from his boot and prepared to fight the Li soldiers when the King had stopped him.

 

"I shall take over while you two make your escape," King Fujitaka said, sounding quite hoarse. "Go now, or there isn't another opportunity to do so!"

 

"As you command, my King." Touya said, closing his eyes shut as his whole body was filled with regret. He grabbed Sakura by the wrist and slowly started to lead her away from the King, but she struggled against him.

 

"No! Touya, don't! Father!" Sakura yelled as she tried to stay by her father's side, refusing to leave him.

 

"Sakura, we must leave now! We can't delay any longer..." Touya mumbled, still pulling his little sister along as he moved towards the outer-borderline.

 

"I can't leave father behind! It's not fair!" Sakura protested as she tried her hardest to struggle her wrist free from the Prince's strong grip, but succeed with no avail. "Touya, please let go!"

 

"Keep on going, Touya," the King Fujitaka yelled as he tried his hardest to fight off the Li soldiers. "Go! Get out of here now, Sakura!"

 

"I..."

 

"We're going, kaijuu!" Touya yelled as he broke into a run and Sakura ran behind him as she gave up. Silent tears started to leak from her eyes as she allowed herself to be pulled by her older brother.

 

'I guess this is good-bye, father...' Sakura silently said as she ignored the throbbing pain coming from her feet as she ran on the sharp rocks and mud, her mind only on the Kinomoto King at the moment. 'I'll never forget you...'

 

"Shit, they're coming..." Touya swore under his breath as he looked behind his shoulders and spotted two Li soldiers slowly catching up to them as they ran towards the trees. When they were behind the trees, quite covering them from the Li soldiers' sights, Touya began to pick up his pace, dragging Sakura along behind him.

 

As the two Kinomoto royals made it out of the borderline, they spotted the two signs just as the King Fujitaka had told them. Touya and Sakura looked at each other and the Prince said, between each breath, "We're... finally... out of... there."

 

But Sakura couldn't help but look behind her shoulder and stare at the trees, picturing her father's joyful face. She could feel the tears forming on the corner of her eyes as she nodded in agreement, faking a smile. Blinking back her tears hard, she agreed with her older brother.

 

"Yeah... we're finally out."

 

TBC...

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